Luv Shak 2.0
This new residence is designed to foster a deep, daily connection to the surrounding landscape. Porches and decks wrap all sides of the home, creating a variety of outdoor spaces that offer comfort, shade, and views throughout the day. A strong east–west organizational axis optimizes solar exposure for rooftop solar panels while shaping the home’s relationship to light and time.
Conceived as a forever home for a retired couple, the design thoughtfully integrates aging-in-place strategies, including gentle ramps and generous circulation widths that support ease of movement over time. A large deck extends from the primary bedroom toward the east-facing pond, offering a quiet place to greet the sunrise and stargaze at night. Inside, the living room’s vaulted ceiling and exposed steel cross-ties minimize structure while maximizing openness and airiness. Set within the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, the home is both grounded in its setting and attuned to the rhythms of daily life.
Location
Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
Design Team
Kevin Barden and Joe Rivers
Typology
Residential
Date
2017-2020
Structural Engineer
Fractal Structural Engineering
General Contractor
Dykes Construction
Process
Explore
Albert Cabin
Albert, Texas
Residential
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.
Advice Compilation
All
Culture and Community
Over the course of four seasons and twenty-eight episodes, Joe and Kevin have sat down with a diverse group of people from nearly every artistic arena; performers, artists, designers, builders, and beyond. A goal of the podcast from the outset has been to illuminate connections between architecture and other creative pursuits; to form bonds with others over process, philosophy, approach; to learn about ourselves by getting to know each other. So we hope that if you are creative, you find some inspiration in the advice that follows.
Sicily Sketch Essay
Kevin Barden
Drawing and Photography
In the summer of 2008, Kevin visited Sicily for two weeks. Traveling by train, car, and foot, various sites ranging in time, material, and typology around the island were observed, explored, and studied. This sketch essay captures a handful of the moments and experiences from the trip.