Lake Belton House

Set on a sloping three-acre lot amid the oaks and junipers of Central Texas, this sustainable home comprises a residence and guest suite organized around a central courtyard with a patio, pool, and preserved mature trees. A formal play on the ranch house vernacular, the design establishes a clear boundary between wild and controlled landscapes, with views to both. The house’s form reinforces this duality: While the stone walls encircling the courtyard are geometrically pure, the walls of the exterior perimeter are irregular, responding to the native terrain; similarly, the inner courtyard overhang forms a perfect square, contrasting with the irregular roofline, sloped to direct water to collection points. Eaves channel rainwater into a 39,000-gallon cistern, while photovoltaic panels offset 95% of energy use, ensuring self-sufficiency and resilience against Texas’s growing climate challenges.

“Lake Belton House combines a typical typology of the gabled roof with interesting punctures of new geometries that allow for playful interior locations, and when those are coupled with the many apertures that allow in light through the exterior, the building begins to blend with the landscape.”

—Germane Barnes, RA