Texas ASLA Merit Award 2019

We are honored to announce that our project, the Thorne House, has been awarded a Texas ASLA Merit Award for 2019.

Situated on a steeply sloping lot in central Austin, an original Roland Roessner midcentury home was in need of updates and a complete renovation of its landscape. Working closely with the client and architect, we rehabilitated the site and unified the house in the landscape with simple design elements that reveal the clean beauty of this 1950’s gem.

Updating while preserving the original character of the site became the project’s driving challenge and catalyst.

The landscape was designed to sit back so that the modesty and thoughtfulness of the architecture can speak for itself. The scale and siting of the house by the original architect demonstrated a careful attention to progression from public to private space, sensitivity to the surrounding landscape, and the neighborhood.  In the same vein, our design team’s approach introduced no foreign components, no showy bloom colors or outwardly anachronistic materials, but brought about a dignified next chapter for this heritage residence.