A lake house lies before you, perched on the water’s edge. Despite vast windows and sharp lines, this home exudes warmth. Limestone, steel, mahogany, and dark Italian brick somehow converge to create a soft geometry. The quiet intention in every deep overhang and thoughtfully placed stone of the house extends to the tasteful boat dock and pool.
The creative and pragmatic minds behind A Parallel Architecture brought the award-winning Water’s Edge Residence into being with their unique design ethos. But they’d be the first to tell you how instrumental the homeowner is to their process. “The client’s influence is always there,” says Eric Barth, co-founder of A Parallel Architecture. “We really embrace it as a way to infuse our projects with character.”
Water’s Edge is no exception, crafted with Cartesian geometry and arithmetic Easter eggs to delight their mathematician client and his family. Before becoming what it is today, the highly exposed lot faced prime western views and unrelenting Texas sun and heat. Barth and his co-founder, Ryan Burke, transformed these challenges into opportunities, designing a house that protects itself from the sun (and neighbors) year-round. A private two-story wing covers the courtyard and entertaining space with effortless shade.
At the heart of A Parallel’s work is the steadfast belief that obstacles are assets in disguise. Take the award-winning Retama House. For years, a split-trunk live oak tree perplexed real estate developers, unable to proceed despite stunning views and downtown proximity. Here as always, they embraced their namesake philosophy of approaching architecture, interiors, and landscape in parallel. The result is a small-footprint house that embraces the outdoors to maximize livable space, embodied by the permeable 360-degree ground floor envelope and the swim-through lap pool connecting the front and back patios. A double-height central atrium frames the ancient oak, affording treehouse-like views with expansive windows nestled into the canopy.
Barth and Burke are Texas boys, born and raised. The two met on the first day of architecture school at the University of Texas and hit it off, collaborating through school and becoming close friends. They sojourned to California, where they immersed themselves in the high-end residential worlds of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Fortuitously, they both moved back to Austin in 2007, and decided to go out on their own. The rest flowed organically. Austin was itself transforming, as was its residential architecture scene. The sense of collective inspiration still reminds Barth of the ‘90s Seattle grunge music scene. “All these groups are not directly competing with each other, but encouraging each other to get to the next level,” he says. “We’re lucky to be part of that group. We’re all kind of in this together, and we’re creating momentum.”
A shared responsiveness and appreciation for Texas is no small part of A Parallel’s magic. While Barth is the first to say they’re not Texas regionalists by any stretch, he acknowledges that their work honors an appreciation for regional things: “a simple, rural, dog-trot farmhouse or a beautiful piece of limestone.” As he puts it, “These are things that tend to show up in our projects, but maybe in a more modern way than you’re used to seeing.” They take California modernity and Texas simplicity and “put the best of those two things together while making something relevant, important, and functional for this climate.” As their portfolio grows to include every corner of the United States, including recent projects in Washington, Montana, and Florida, they remain committed to a sensitive contextual design philosophy.
As more clients turn to them for architecture that can weather increasing climate extremes, they embrace cross-pollination between their projects. For example, they’ve applied their learnings from designing for deep freezes in Montana and to an increasingly freezing Texas. “We have a deep respect and fear of the climate here that’s healthy,” says Barth. That’s an asset to their clients, fueling work that aesthetically and physically endures. While they embrace the full spectrum of new materials and technology, their first rule is to have a common sense approach to sustainability measures, which they describe as: “Don’t do anything stupid.” This starts with their trademark immersive listening to both client and place, always asking themselves, “What would I do if this were my own house?” With an eye towards durability and longevity, they don’t want to build something beautiful if it’s going to be a liability on day one. Their Northstar? Creating something that feels like it belongs there.
A Parallel Architecture is shaping Texas and the world beyond as the firm explores new global projects. Anything is possible with two humble architects at the helm, grounded in Lone Star soil but with a gaze towards the horizon. Or, as Barth says with a twinkle in his eye, “It’s fun to kind of go out and say: Okay, I want to find a new set of problems to solve.”
Finalists: Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, Miró Rivera Architects
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