An Artist's Retreat

This contemporary residence challenges the boundary between architecture and artwork, treating the house as both object and medium. The project integrates creative work, art display, and everyday living into a cohesive whole that can adapt over time. Privacy is maintained at the street while the home opens to the rear, engaging landscape, light, and outdoor spaces while remaining calm and understated within its neighborhood.

The exterior expression is intentionally restrained. Texas limestone and stucco, limited to a white and off-white palette, create a neutral envelope that supports artwork, landscape, and shifting light without visual competition. A subtly recessed and partially concealed front entrance reinforces privacy and preserves the continuity of the home’s striking façade — a recurring motif that carries through to the interior.

The sloping lot directly informed the home’s massing and sectional organization. A cantilevered media room extends over the grade, increasing basement exposure and bringing daylight into the artist studio below. Landscape design was developed in step with the architecture, integrating outdoor amenities as natural extensions of the interior experience.

The home’s design prioritizes sustainability, with performance exceeding code minimums across multiple systems. The flat roof is designed for solar panels, and R-60 insulation enhances thermal performance. An ERV system provides conditioned outside air while exhausting stale interior air, improving indoor air quality without sacrificing energy efficiency. A green roof overlooking the pool reduces energy loads, manages stormwater runoff, and improves durability.

GTM provided architectural, interior architecture, and interior design services. Explore the interior architecture and interior design.