Alterstudio Architecture

Cuernavaca Residence

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

CUERNAVACA RESIDENCE

Alterstudio Architecture

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Kevin Alter, Ernesto Cragnolino, Tim Whitehill

PROGRAM / USE / BUILDING FUNCTION
Private Residence

MEP ENGINEER
Positive Energy, Kristof Irwin - Positive Energy

MANUFACTURERS
Dornbracht, Earthcore, Fleetwood, Ralph Pucci, Schwiess Door, Subzero, Vola

LANSCAPE DESIGN
Hocker Design Group

INTERIORS
Chupik Properties And Design, Viki Chupik - Chupik Properties And Design

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Risinger Homes

PHOTOGRAPHS
Casey Dunn

AREA
6864 ft²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Austin, United States

CATEGORY
Houses

The Cuernavaca Residence is the latest installment in an evolving constructed landscape on a family compound that is shared by the client and her sister.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

Nestled in a wooded lot, the home forms an ensemble with an existing pool house.

The latter’s board-formed concrete walls establish the material basis for the new residence, which is home to a family of five and includes two home offices.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

The house features a restrained vocabulary of rift-sawn oak, mill-finished steel, galvanized metal panels, and concrete.-

— that alternate in orientation (between vertical and horizontal) and pattern (among board-formed, sand-blasted, and bush-hammered).

Taken together, these materials create an environment rich in texture and animated by sun and shade over the course of a day.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

Located in Northwest Austin located just west of a stretch of the Colorado River, slipping between an existing pool house and a magnificent Live Oak, the house defines discrete terrains on the property.

Long views are established: east to the limestone shelf of the Colorado River; north to a rolling meadow; west to a grove of oaks and the shared pool house.

A 22-foot-tall porch, with an outdoor fireplace, provides an outdoor family room; a second-floor roof deck affords constant breezes and stunning views of the limestone cliffs.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

Aligned with these natural features, the house welcomes engagement with the circumstances of this particular landscape as the owners move through their home; further, the house provides a sense of the entire property in incidental moments.

Inside, dramatic vistas are omnipresent, and the house is alive with activity.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn

The raw texture of the concrete is presented against finely detailed walnut millwork and custom site-glazed window walls— which are framed with rift-sawn white oak and steel to form flitch plate mullions.

A meandering white oak ceiling defines the more intimate spaces within an open plan.

Moreover, rich walnut cabinetry, book-matched statuary countertops, monolithic limestone vanities, and delicate timber screens provide a point of stasis against the ubiquitous and dynamic circumstances of the place.

Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn
Cuernavaca Residence
© Casey Dunn


Cuernavaca Residence
East elevation
Cuernavaca Residence
West elevation
Cuernavaca Residence


Cuernavaca Residence
Plan - Site
Cuernavaca Residence
Plan - 1st floor
Cuernavaca Residence
Iso


Alterstudio Architecture
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Alterstudio Architecture
Cambridge Tower, 1801 Lavaca St #106, Austin, TX 78701, United States