Wimberley, Texas

Envisioned as a weekend refuge from the humid sprawl of Houston, the Wimberley house acts as both a threshold and transect of its quiet Hill Country site.

As a threshold the massing of the house runs parallel to the entry drive, forming a stark visual wall within the landscape. This wall is punctured by a singular void that invites entry by intensifying the openness of the sweeping views that unfold beyond. This gesture suggests that while the house is important as a place of shelter, the true refuge and escape is the place that the house defines and intensifies.

As a transect the massing of the house and its rooms maintain a consistent elevation along the major slope of the site. At its east end the house is grounded in a small grove of trees at the top of the slope. Here the site is experienced as haptic and tactile. At the other end, the house floats off the ground and is punctuated by a large void defining a balcony space. With the absence of the ground the experience of the site is increasingly cerebral, engaging and highlighting auditory, visual, and olfactory qualities of the landscape.

The hierarchy of programmed spaces run as a gradient along this transect with the guest wing and living/dining/kitchen located just off the grounded deck space and more private spaces of the primary bed/bath, kid’s bedroom floating off the ground and opening on either side to the landscape beyond.

Structural Engineering: Feldt Consulting Engineers | Builder: Burnette Builders

Lake Cherokee, Texas

Two Houstonians nearing retirement found their ideal site along the meandering shoreline of Lake Cherokee in East Texas. Their vision centered on family, outdoor living, and a legacy home that could flex between quiet daily life and large multigenerational gatherings. The resulting house responds to the site’s long, linear proportions by following the natural grain of the land—stretching toward the lake in a T formation that divides the home into two L-shaped courtyards.

One courtyard frames the entry sequence and foregrounds the landscape experience upon arrival. The other embraces the lakeside yard, shaded by mature trees and centered around play and entertaining. A long axis links the two, alternating between covered canopy and dappled trellis. Inside, a central living space offers expansive lake views and separates the primary suite from guest and flex rooms—providing privacy while encouraging connection.

The owners prioritized shared spaces, flexible room uses, and a modest footprint. The home is occupied most of the time by just the two of them but effortlessly accommodates extended family visits. The kitchen—designed as a working hub—is flanked by a scullery and utility spaces that remain open and integrated rather than hidden. The house is organized to support both the quiet rhythms of retirement and the lively presence of grandchildren, with spaces that adapt fluidly to different modes of living.

Team: Structural Engineer: Holland Engineering | Builder: Hamilton Group | Photography: Divya Pande

Austin, Texas

2020 AIA Houston Residential Design Award Recipient

Featured in Dwell Magazine

“I always imagined a house that wrapped around a pool...unassuming from the street but surprising when you walk through.”

The project began with this request to have a home that was understated but uniquely unfolded after entering. Each living space redirects orientation; expansive courtyard views shift to private gardens, and neighborhood foliage is displayed in vaulted clerestory windows, also giving unexpected volume to the low-slung house. The house is organized around an existing pecan tree and proposed pool with bedrooms off the courtyard. The living room and master bedroom bookend this oasis with covered patios under the canopy overlooking the pool. 

Project Team - Builder: Mezger Homes | Structural Engineer: Feldt Consulting Engineers | Landscape: Campbell Landscape Architecture | Photos: Leonid Furmansky

Press - Dwell, Mar/Apr 2021, “An Open Invitation,” Jessie Temple ; Houzz, Aug 2021, “Midcentury-Inspired Home Built Around a Pecan Tree,” Laura Lambert ; HÄUSER, Feb/Mar 2023, “Open House,” Klaus Meyer

Houston, Texas

Dwell Editor’s Pick | Houstonia Magazine

The Watonga residence was commissioned by a woman with a big heart for animal fostering. She wanted a house that felt private from the street but visually and physically connected to the backyard. The house needed to consider the typology and scale of the existing neighborhood, and it needed durable materials to accommodate little paws. Finally, it had to support an environmentally conscientious life. The house was intentionally placed on the short end of an irregularly shaped lot, allowing the living spaces to open up to a large native landscape and adjacent lot containing a significant tree grove. This siting allowed for a passive orientation where window walls face north and exposure to the south and west is minimal.

The interior is light-filled, capturing expansive landscape views of an established oak grove to the North and bayou views to the East. A carefully choreographed entry vestibule and screen shield create interior privacy from the street. A two-story volume fills the center of the home with warm, southern light. A palette of tile, Texas stone, and concrete are used for budget friendly durability. The house is derived from a simple diagram with utilitarian functions placed in the stone box and living in a minimal gabled roof that supports solar panel orientation and rainwater collection.

At its core, this home is designed for family, foster dogs, well-curated music, and Aggie game days.

Project Team: Structural Engineering: Insight Structures | Builder: Centrec Construction | Energy: Toner Home Matters | Landscape: XO Design Group | Photography: Divya Pande

2022 AIA Houston Design Award, 2023 Preservation Houston Good Brick Award

Featured in Dwell

Houston, Texas

For years, early morning walks past this 1910 Craftsman in Houston's historic Avondale neighborhood left the new owners with lingering fantasies of making it their future home. When it became available, they acquired a home rich with history, but one nearly abolished. The home was once inhabited by Texas Governor (1931-1932) and founder of Humble Oil, Ross Sterling. But, renovations subdivided the home into multi-family rentals and destroyed original finishes. The developer driven modifications were abruptly halted by city red tags in 2018 after original windows were demolished and replaced with vinyl substitutes. 

With a nearly clean slate on the interior, the HRDD renovation aims to be respectful to the original context while providing coplimentary modern surprises atypical to the era. One such example is a new opening that punctures through the second floor, extending to a roof skylight. Situated at the transition between formal and informal rooms on the first floor and common space on the second floor, this subtraction is lined with a scalloped wood screen. The screen is one of multiple moments within the home where texture will combine with minimal white surfaces, providing a backdrop to the owners' collection of antique Indian furniture pieces. 

Additionally, a new detached replaced an existing dilapidated garage apartment and contains the owner's photography studio. Windows and a skylight are placed to capture coveted north light, ideal for photographing and editing. The main room remains an austere slate, with ceiling vaulting to a single aperture to create a dynamic moment that carries a dialogue to the opening in the main home. 

Project Team: Structural Engineering: Santee Engineering | Builder: Park Lane Builders | Landscape: XO Design Group | Energy: Toner Home Matters | Photography: Divya Pande | Styling: Lambrakos Studio

2024 AIA Houston Design Award

This project emerged from a competition hosted by the Menil Foundation, which sought innovative designs for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to diversify tenant demographics and increase density within their campus’ rental stock, which predominantly consists of single-family bungalows.  Winning this competition awarded the commission to design two new ADUs on conjoined properties, and fully renovate the accompanying bungalows.

Located on two standard Houston lots, the four rental structures share a cohesive design language characterized by understated exteriors, modest scale, and light-filled interiors.  With a goal to create compelling, budget-friendly spaces, the project design prioritizes spatial quality and natural light over high-end, costly construction materials. Each unit features a unique vaulted skylight, creating a dynamic spatial experience at the center of each residence. This thoughtful interplay of volume and light enhances the sense of openness and tranquility within the units.

The floor plans of the existing bungalows were re-organized and simplified to create open living spaces with abundant daylighting. Original hardwood flooring was patched and refinished. The envelope was updated with new siding, windows, insulation (including a sealed attic), and roof.  Simple, but ample millwork strategies helped keep the project in budget while providing plenty of storage within the homes’ compact footprints.

The new ADUs would be easy to overlook from the treelined streets of the campus. Capped by hip roofs that recede asymmetrically away from the drive, the simple hardie-clad structures are interrupted by two formal insertions. One manifests as a curious box that peaks above the roof, foreshadowing a central light chimney within. The other insertion occurs at the stairs. For the East unit, the space beneath the stair is opened to the landscape, expanding the courtyard buffer between the four rental units. Conversely, the West unit’s stair leads to a balcony that frames views to the South.

Project Team: Structural Engineering: CRAFT Structural | Builder: CPJ Builders | Landscape: DEPT. | Energy: Toner Home Performance | Photography: Divya Pande

Houston, Texas

2024 AIA Houston Design Award, 2023 AIA Houston Home Tour Selection

Press: Dwell, Houstonia

The Joyce residence is an addition and renovation to an existing 1938 one-story bungalow. The design expands and modernizes the structure while maintaining the scale and vernacular of its quaint northside neighborhood. The quiet restraint of the exterior is juxtaposed with unexpected, playful spatial experiences within.

A small connector bridge links the 900 sq ft addition to the renovated existing bungalow and defines a new organizing axis. The entry walk aligns to the axis, a procession that leads to an expanded front porch and is punctuated by a shade garden below, and a roof trellis bridging a sky void above. Within the connector, a vaulted vertical circulation space is flanked by opposing sun and shade gardens. A playful ladder ascends to a play space in the existing home's attic, while a fig tree climbs alongside the steps to the studio of the addition.

Despite being an urban lot, the house opens pathways for discovery and engagement with the outdoor environment by intentionally capturing light and framing the landscape. The living room views push through the roof to frame the canopy of the front yard Tallow tree. The 5 year old's bedroom overlooks the rear garden. The primary bedroom window wall orients to a grove of bamboo and neighboring trees. Oversized studio window dormers frame the surrounding sky, front yard river birch, and distant tree canopies. These intentional connections between interior and exterior form an experience of the house that transcends its modest footprint.

Project Team - Builder: Frich Investments | Structural Engineer: Santee Engineering | Energy Consultant: Toner Home Matters | Photos: Leonid Furmansky

Houston, Texas

The Southampton Residence is designed for resiliency. Situated on a corner lot in a vibrant Houston neighborhood, the home negotiates degrees of openness, maintaining the front porch typology while leaving a private courtyard for the owners. The exterior envelope is robust. Equipped with impact rated windows, adherence to Fortified Home standards and over-engineered wind loads, a raised foundation, solar and cistern ready; the house is designed to withstand any Houston Hurricane. A series of terraced landscape beds soften the home’s elevation and embrace the pedestrian scale. The roof reads as the dominant exterior feature derived out of function, to satisfy the requests for solar panels and a water cistern. The interior gives way to light and dynamic spaces with careful window placement and playful sections. Sky views and framed landscapes provide interior private escapes within a dense residential neighborhood.

Interior photography omitted to protect owner privacy.

Project Team - Structural Engineering: Insight Structures | Builder: Thomsen Company | Energy: Toner Home Matters | Landscape: Hogue Landscape Services | Photos: Leonid Furmansky

Magnolia, Texas

The Davis Residence sits on a one and a half acre site in Montgomery County, covered with towering pines, a collection of oak trees, and teetering on the edge of rural. The lot’s existing home is soon to have a neighbor, a guest house designed to accommodate family. And like family, the two structures have a similar exterior palette, but the addition has a modern personality of its own. The guest house is situated along the site’s Southern edge to create backyard privacy from neighbors and unobstructed views from both homes. Each room intends to offer a new relationship to the cherished site. The living room spills out and connects horizontally to the shared clearing, while the bedroom has it's own private courtyard. A lofted exercise space rewards home workouts with a north facing glass wall that frames the tree canopy beyond.

Project Team: Structural Engineering: CRAFT Structural | Builder: Ryno Services | Photography: Divya Pande

Houston, Texas

2020 AIA Houston “On the Boards” Design Award Recipient

The Montrose Hotel is designed to offer a unique experience for Houston visitors within it's namesake's neighborhood. The developer, Goodnight Hospitality, is not new to the neighborhood. They have been curating alluring destinations that strengthen the diverse context of their locale starting with Goodnight Charlie’s in 2017, followed by three new restaurant concepts slated to open later this year. The hotel seeks to create a synergy among these projects and fill a missing link in the Houston landscape for small boutique hotels in walkable neighborhoods.

The building holds the front building setback with a lush landscaped wall and perforated brick screen that provides a softly glowing lantern along Dunlavy street in the evening. A small bar and lounge occupies the ground floor and opens onto a landscaped outdoor living space. The compact, three story hotel’s rooms orient towards the private courtyard space and a large green roof over covered parking.

Read more about Goodnight Hospitality and The Montrose Hotel: Paper City, CultureMap, Houston Business Journal, Houston Chronicle

Houston, Texas

Paloma’s newest salon has an interior strategy unique to its River Oaks location while maintaining familiar branding themes found in all Paloma locations. Owner Maryam Naderi requested a warm, inviting interior that didn’t stray from her brand’s core value for a clean, comfortable, free of toxic chemicals beauty destination.

Project Team: Builder: Long-Term Builders | Photography: Divya Pande | Owner: Paloma Beauty

Houston, Texas

IN DESIGN!

Envisioned as a gathering space for family and friends, the Northside Retreat merges indoor relaxation and outdoor recreation with its porous ground floor. Operable glass walls flanking the living room connect the tree-covered entry court and sunny play yard. Coordinating natural and built canopies, the matured trees and roof trellises soften the retreat’s thresholds. Apertures on the second floor frame views of the pool and yard. Its metal envelope has a vertical rhythm that traces delicate details to structural columns. The entrance sequence further articulates the design’s verticality with a building-scale reveal. On the west, a solid core for circulation and utility anchors the project to the site boundary. On the east, a prism gently dematerializes as it rises above the trees to offer a view of downtown Houston from the roof terrace.

As a hosting space, the plan carefully balances the preservation of the open yard and the full utilization of its Northside site. The pool gently tucks into the grilling area while also interfacing the sauna and outdoor shower. At its opposite end, the yard stretches across the length of the property and receives shade from the building’s upper levels as the Houston sun winds down. In the evenings, the second floor suite and bunk room are peaceful retreats to conclude the day.

Project Team: Interior Design: Studio Heineman

Just a couple blocks from Minute Maid Park - the Purse building was designed by JW Northrop Jr in 1927. It was occupied by the Wilson Stationery & Printing Company for decades and more recently, Lola Savannah utilized it as a coffee roasting facility. Our friends at Scarlet Capital acquired the building and understood that minimal interventions were all that were needed for the Purse’s next chapter.

With appreciation for the minimalist dignity of Northrop’s utilitarian box, the design approach lightly touches the exterior and activates the original loading dock for new storefronts. Throughout, interior brick and concrete structure is exposed and original steel windows were left in place. In Scarlet’s own office third floor office, a new skylight is introduced - the flood of light is bracketed by perforated steel panels that separate a central lounge from the workspace entry.

Developer: Scarlet | Architect of Record: Identity Architects | Exterior Steel: Wishbone Welding | Interior Steel: Renfrow & Co

Scarlet, a Houston developer working to create well-designed, cost-effective housing, tasked HRDD to design thee multi-family projects in Houston’s East End.

Each development utilizes the same unit types arranged to take full advantage of each site’s unique amenities and challenges.

On Site A, a compact, twenty-unit development is lifted for covered parking and organized around a central, open gathering core. Sited along a major thoroughfare, the project holds the street setback conserving a quiet backyard greenspace in the rear of the lot. On Site B, a central courtyard separates the main entrance from a shared lounge with park views. West facing balconies offer views to the downtown skyline on Site C.

Architect: HR Design Dept | Architect of Record: eStudio | Developer: Scarlet

Chappell Hill, Texas

In Collaboration with Houston Zen Center, SWA Group Houston, and Blackland Collaborative

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In 2021, the Houston Zen Center acquired a 40-acre rural property from the Margaret Austin Center and initiated a Master Plan to transform the site into a regional destination for Zen training, meditation, and ecological restoration. Designed to complement the Center’s primary urban campus in the Heights, the retreat will offer a place of stillness, reflection, and reconnection with nature.

The property’s existing buildings—added over time—currently provide lodging, dining, communal, and meditation spaces. The Master Plan proposes to repurpose and reprogram these structures, introduce new facilities, and create a coherent campus that resolves public-private boundaries. A restored native prairie and riparian forest landscape becomes both ecological infrastructure and spiritual setting. The degraded prairies and forest are transformed into thriving native ecosystems that increase biodiversity and resilience. A legible, accessible circulation network ensures ease of movement for a wide range of visitors, improved wayfinding, and improved walking meditation pathways.

Through close collaboration with the client and its membership community, the team established guiding principles to align site design, operations, and long-term stewardship. The multidisciplinary team—landscape architects, architects, and ecological restoration specialists—developed a strategy that minimizes built intervention and foregrounds the landscape. Proposed buildings are compact and carefully sited to preserve open views and reduce ecological impact.

A “communal spine” organizes the public realm, guiding visitors from arrival at the Welcome Building through shared spaces at the campus core. Private retreatant and teacher quarters are sited along the campus edges, offering quiet, contemplative views of the restored landscape. The spatial sequence—from entry to immersion—fosters reflection, accessibility, and connection to the land.

The Houston Zen Center’s Rural Retreat Master Plan demonstrates how spiritual organizations can lead in regenerative design, cultivating a place that supports both inner practice and ecological renewal.

Asheville, North Carolina

Builder/Developer: Think Build + Design | Structural Engineer: Scalene Design | Landscape: Halloran Design Studio