Architecture by James M. Evans, AIA, Collaborative Designworks
Photography ©2007 Aker/Zvonkovic Photography

A wall of glass makes the master suite completely open to the backyard. Remote-controlled Mecho Shades can be lowered for privacy in the bedroom as well as the living room.
 

 

Not many homeowners can claim front row seats to a marathon without ever leaving their house. But then, not many people have a 30-foot-long expanse of glass for a living room wall.

“I can watch marathons from my living room. For this last one, I was in for a while because it was cold, but when I went outside this runner shouted out, ‘I love your house!’” recalls the homeowner. “I have to admit, I do too.”

Her wish list for architect James M. Evans was straightforward enough. The client, a single retiree with a management consulting service, wanted a bright, open home that could accommodate daily living on a single level. She envisioned white stucco and lots of glass. Room for out-of-town guests and grandkids was essential.

And more than anything, she wanted a strong connection to the outdoors.

“That was the main thing. I wanted to feel like I was outside. I put plantation shutters in my last house and it totally ruined the view. With this house, the glass isn’t covered up. It totally invites the outdoors in.”

    Creating a special connection to the outdoors is a concept Evans takes to heart.

    “It’s a philosophy we bring to a lot of our projects,” says Evans. “We try to understand each room’s relationship to the exterior and make rooms feel larger by opening them to the outdoors. It makes a huge difference in the way a house feels.”

    And looks.

In this case, Evans’s inventive design won an AIA Houston 2006 Residential Design Award. A clever concoction of stucco and glass fulfills the functions of daily living in one accessible level encompassing 2,220 square feet of space. Another level to the home, primarily for company, is used at the owner’s whim.

The home’s purpose is explicit in form. Two intersecting rectangles represent the lower and upper levels of the home, the lower being the owner’s primary domain. The upper, including a lounging space, exercise nook, and two guest bedroom suites, cantilevers across the lower level and garage. Flooding, a homeowner concern, was addressed by giving the structure a higher than usual clearance from finished floor to curb line.

 

 

The home’s lower level appears to hover above ground due to a dramatic overhang wall. The result is visually stunning, inside and out.

“It looks really sharp,” says builder Eimar Virkus of Virkus Construction, who was eager to build Evans’s design. “Details are critical, and this house is down to the detail.”

No heavy molding is needed to hide imperfect angles in this home. Virkus’ angles are precise. “A minimalist type of deal where you don’t have moldings can be touchy, but I really enjoy it. I like the modern minimalist style,” Virkus says.

“This house is so peaceful, yet there’s so much energy when you look outside,” says the homeowner, who prefers the pace of the city to her former suburbia. She likens the home’s front wall of glass to an “interactive piece of art.” Views include a large live oak, bamboo muhly swaying in the breeze, and daily joggers and passersby along her street. Remote-controlled solar shades provide privacy when desired. And because the window runs north–south with an overhang, it doesn’t attract direct sunlight.

Many accents to the home are commercial-grade. A bank of aluminum casement windows on either side of the great room resemble shark gills when open, providing excellent cross-ventilation when weather allows. “In the modern look, commercial just works better,” says Evans, who comes from a commercial architecture background. “Most of it is more durable than the residential stuff. These aluminum windows will never need to be replaced.”

Warm bamboo floors sweep through the home with three large, oval-shaped skylights innatural plaster adding drama, definition, and a soft natural light to the great room. Like overhead beacons, the skylights spotlight specific areas—a sitting area, an adjacent nook for the owner’s baby grand piano and a visually stunning kitchen in scarlet red with custom-made cabinets and matte Corian anthracite counters.

A multi-purpose, drop-down counter in the kitchen is the perfect spot for the homeowner’s computer. Grandkids sidle up to the same counter for lunch.

Hot water heating for the kitchen and baths is made possible via a tankless water heater, which uses electric-fired gas to heat water on demand, rather than storing and keeping it heated in a typical hot water heater. Tankless water heaters are much more energy efficient, according to Evans.

 

 

Down a hall are the utility room, a guest bathroom, and a beautifully meditative master suite that can be closed off from the rest of the house by large gliding doors on overhead tracks. “I hardly ever close them, but like to have the option,” the homeowner says. Floor-to-ceiling glass in the bedroom provides views of a modernist-style back yard and outdoor deck.
When the grandkids visit, the upstairs comes alive. A large lounge area provides ample space for “playing fort.” Large, replaceable carpet squares are the flooring choice here. Overnight visitors are plenty comfortable in two guest bedrooms and baths that anchor either end of the upstairs, overlooking lush scenery and extraordinarily tall bamboo.

Well thought out landscaping complements the home’s minimalist bent. Evans designed a large, oval-shaped, crushed-granite pad to break up the rather large driveway and provide turnaround space for cars. Landscaper Mark McKinnon of McKinnon Associates continued this minimalist garden theme with a host of drought-resistant, low-maintenance plants arranged in modern groupings. A cluster of knockout rose bushes echo the red from the kitchen cabinets.

With such outdoor views, Evans’ client is never bored. “It’s a wonderful place to just have your coffee in the morning, pet the cat, and look out on the world,” she says.

But sometimes the outdoors is looking in.

“I actually had two women come up to the front window and look in. I saw their reflection in the glass backdrop behind my stove,” the homeowner recalls. “Maybe they didn’t know it was a house? I don’t know. But it sure gave me a start.”