AIA Houston

2024 AIA Houston Home Tour Featured Home Heights Regency Architect: Greg Roffino Firm: Benjamin Johnston Design This Hollywood Regency-inspired home captures the essence of Neoclassical elegance with a contemporary twist. Completed in 2023, the two-story residence showcases a symmetrically balanced façade with slender metal columns and entablature, complemented by meticulously crafted brick coursing, rustication, and detailing that frames window and door fenestrations. Landscaping softens the clean-lined exterior, highlighting the side-garden orientation. Situated on an urban lot with wide frontage but limited depth, the design optimizes the courtyard garden and pool to the south, leveraging natural light and prevailing breezes. The garden, enclosed by a brick surround capped in stone, features a 55-foot lap pool and a projecting portico that offers a harmonious break in the prominent side façade, linking the architectural and landscape elements. Inside, the residence seamlessly merges classical architectural elements with modern design features. The first and second floors revolve around a central Atrium illuminated by a 16-foot-long skylight. This dynamic space, filled with shifting sunlight throughout the day, is anchored by eight fluted columns and Greek entablatures, creating dramatic geometries highlighted by the changing light conditions. The first floor is designed for entertainment, while the private spaces are arranged around the Atrium on the second floor. Architectural details such as herringbone floors, marble casings, modillion cornices, and paneling create a harmonious balance with contemporary lighting, artwork, and furnishings. The primary staircase is centrally located at the rear, following a procession through the striking fluted Foyer and Atrium. Home Tour Dates: Saturday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Nov. 3 Noon - 6:00PM Last entry 5:45PM each day. Tickets required: https://lnkd.in/gg4kx7xW Pictures courtesy of Julie Soefer

2024 AIA Houston Home Tour Featured Home Modest Modern Architect: Mark Schatz, FAIA Firm: m + a architecture An affordable small modern addition to, and renovation of, a historic small 1910 Queen Anne Houston Heights Residence. This project involved a 1200 square foot modern addition to a historic / protected 1910 Queen Anne house of about 1500 square feet in the Houston Heights. The addition involved a completely new kitchen and breakfast area, reworked first floor living areas, and the addition of second floor children’s rooms, playroom, baths, laundry and mechanical spaces. The design maintains the luxurious spatial character of the existing rear yard, preserving both a large live oak and 100 year old magnolia tree, by compressing the new addition to the rear of the existing house while opening up several new diagonal site lines that vastly expand and integrate site lines from inside to out. A new small swimming pool was added to the side yard, adding specific zone functionality, while allowing the back yard to stay a large open, shaded space, – which is the exact opposite of new homes in the neighborhood that build to all the lot lines. Here spatial quality, place, calmness, and shade are the considerations. The owners wanted a thoroughly modern addition, but keeping with the existing historic house: existing proportions and datums were translated as part of the new design, and the scale then varied. New and old materials were blended and often reinterpreted: The historic wood siding being updated on the addition by use of Gendai siding (pending). This modest project is intended be an affirmation of the Epicurean: Smaller and Finer are better, and more Obtainable for More People than the bombastic builder type house. Home Tour Dates: Saturday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Nov. 3 Noon - 6:00PM Last entry 5:45 each day. Tickets required: https://lnkd.in/gg4kx7xW Pictures courtesy of Benjamin Hill.

2024 AIA Houston Home Tour Featured Home Roaring Brook Residence Architect: Stephen Andrews, AIA Firm: studioMET Architects This home sits on a nearly half-acre lot, Roaring Brook Residence is a 5,500 sf two-story home. The property is situated at the end of a quiet street. The overall design concept was to create privacy from the street while still immersing the family with views and connections to outdoor spaces. Over 20 existing oak and pine trees were preserved. These trees played a role in the design, impacting layout and views. The upper level is cladded in metal siding while the lower level base of the home utilizes a warm earth tone masonry, both selected for durability and ease of maintenance. The first floor consists of the main living areas, master suite and a study room. The second floor consists of four secondary bedrooms and a family room. Home Tour Dates: Saturday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Nov. 3 Noon - 6:00PM Last entry 5:45PM each day Tickets required. Purchase at https://lnkd.in/g3mcS84r Pictures courtesy of Luis Ayala.

We are very excited to announce the addition of Porcelanosa as our Take-A-Break Sponsor! Stop by the Porcelanosa showroom any time between 10:30AM and 5:00PM on the days of the Tour to enjoy coffee, refreshments, and snacks - all free courtesy of Porcelanosa! Also, take the opportunity to view the showroom and socialize with other Home Tour attendees! Porcelanosa 4006 Richmond Ave Saturday Nov. 2nd and Sunday, Nov. 3rd 10:30AM-5:00PM Purchase tickets to the Home Tour: https://lnkd.in/g3mcS84r

2024 AIA Houston Home Tour Featured Home Viking Residence Architect: Greg Swedberg, AIA Firm: 2Scale Architects While their hectic work environments surround them with cold contemporary vocabulary of office-life, we wanted to create spaces that reference the clients’ passion for antiquing, fun patterns, and the value of craftsmanship found in traditional decor. We sought to balance their appreciation for vintage aesthetics with the demands for resilience and energy efficiency through distinctive textures, furniture-quality cabinetry, antique brass fixtures with high performance walls, windows, and building systems. Functionality is paramount as the mudroom includes a counter for Amazon returns and the husband has a privacy-focused office nook. The wife’s mother couldn’t visit their previous home, so in response we created a stylish wheelchair accessible bedroom suite. On the more playful side, the home features two secret doors: one providing discreet access to the primary closet, facilitating early gym visits without disturbance, and another concealing a beverage bar under the stairs. In an effort to block the prototypical back fence, droopy power lines, and nosy 2-story neighbor, we designed a charming cottage as a bookend to the property, concealing pool equipment and echoing the main house’s style. I believe the inclusion of this home on the AIA Tour alongside the usual contemporary homes will remind our constituents that quality architecture is not required to be zippy, sterile, and provocative. Perhaps more often than not, architecture of the home ought to be cozy, comfy, human-size, and give room for our contemporary lives to coexist with classic design and style. We believe this home will do just that. Home Tour Dates: Saturday, Nov. 2 - Sunday, Nov. 3 Noon - 6:00PM Last entry 5:45PM each day Tickets required. https://lnkd.in/g3mcS84r Pictures courtesy of Benjamin Hill

2024 AIA Houston Home Tour Featured Home Falkirk Residence Architect: Brad Hollenbeck, AIA Firm: Hollenbeck Architects Located in a flood prone area in Houston near Brays Bayou, the 3,940 sf house is elevated to prevent flooding. To elevate the house, we took an innovative and sustainable design approach using recycled masonry block as the structural foundation, and as a primary design element to create a strong indoor/outdoor connection. In the front, block is used to create an entry courtyard with breezeblock walls and structural support for the primary bedroom above. The wall turns on the east side and extends up to the next level at the entry. On the east side there are three two-story structural block walls, at the entry, the living room fireplace and at the outdoor living. The scale and size of the exterior massing is designed to reduce the visual height difference from the street and neighbors. As well as masonry block, shiplap siding, thermory pine and metal cladding are used for exterior finishes. Inside the house, the design is an open-concept plan with a central two-story circulation core. The core is clad in oak and contains the mud room, pantry, bar, powder and elevator. A metal stair, within the core, incorporates a light well that brings natural light from the top floor into the lower level of the house. To reduce the massing on the west and create better mechanical efficincy, the game room is half a story up from the main level. The house has a ducted mini-split HVAC system, high efficiency heat pump water heater and spray foam insulation. Home Tour: November 2-3 Noon - 6:00PM Last entry 5:45PM each day. Tickets Required: https://lnkd.in/g3mcS84r Pictures courtesy of Jack Thompson.

Exciting news! The GCG Committee is thrilled to let you know that we are now welcoming proposals for presentations to be delivered at the Gulf Coast Green 2025 Symposium and Expo, set to take place on March 28 at TMC Helix Park. It's an exceptional opportunity for speakers to share their wisdom and expertise in sustainability with industry professionals from across the Gulf Coast region. Let's make this event amazing together! 2025 CONFERENCE THEME: Symbiotic Resilience: Designing Better Growth The deadline for submissions is November 8. Proposal guidelines and submittal instructions are available at the link below. https://lnkd.in/gcb9zcc5 #GulfCoastGreen #GCG2025 #AIAHouston #COTE #sustainability #conference #CommitteeOnTheEnvironment #COTETexas #ClimateActionPlan #AIA #ZeroCarbon #Resilience #symbioticarchitecture USGBC Texas American Society of Landscape Architects Vision Galveston Bayou Preservation

2024 AIA Houston Design Awards Winner in Urban Design African American Memorial at Bates M. Allen Park Firm: Hines Architecture + Design Contractor: SpawGlass Structural Engineer: Core Design Impact MEP Engineer: Core Design Impact Civil Engineer: VOGT Engineering Other Important Consultants: Landscape: Landology; Lighting Consultant: Buro Happold Engineering New York

2024 AIA Houston Design Awards Winner in Renovation/Restoration The Joyce Residence Firm: HR Design Department Architectural Design Team: Eric Hughes, AIA; Heather Rowell, AIA; David Schneider Contractor: Frich Investments Structural Engineer: Santee Engineering MEP Engineer: Toner Home Performance Photographer: Leonid Furmansky

We are excited to have our monthly CAH meeting at SSR with guest speaker Zac A. Hillyard. If you would like to join in-person or online via zoom, email rhonda@aiahouston.org. #committeeonarchitectureforhealth #healthcaredesign #AIAHouston