Timbergrove Renovation
In Houston’s Timbergrove neighborhood, this renovation transforms a traditional layout into an open, light-filled home designed for entertaining. Walls between kitchen, living, and dining areas were removed to create seamless flow, with custom millwork adding warmth, storage, and subtle definition to each space. Large windows frame garden views and invite daylight deep into the home, blurring the boundary between indoors and outdoors. The result is a welcoming setting where gatherings feel both lively and connected, and the home adapts effortlessly from quiet mornings to vibrant evenings.
Location
Houston, Texas
Design Team
Kevin Barden, Joe Rivers, and Esmer Leija
Renderings
Rivers Barden Architects
Typology
Residential
Date
2021-Present
Structural Engineer
Santee Engineering
General Contractor
Frich Investments
Process
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HCU Moody Library Renovation
Houston, Texas
Commercial
This renovation reimagines the library as a dynamic hub for learning, connection, and adaptability. As education and research shift away from traditional models, new service paradigms are emerging to meet the evolving needs of students and universities.
Reema
Artist & Transmedia Storyteller
Art and Design
Reema is an Artist and current MFA Candidate at the University of Houston in Interdisciplinary Practice and Emerging Forms focusing on Transmedia Storytelling. Joe and Kevin sat down with Reema to discuss her path to becoming a storyteller, how her transmedia approach shows up in her current project “Allyson Darke”, and her advice to budding creatives.
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.