There are architectural firms that work on design ideas and then wait for a willing client to underwrite the build. These firms tend to have a signature style, recognizable through iterations of projects. Alterstudio prefers design ideas to spark from the lives of its clients and the features of the site and neighborhood.
“I’m always a little suspicious when the work of architects all looks the same,” says Kevin Alter. “You have to have enough modesty to know it’s the clients’ house. It needs to speak to them and their place in the world.”
For this award-winning project, the client’s happy place is in the kitchen—it and adjacent dining and living spaces are the heart of the home. She also wanted everything on one level to facilitate aging in place, and she requested private spaces at a remove from the main hub.
Alterstudio delivered this and more in an Austin neighborhood that’s transitioning from modest low-slung homes to more imposing structures. To strike a balance between the two, the firm anchored a steel bar atop an arrangement of limestone-clad boxes. The surprise is that this is still a one-level house, and that bar contains a series of light monitors that add volume and natural light in key interior spaces.
Said one judge, “I think this move on the top is very successful when you look at it in section. It carves light deep into the space. What that light does from the inside out is really lovely.”
Citation
Custom Urban House
Alterstudio Architecture
Westbrook Residence
Austin, Texas
Project Credits
Architect: Kevin Alter, Ernesto Cragnolino, Tim Whitehill, partners; Will Powell, Michael Woodland, Shelley McDavid, project architects, Alterstudio Architecture, Austin, Texas
Interior Designer: Haifa Hammami, Alterstudio Architecture
Builder: Gery Wilde, Wilde Custom Homes, Austin
Landscape Architect: Shaney Clemmons, Shademaker Studio, Austin
Project size: 3,494 square feet
Site size: 0.41 acre
Construction Cost: Withheld
Photography: Casey Dunn
Key Products
Cooktop: Miele
Countertops: Caesarstone
Dishwashers: Thermador
Entry doors: Western Window Systems (full-lite doors)
Faucets: Grohe, Rohl, DXV
Fireplace: EcoSmart
Garbage Disposers: InSinkErator
Refrigerators: Thermador (kitchen); Liebherr (pantry freezer)
Paints/Stains: Sherwin-Williams, Rubio Monocoat
Sinks: Franke (kitchen, pantry), Kohler (primary)
Tile: Ann Sacks, Porcelanosa, Daltile
Toilets: TOTO
Wall Ovens: Thermador
Windows: Marvin