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
New Territory Tennis Center
Sugar Land, Texas
Commercial
Casey Pavek
Director of Social Enterprise
Culture and Community
In this episode, our resident architects Joe Rivers and Kevin Barden sit down with Casey Pavek, a bicycle mechanic from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Casey Pavek is a general manager and lead bicycle mechanic at Venture North, a coffee and bike shop located in North Minneapolis. Joe and Kevin sat down with Casey to discuss adapting a bike shop to fitting a community's needs and the positive impact that a bike shop brings.
Staff Travel: The Swiss Chalet
Rafia Imran
Writing
In August of 2023, Rafia visited Switzerland for eight days. Her travels took her from sampling chocolates in Zurich to exploring the UNESCO city of Bern to hiking in the Swiss Alps. Here, she fell in love with not only the beautiful landscapes of the Bernese Oberland region, but also the elaborately decorated Swiss Chalet.