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Perched at the pinnacle of a cliff-lined bend on Lake Austin, Texas, this striking contemporary house by Austin-based A Parallel Architecture is unlike anything you’ve seen on the water. The home’s light floating roofs are anchored to the site by heavy rusticated limestone masses, with the structure’s footprint spread wide among mature sycamore, cypress, and pecan trees.
This 4,600 square foot house welcomes one from suburban living through a focused entry procession and into another world — one of jungle-like woods, rocky outcrops, and meandering waterways. Carefully sited to embrace these sweeping protected views, the home also plays off the hillside’s steep drop, offering dramatic vertical panoramas, from water’s edge below to high bluffs overhead.
At the glassy center of the home, the structural system is exposed to reveal a rhythmic steel vertebrate that organizes the primary public spaces and provides definition and scale to the spacious rooms.
A warm interior palette of oak, mahogany, and cedar serves as a soft counterpoint to the glass and stone, exuding a relaxed livability paramount to the homeowner. The design also delivers on sustainability, with onsite geothermal climate control, waste treatment, and water collection, along with a large boat dock, fishing pier, and sandy beach for full lakeside immersion.
A covered entry procession through the live oaks
A series of lofted central living spaces are defined by a pair of massive masonry volumes, which in turn support a series of thin floating roof planes and cantilevered balconies that strategically frame unlikely ridgeline views hundreds of feet above the site itself. Secondary program is tucked under low-slung roof lines, subservient to the boughs of existing live oaks.
Lofted living room anchored by massive masonry volumes
Vertically threading through the atrium-like core of the home, a minimal steel and glass stair delicately connects the lofted living spaces to the light-filled guest quarters below, which in turn have direct access to the lower site amenities, including a swimming pool terrace, gardens and detached boat house.
A kitchen designed to frame the treetops and water beyond
Dining with a view of the lake and bluffs
A steel and glass stair threads through the atrium core
A home office tucked beneath low-slung rooflines
Bedroom retreat with canopy-level views of Lake Austin
What We Love About This Home
This lakefront refuge offers a warm aesthetic despite its contemporary design, courtesy of its heavy use of wood. Stylish furnishings and accessories creates an inviting feel, while large windows draws in nature and natural light. This home’s elevated design makes you feel like you are living above the tree canopy, providing a relaxed living environment for all who reside here.
Tell Us: What are your overall thoughts on the design of this home? Do you think you would feel at peace residing in this dwelling? Let us know in the Comments!
Note: Take a look at another fabulous home tour that we have featured here on One Kindesign from the portfolio of the architects of this home, A Parallel Architecture: Inside a mid-century home reimagined with stunning details on Lake Austin.
A spa-like bathroom with warm wood and natural stone
A swimming pool terrace and gardens overlooking the water
Lower site amenities include a swimming pool terrace, gardens and detached boat house.
The view from above: rooflines floating over the forest
PHOTOGRAPHER Andrew Pogue
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