MFA APPROACHES PROJECTS A LITTLE MORE thoughtfully than most, with an almost esoteric, metaphysical exploration of a concept. This home epitomizes the uniqueness of this process.
The clients approached MFA about building a home on the property, which they had owned for some time. They had been venturing out on weekends, enjoying the various areas of the site via camping chairs and a bottle of wine —taking in the very essence of the landscape, both beneath their feet and as far as the eye could see.
“They had a fair amount of intimate experience with the property and certainly had their own ideas about how the house might take shape or exist within the site, but they wanted our team to experience the site through our own eyes and form our own opinions. Ultimately, we were in close alignment with where to site the project within the two-acre property and agreed that the naturally flat “shelves,” uphill from the point of entry, would make for, not only a more cost-effective condition for the foundation, but also one that would naturally capture breezes, views and solar angles,” said MFA Principal Architect Sarah Johnson, who was the project manager for the project. “The clients wanted something that had a Hill Country aesthetic but was also timeless and modern. We interpreted this as direction to use natural materials, regional roof forms and a formal logic that would be influenced on the flow and function of the inhabitants.”
It became clear that the home would exist in a linear fashion along the length of the curved shelves of the site, and as one moves through the home, from one space to the next, there was a natural rhythm taking shape between the solid and the void. The solid elements are thickened, masonry walls that act to collect all of the private and/or bulky elements of a typical home: storage, equipment, lavatories, etc. By collecting these elements within these walls, it allows the space between to be completely open to capture views, daylight and breezes across the site. The architecture dissolves as much as possible in these void spaces to connect the owner with the very reason they fell in love with the property in the first place.
One of the widest thickened masses, adjacent to the home’s entry, holds private space for a guest and a dark, cozy media/flex room. The area between the open entry and open living room contains a storage space, a powder room and stair run that descends into the bedrock of the site to a wine room and storage/mechanical space below ground.
Again, all spaces considered private and or “back-of-house” in nature. Considering all the intricacies of the site, of the user, are an inherent part of the process for Sarah and MFA. “We are advocates of sustainability, but we also appreciate that sustainability can manifest in many ways and at its root meaning, is simply how a building sustains. This can take shape through rainwater collection and solar arrays, but it can also be a consideration of the materials used — materials of the earth and natural to the site — or even in the way we site a building and maneuver it for solar exposure/ protection and natural breezes,” said Sarah.
“Ultimately, the idea was to create a building that felt like it belonged to the site but was also differential to the site. A structure that would provide the client with the modern comforts of a home while still evoking the sense of being within the natural landscape, which they loved so much. I think we achieved that,” said Sarah.
MATT FAJKUS ARCHITECTURE
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