House 2L

San Antonio, Texas

A compact house for a family approaching a critical transition – two daughters preparing to leave the nest and two parents preparing to be empty nesters – the design facilitates both launching and landing. Twin studio accommodations in a projecting volume under a butterfly roof encourage flight. The units, similar to urban apartments, are open shafts of space with glazed end walls offering elevated views. When vacated, these rooms will become home offices for the parents. An elevator connecting the subterranean, grade and tree top levels allows this to be a landing pad, or forever home, despite the residence’s vertical organization.

The structure is approached along an edge condition separating a flat manicured bocci terrace from a natural cascading hillside. Water collected from the butterfly roof’s valley fills a reflecting pool and excess spills into a runnel before meandering down the contoured property. A series of threshold conditions along the entry sequence between the street and the concealed covered entry mark the transition from public to private realms. Inside, a catwalk overlooking the double-height great room is a pseudo-runway, a nod to mother’s former modeling career. Oriented to the rear, this primary space opens to a covered patio and projecting pool set within a green-walled private landscape.