I really appreciate that, at least from the street, it’s not overly scaled. It feels residential, but it’s also, in a way, grand, like these oaks are grand, when it needs to be.”
— Thomas Robinson, AIA
Location Austin
Clients David and Janet Cooper
Architect Alterstudio Architecture
Design Team Kevin Alter, Ernesto Cragnolino, FAIA, Tim Whitehill, Michael Woodland, AIA, Matt Slusarek, AIA, Haifa Hammami, Shelley McDavid, AIA
Contractor Abode Modern Homes
Structural Engineer MJ Structures
Landscape Architect Aleman Design Build
Geotechnical Engineer Capital Geotechnical Services
The Alta Vista Residence is situated at the edge of an escarpment between several live oak trees. A delicate roof defines the entry and carport and floats above a vertical-board-formed concrete wall. Visitors pass under the limbs of a magnificent live oak and across a modest bridge to enter the home, which opens onto the canopies of two more live oaks via glass panels that slide into an adjacent wall. Concrete is set against rift-sawn white oak, anchoring the interiors against the pull of the outdoors, and abstraction is used to focus attention on the subtlety of light, material, and circumstance. An ADU and extra 1,300 sf below the entry level take advantage of the change in section, tucking unobtrusively into the hillside.