Barton Hills Addition / Murray Legge Architecture

Architects: Murray Legge Architecture
Location: Austin, United States
Architect In Charge: Murray Legge
Area: 2000.0 ft2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Andrea Calo

Designer: Travis Avery

From the architect. Sited on a beautifully wooded property on the western slopes of Barton Hills, this renovation, and expansion of an existing split-level house engages the land by both carving into rising and out of the ground.

A new master suite nestles half-buried into the ground alongside a stand of oak and elm trees in the center of the property. From the interior of the master bedroom, a wall of expansive glazing frames an immersive view of the trees and landscape. Tapered parallel strand columns elegantly support custom steel window frames and blend in with the background field of dark tree trunks. From the exterior, the window wall reflects the surrounding vegetation and new pool at the opposite end of the property.

The second floor with bedrooms and an exterior porch rises up into the tree canopy. A glazing strategy similar to the ground floor window wall provides wide views towards the west, but with off-the-shelf window units in lieu of a custom system. Each bedroom receives light from multiple directions to create spaces with abundant natural illumination.