Project Description
The contemporary family home and studio is located just North East of the small city of Fredericksburg located in the Texas Hill Country. The compact 2,400 s.f. 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home is conceived around the original “German Sunday Houses” that offered weekend retreats for families leaving the larger cities for a weekend getaway. These homes located on ranch lands or close to the “main street” shopping areas were focused on a main living building “barn” like form and then framed by a growing series of attached Porches-some infilled for growing program needs. These smaller weekend retreats dot the landscape of the region-using local materials of stone and exposed wood rafter in a barn like fashion and as families grew- small shed additions added to the main structure as needed. Although a primary residence, the design concept followed vernacular buildings of the area with a contemporary focus- complete built shed “additions” engaging the year round outside living lifestyle of the area. The 2.5 acre parcel of land offers a unique hidden compound for living away from the street surrounded by mature oak trees –bounded by a river to the East. The simplicity of materials are organized around the primary building elements in ordered fashion-masonry stucco for the main central building, corrugated metal roofed shed roof porch “wings” with exposed Douglas fir timber framing and clad in naturally rusting steel to continue the historical barn feel but in a more contemporary nature. The 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home and detached garage carefully connect the historical scaled structures but firmly placing its contemporary usefulness with open and modern interior living spaces. Outdoor connections are reinforced with year round utilized screen porches as well as open areas on all sides to connect the home with its surroundings.