The home's outer walls were dry-stacked with limestone cut from a Texas Granbury quarry, and its gabled roof was made with weathered Cor-Ten steel that emits the same maverick spirit as a Richard Serra sculpture. The freestanding fireplace just inside the courtyard was even salvaged from the old house’s living room. Clean stucco walls contrast with the grass and trees, while reclaimed wood siding complement them.
Image courtesy of Charles Smith.Sometimes you have to let go of a good idea in order to pursue a great one. After several design studies for a remodel of a 1960s ranchburger-style home in Dallas, Texas, Braxton Werner and Paul Field of Wernerfield Architects convinced their clients to scrap the plan altogether. The original house was oddly situated on its one-acre wooded lot, and it didn’t engage well with a large pond at the back of the property. In its place, the architects proposed “a sprawling, single-story home tucking under the canopy of mature trees” near the water, Field explains. There would be less street noise, more privacy, and improved views—all in all, a better environment in which the husband and wife could raise their two young children. Their new 4,800-square-foot residence in the Preston Hollow neighborhood is warm and inviting, yet unapologetically modern.
