Bluffview

Conceived as an urban camp, Bluffview sits on a narrow lot in a historic Dallas neighborhood, a hidden gem among its surrounding traditional houses. Four modules, pulled far back from the site’s main street, convert a central courtyard of mature trees into a lush living room with a carpet of thick grass. A large porch connects the main house and outdoor living room, where the family spends most of their time enjoying the outdoors.

There was a simplicity to these buildings and a strange urbanism about it that we could imagine these being placed on sites in different ways. It was a representation of some of the familiar South Texas vernacular in a way that was quite stripped down and became extremely contemporary and really wonderfully done well. Brian Phillips, AIA, LEED AP

Juror, AIA San Antonio Design Awards

A series of connected, customized modules create the main house, and two modules serve as stand-alone guest houses with wide, transparent openings to the central outdoor living room, fostering an ambiance of community living.

Each module sits on concrete slabs suspended on piers, allowing the structure to float above the tree roots below so that water may successfully reach and preserve the trees that are delicately poised between the main structure’s L-shape.