Sep 12, 2019
All physical ugliness and social ugliness have strong concomitants and roots. Incredibly, there is rampant today all manner of hate…
01/03
Design Awards
Volume 69, Issue 5 - Design Awards
Sep / Oct 2019
2019 Design Awards: House at Rainbo Lake
Location Henderson County
Architect Max Levy Architect
Design Team Max Levy, FAIA; Tom Manganiello
Contractor Stan Huffhines
Structural Engineer Lobsinger + Potts
Landscape Architect Hocker Design Group
The House at Rainbo Lake exists as a weekend retreat for an extended family of nature enthusiasts. Each room is a separate building, fostering gathering or solitude when desired. The project sits on a swampy wooded site with a large alligator population; therefore, each building is lifted two feet off the ground. Screened-in porches and bridges connect the different structural elements while keeping insects at bay. Breezes comb between, under, and through the rooms, and geothermal HVAC systems are available when it becomes too hot or too cold. The architect worked within a modest budget and also injected a sense of festivity into the project via the rainbow skylight colors, a nod to the location.
Also from this issue
Sep 12, 2019
We are a peculiar profession. A surprising number of folks will tell you that they had always wanted to be…
Sep 12, 2019
Real estate development in Houston throughout its history has been mostly unremarkable, the minimum product of pro formas and adherence…
Sep 12, 2019
If you hop the fence for a closer look at the Seaholm Intake Building, you’ll find little bits of graffiti…
Sep 12, 2019
Many Austinites could be forgiven for failing to recognize their own public, classical radio station. Despite being an institution whose…
Sep 12, 2019
Giedion and America By Reto Geiser GTA Verlag, 2018 The title of the art historian Sigfried Giedion’s best-selling work, “Space,…
Sep 12, 2019
Lot By Bryan Washington Penguin Random House, 2019 Bryan Washington’s short story collection “Lot” rotates throughout the vast sprawl of…
Sep 12, 2019
Life is often a waiting game, but designers can make the wait as comfortable and practical as possible with these…
Sep 12, 2019
The Texas Society of Architects 2019 Design Award jury met on May 9 and 10 in Austin to review 247…
Sep 10, 2019
Two words can be used to summarize this building — joyous and delightful. The use, location, and scale of a…
Sep 10, 2019
We’re dealing with a basic layer of glass, but this was an example of how to get a glass facade…
Sep 10, 2019
This is a sensitive addition that retains the spirit of the original architect and the original building without being subservient…
Sep 10, 2019
A play between solid and void, in combination with the playfully disguised parking structure, animates and breaks the building’s scale.…
Sep 10, 2019
There’s a tenuous but beautifully well-balanced relationship between a rule of vernacular language and a certain kind of modern minimalism.…
Sep 10, 2019
I think there was a certain joy expressed by the architects in their singularity. — Eui-Sung Yi
Sep 10, 2019
Such exuberance in the way it ties back to the landscape. The beauty you get of the petal structure, and…
Sep 10, 2019
Public space has to make individuals feel comfortable, and this project does that extraordinarily well. It’s exuberant and surprising in…
Sep 10, 2019
The firm is really masterful about the proportions of the structure, so that what is thin is thin and what…
Sep 10, 2019
This is clean; it’s simple; it occupies its site very well. It’s a type of monument that people deserve in…
Sep 10, 2019
Every little detail was carefully done. I think it’s the single best piece of architecture that’s dedicated to just a…
Sep 10, 2019
In an era where bleachers are ubiquitous, this one looks really purposeful. — Julie Eizenberg
Sep 10, 2019
To me, this is an architectural version of a well-tailored suit in the sense that it’s purposeful, I understand the…
Sep 10, 2019
We saw many masterful examples of rustic houses. This one had a particularly evocative clarity and minimalism that highlighted the…
Sep 10, 2019
It’s got a gentle spirit and it looks like a place you can make a mess. It’s got beautiful proportions,…
Sep 09, 2019
It’s almost like the building is going to pick itself up and move off or levitate, in the way that…
Sep 09, 2019
These don’t feel like kid spaces. They’re architecturally pleasing. — Chris-Annmarie Spencer
Sep 09, 2019
This is classic, rustic, Texas rural. — Carol Ross Barney
Sep 09, 2019
The performing and visual arts live so well with each other here, it’s impressive. It’s also a great combination of…
Sep 09, 2019
Their budget restrictions gave them the opportunity to do things that might not have been conventional for a homeowner to…
Sep 09, 2019
It’s really clean and tight; it makes you feel the way you feel when you’ve just cleaned your house. Decluttering…
Sep 09, 2019
I love how light the entire structure is, especially contrasted with these heavy, heavy tractors, so the architecture is floating…
Sep 09, 2019
I feel like it’s talking to you. It’s a highly communicative little building. — Julie Eizenberg
Sep 09, 2019
It’s just to say that design adds something to everything, and that somebody cared enough to do this and it…
Sep 09, 2019
It’s creating new spaces. You don’t create something like this for its sellability. — Chris-Annmarie Spencer
Sep 09, 2019
The farm-to-table is actually being celebrated in a type of space that patrons will come to without thinking about the…
Sep 09, 2019
Deep in the hills of Utopia, John Grable, FAIA, has been working with a private client for over 10 years,…