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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

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Walnut Springs Guest House

Perched on a rocky rise in the Texas Hill Country, the Walnut Springs Guest House offers a nature-immersed retreat for a city family. Two hand-crafted stone volumes anchor the home, framing shaded porches and a generous central gathering space while sheltering private rooms.

Peter Molick

Art and Design

In this episode our resident architects Joe Rivers and Kevin Barden visit with Peter Molick, an architectural photographer from Houston, Texas. Peter Molick's work as an architectural photographer has him capturing on film life's many varied spaces. His portfolio runs the gambit from new construction homes, office buildings, and museums, to a clothing store, a music hall, and even a stadium. But we really wanted to visit with Pete to discuss a work of his that he did outside of professional output. The piece, called Crossings, has been showing since May at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, the most influential exhibition in architecture. Joe and Kevin talk with Pete about his craft as an architectural photographer, what drove him to create Crossings, and the future of his career and creative outlets.

Naturally, Wood (Selbstverständlich Holz)

Writing

In 1995, the Swiss architect Gion Caminada and structural engineer Jürg Conzett wrote a short essay for the magazine Archithese about the (then) new and continued building practices using wood in a small remote village called Vrin.