Sited directly off the creek banks of a tributary to the
Guadalupe River, this floating structure was erected to serve as a
sanctuary for both music and health. The
program with-in the single volume space is two-fold, acting both as a yoga
studio as well as a music room. The open
plan and reclaimed sinker-cypress floor planks coupled with an array of
specialty wall plates for yoga poses and stretches render this space ideal as a
yoga and music studio. The dual corner windows flanking the lone steel column
bath early morning light upon the baby-grand piano bounded by the two cypress
walls that define an intimate space for personal musical reflection. Perfect acoustics are achieved through the wooden
walls and floor, which direct and amplify the performance that resonates along
the cypress tree lined creek bank.
The
project was sited within the flood plain, and floats above the land, on oil rig
steel pipe pilotes. The elevated perspective provides an intimate relationship and
panoramic view to the river bank and waterfall dam of the West Sister Creek, a
tributary to the Guadalupe River. Three
miles away Frederick Law Olmsted described the heritage cypress tree lined
horse shoe bend of this river as the prettiest place in Texas in his 1857 Journey Through Texas.
The use
of reclaimed sinker cypress for both the floor and wall panels was selected to resonate
with the scenic cypress trees which rise from the creek banks. The alternating bands of the board grain
color subtly recall the earth strata displayed in boring logs and the super
structure is made of welded oil field pipe, as homage to five generations of the
family legacy within the oil industry.