Eco-friendly Garden House design by Cunningham Architects in Dallas, Texas

June 25th, 2010 - Posted in Green Architecture, House Design

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This modern two story box house in the middle of stunning garden located in Dallas, Texas is the collaborations works between Cunningham Architects with the American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award winner, Landscape Architect Hocker Design Group. The sustainable House in the Garden is a free-standing addition to an elegant modernist house on an adjoining lot. Several existing Red Oak and Elm trees were incorporated into the garden design, whereby both lots contributed to the formation of a larger garden en masse. A minimal plant palette creates mass plantings used for large textural impact and screening for privacy.

A modern eco-friendly building, the house is clad on three sides with a rainscreen system, utilizing Ipe hardwood that will weather over time to a silver-grey sheen. The south façade is glazed in frameless, insulated glass units incorporating two 8 foot wide sliding glass doors. A 14 foot cantilevered roof protects this façade from the harsh Texas sun while serving as a porch to the glass-tiled infinity edge swimming pool. A small water feature cast into the concrete deck provides subtle noise to eliminate any distractions from beyond the garden walls. Large stone slabs become “connectors” throughout the garden, and provide transition from the street to the house. These organic, sinuous pathways culminate and encircle a fire pit. There is a guest bedroom and painting studio on the upper level. Downstairs, the concrete floor and exterior deck provide a seamless transition from the living room to the garden. The house provides ample space for part of a larger collection of art and automobiles.

At 5250 sq. ft., the House in the Garden is barely discernable from the street as it is discreetly set back to the rear of the lot behind a stainless steel mesh and recycled glass privacy wall. Illuminated from within, the glass wall gives no indication of the urban oasis behind it.