West Texas Retreat
Set against the rugged backdrop of West Texas, this renovation transforms a simple home into a serene retreat immersed in mountain and sky. Expansive glazing captures shifting light and distant peaks, while covered outdoor spaces invite connection to the land’s quiet rhythms. Warm wood ceilings and natural stone finishes echo the desert palette, creating a refuge for reflection and renewal. Designed as an escape from the city, the home celebrates its setting while offering a place to slow down, breathe deeply, and watch the horizon fade into starlit night.
Location
Alpine, Texas
Design Team
Joe Rivers and Kevin Barden
Renderings
WAL Studio
Typology
Residential
Date
2017
Process
Explore
River Oaks Renovation
Houston, Texas
Residential
Originally built in the 1990s, this River Oaks home renovation seeks to take advantage of the existing spacious layout by maximizing daylighting opportunities as well as allowing for ample indoor-outdoor living. The result is a light-filled home where comfort and elegance is prioritized.
Preston Brown
Business Owner & Brewer
Food and Beverage
In this episode our resident architects Joe Rivers and Kevin Barden visit with Preston Brown, a home brew supply store owner from Houston, Texas. Preston Brown has been crafting home brews for over a decade. During that time, he's made a name for himself in the Houston craft beer scene, having co-hosted a radio show, co-founded a brewing club, and last Fall opening his own home brew supply store, The Grain Cellar in Humble, Texas. Joe and Kevin chat with Preston about going all-in on brewing and his new store and the value of resourcefulness.
Ethos
Kevin Barden and Joe Rivers
Writing
In an essay entitled The Hedgehog and the Fox, Isaiah Berlin quotes the Greek poet Archilochus, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing” (Berlin 7). The essay was written as a commentary on Leo Tolstoy’s view of history, however, the text can offer an understanding for how one might practice architecture as well. For us, this understanding reveals itself in perceiving the environment as a fox and believing in it as a hedgehog.