The Deep Eddy Residence is a modern single family home designed by Baldridge Architects in an older neighborhood in west Austin, Texas. The owners, a couple, wished to create a modern refuge and to regain some of the privacy they had previously enjoyed prior to the construction of a looming residence immediately to the west and uphill from their home. In their words, they felt as if they lived in a fishbowl.

Built in the worst part of the “great recession”, the particulars of the design shifted and moved with the exigencies of the budget. The house features fully customized detailing and constitutes a truly green project featuring natural ventilation throughout, a sod roof, foam insulation, insulated 8″ walls throughout, low VOC paint, pine floors, etc. Moreover, we featured an adaptive and organic design process where subsequent design gestures were routinely questioned and tweaked, often using the spoils from earlier construction to achieve elegant and unexpected results.

The 2,500 square foot home provides an open and light environment for its owners, featuring dramatic views of downtown Austin, while addressing the concerns about privacy and drainage. Despite its stark modern lines, the home “fits” in the neighborhood in both context and scale. Most of the exterior is covered in Corten steel.

Kitchen counters made of hot rolled steel, a concrete floor and a stairway built from off-the-shelf lumber provided low-cost modernism.

What was going to be a stone wall in the screened porch is now economical white pine. The fireplace surround was made of steel left over  when architects built the window frames.

A tree-house home office and studio.

Warm materials like a steel countertop balance the modern form of the building.

The architects installed clerestory windows and glass railings to maintain the airiness of the central double-height space. On the level below the TV area, screen doors open onto an “outdoor living room.”

Narrow windows maintain privacy on the side of the home facing a neighbor’s three-story house. On the other side, the facade is mostly glass.

Street-front of the Deep Eddy Residence, featuring its sod roof front yard.

Photos: Courtesy of Baldridge Architects