The Scenario: On a Texas mesa with panoramic views, native vegetation and mature trees, the daughter of an oilman wanted a family compound to remind her of the hill country summers of her childhood. "I want my kids to get dirty and be around animals, snakes, and spiders, the way I did with my sisters," says Manhattan-based interiors designer Sara Story.
The Challenge: To site the buildings—including a main house, guest house, swimming pool, pool pavilion, and tennis court and pavilion—on a 400-acre central Texas property in a way that would preserve the native eco-system and take advantage of views without disturbing mature live oak and juniper trees or habitats of wildlife (including wild pigs and turkeys and white-tailed deer).
The Solution: At the end of a half-mile-long driveway, a ranch house sits on the tabletop surrounded by drought-tolerant prairie grasses and meadows of wildflowers (90 percent of the plants are natives). In collaboration with Story, who is an interiors designer, Texas-based architects Lake|Flato worked with landscape architects Studio Outside to take advantage of the site's best features—sunlight, breezes, and postcard-perfect views of distant mountains—to connect the new buildings with the landscape and larger surrounding property (in all, Story has 400 acres):
Above: Photograph via Studio Outside.
Landscape architects Studio Outside sited the half-mile-long entrance road to take advantage of views, with curves and turns designed to create "an immersive experience" for visitors as they drive past the tennis and pool pavilions on their way to the main house.
Above: Photograph via Studio Outside.
On the mesa's tabletop sits an L-shaped main house with rough Texas limestone walls, metal-framed windows, and black louvered jalousies.
Above:& Photograph via Studio Outside.
Imposing Texas limestone walls screen the six-car parking court from view from the two-story house.
Above: Photograph via Studio Outside.
Walls of windows frame views of mature trees.
Above: Photograph via Studio Outside.
A patio of sandblasted concrete connects the children's wing to the rest of the house. Paths and patios of black gravel visually tie together distant sections of the property.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
Vintage Thonet chairs and a marble topped table sit in a breakfast alcove with a leather covered banquette and louvered windows to encourage a cross flow of breezes.
Photograph via Studio Outside.
Sectional seating by Gloster has a low profile to focus attention on the fire pit. A permeable black gravel patio surrounds the pit.
Above: Photograph via Studio Outside.
Species of opuntia cactus look like sculpture, planted in grassy strips of spiky bluesteam near the main house.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
Playing with texture, a smooth limestone staircase contrasts with a rough stone support wall.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
Born in Japan, Story grew up in Singapore and Houston and studied interior architecture at San Francisco’s Academy of Art before moving to Manhattan and working for designer Victoria Hagan. In 2003 she launched her own company, Sara Story Design.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
Each building in the compound is designed as a separate destination.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
Inspired by the Barcelona Pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe, the pool house xxxx; at poolside are a pair of B & B Italia chaise longues.
Above: Photograph via Sara Story.
The tennis pavilion walls are stacked Texas limestone.
For more of our favorite Texas landscapes, see:
- Facade Fix: 9 Ways to Add Curb Appeal with Corrugated Metal Siding.
- Steal This Look: A Minimalist Marfa Exterior Space.
- Hotels & Lodging: Hotel San José by Lake|Flato.
- A Texas Garden Where the Rare and Endangered Flourish.
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