2026 AIA Houston Home Tour

We’re pleased to announce that the Cherryhurst Residence will be featured on this year’s AIA Houston Home Tour. The two day tour, held November 7th and 8th, features custom homes in the Houston area designed by licensed architects.

The Tour raises funds for AIA Houston initiatives held throughout the year. Homes were selected based on design excellence, quality craftsmanship, innovative solutions, use of materials, and sustainability.

Full-Tour tickets may be purchaed in advance online and picked up at any one of the featured homes. Additionally, Full-Tour and Single Home Tickets may be purchased at any of the featured homes on the days of the tour.

We’ll be on site both days and hope to see you in November!

HRDD Receives AIA Houston Design Awards

HR Design Department was awarded two AIA Houston Design Awards on August 15! The AIA Houston Design Awards recognizes design excellence in architecture, residential architecture, interior architecture, restoration/renovation, and urban design. Projects are evaluated based on quality of design, resolution of the program idea, sustainable responsibility, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique. This year’s jury included Lori Ryker, Ph.D. (Studio Ryker), Jack Murphy (Architects Newspaper), and Jesus Robles, Assoc. AIA (DUST).

HRDD’s Joyce Residence was awarded in the Renovation category:

“The project is at a wonderful scale and has an overall coherency. We liked this idea of the connecting the new with a mirroring of the previous. It’s such a lovely space that gets carved into the roofline.” - Lori Ryker

The Menil Bungalows and Accessory Dwelling Units received recognition in the Residential category:

“We appreciated the architectural diagram of the intervention of the light well through the spaces, as well as the ADUs nod to the bungalow typology but with a subtle restraint and twist into a new form. We appreciated all that it was proposing for the neighborhood - aesthetically, formally, spatially.” - Jesus Robles

Here’s a link to all the night’s award winners!

Avondale Residence Receives AIA Houston Design Award

We’re excited to share that the Avondale Residence received an AIA Houston Design Award last night. The jurors were Sharon Johnston, FAIA of Johnston Marklee, and Andrea Love AIA LEED Fellow, of Payette. The AIA Houston Design Awards program recognizes design excellence in architecture, residential architecture, interior architecture, restoration/renovation, and urban design. Criteria to be used by the jury include quality of design, resolution of the program idea, sustainable responsibility, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique.

A big thank you to all those who contributed to the success of this renovation including Todd Santee of Santee Engineering, the amazing team at Park Lane Builders, XO Design Group’s landscape, Toner Home Matters, Divya Pande’s photos and Lambrakos Studio’s support with styling — and most importantly, Divya Pande and Nakul Gupta for trusting all of us with their home!

Our team is also thrilled that Content Architecture received an award for the Will Rice Magister’s house on Rice University’s campus. HRDD’s Marcel Merwin, Gail Chen, Eric Hughes, and Heather Rowell all contributed to the design while at the firm.

You can see all of the award winners from last night here!

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Delz Residence Outdoor Living

This year marks five years since the Delz Residence was completed! A renovation of an auto mechanic's shop, this award-winning residence and studio was completed in 2016 while we were at Content. The owners, Karin Broker and Mark Witte, asked HRDD to design an outdoor fireplace and canopy extension to the existing structure. Recently, we visited the project with photographer Pete Molick to celebrate the anniversary and enjoy the new addition.

In the 2016 adaptive reuse, two renovated metal buildings were stitched together by a simple shed canopy. After settling into the home, the owners decided to add an outdoor fireplace and expand the outdoor covered space by extending the existing canopy. HRDD designed a fireplace “wall” that serves to help protect the outdoor space from wind-driven rain and offers an additional privacy layer from the neighboring property. The fireplace is clad in large format porcelain (Neolith through our friends at La Nova Tile here in Houston) and rests on a concrete plinth. Designed to be a multi-tasker, the back of the fireplace notches for an entertaining buffet counter or weekend re-potting tasks.

The Delz Residence was awarded a 2016 AIA Houston Design Award. It has been published by Houstonia, Dwell, and Houzz.

TxA Conference in Galveston

Last week, hundreds of architects gathered in Galveston for the Texas Society of Architect’s Annual Conference + Design Expo - the 80th of its kind. This year’s theme, “IMMERSION: Knowledge. Resilience. Inclusion” included discussions aimed at acknowledging and tackling the issues facing architects and our built environment today.

HRDD was honored to participate by leading two roundtable discussions we’re passionate about. On Friday, Heather - with Dianne Kett AIA - led a discussion on how bias impacts the professional development of women as part of the Women in Architecture Roundtable. During Saturday’s Emerging Leader Roundtable - Eric, Heather, and kinneymorrow’s Michael Morrow led a candid discussion on owning a small practice called “Small. Firm. Round Table.”

We’re already looking forward to next year’s conversations in Dallas!

AND - we encourage fellow architects and designers to consider attending the 2020 TxA Design Conference in February. “PASSAGE” will take place in El Paso:

Looking north, two mountain ranges loom with a chasm between them. El Paso’s literal translation is “The Pass.” Applied to people, time, literature, and geography “passage” is an open word that prompts questions. It can be used to apportion meaning, to define limits, or present a way through. El Paso/Juarez, as the world’s largest borderplex, is an excellent place to investigate how overlapping, interchanging, complex social and geographic factors can impact design.

Eric has been working with a great team on the TxA Design Conference Committee to help make the event a success!