Skip to content

Stepping through the stone wall portal marks a threshold from city life to the quiet rhythms of the Texas Hill Country. The cabin’s warm wood interiors and expansive glazing open to the surrounding oaks and sky. In the mornings, the southeast-facing bath welcomes the first light; in the evenings, the southwest-facing bedroom frames sunsets and starlit skies. Elevated on a gentle slope, the design balances privacy and openness, offering a serene refuge deeply connected to its landscape.

Location

Albert, Texas

Design Team

Kevin Barden and Joe Rivers

Renderings

Alex Warr

Typology

Residential

Date

2018

Process

Explore

Memorial Townhome Renovation

Just steps from Memorial Park, this complete townhome renovation transforms a compartmentalized layout into an airy, light-filled sanctuary. Walls and columns were removed to create open sightlines and fluid movement, reflecting the client’s identity and lifestyle. Multiple skylights wash the double-height living space in daylight, shifting like an internal sundial and connecting inhabitants to the rhythms of time and season.

Preston Brown

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.

A Place of Passing

Writing

In the summer of 2022, Kevin’s dad passed away. In this essay, Kevin reflects about the qualities of growing up in a geodesic dome as well as the beginnings of a deeper understanding of a “forever home”.