Houston, vast and manmade as it is, remains a city of intense light,
heat, humidity, and the ever present foliage of the live oak tree canopy.
To build a house for a single retired woman who wished to relocate
from the suburbs to a location where she could engage the ?city?, we opened up
a program defined by two overlapping bars, exposing the house to nature and the
passing city while preserving privacy.
The client?s primary living
area fills the lower bar, and is crossed above by the guest house for her
extended family. The diagram of the bars creates two zones centered around the
front and rear yards. Each yard - one engaging the city and one embracing the
privacy of the interior ? flows seamlessly into the interior through the
opposing ?picture windows?.