Ranch culture is distilled to its essence in Lake | Flato’s design for a family property owned by siblings. On their 2,000-acre ranch, the clients wanted a series of independent dwellings that would be “really modest and unnoticeable, so you could drive by and have no idea this is back there,” says project architect Laura Jensen, AIA. Along a bend in the creek, the camp-like enclave was tucked into a clearing between a rocky hillside and cypress trees. A bar-shaped shared living volume and separate sleeping cabins are pushed to the edges of the site, forming a rough U shape around that open space. Staggered Lueders limestone pavers knit together the buildings along the resulting courtyard.
Approaching from a parking court on the south, visitors arrive on an entry path that intersects a mudroom on the right and the bar-shaped living volume on the left. The path continues north to the primary sleeping cabin under a covered walkway, whose discontinuous metal rooflines elegantly navigate the level change. Made of board-formed concrete and Lueders limestone, the primary cabin, parking area, and mudroom are built partially into the hillside on the east. In contrast, the two cabins on the west are structurally light. Clad in cypress and lifted off the ground, they anchor the compound’s lower creekside edge. The main building bridges those two conditions. Wrapped in cypress and anchored by a limestone fireplace, it is raised slightly to allow water to wash under it, but the courtyard side was infilled with a few feet of earth so the owners could walk out. “We wanted to maintain that feeling of walking into the clearing,” Laura says. “A two-horse barn is at one end, and a ha-ha wall preserves the view across the clearing.”
Lake | Flato’s elastic design provides both intimate and expansive zones. “They didn’t want oversized spaces, but something that would feel comfortable for two people or a giant crowd,” Laura says. “We made sure the spaces were scaled cozily for a smaller group. Everything is pushed outside to the porches and courtyard if they have a party.” Guests gravitate to the game room and a large screened porch that form an L off the living volume. From there, you can see down the creek to the lake.
Natural materials such as exposed Douglas fir framing, oak floors, and cypress interior walls and cabinetry imbue the buildings with an almost primitive quality. Countertops have integral concrete sinks, and all the baths have the same fixtures, lending a quietness to the whole. “The buildings belong to their places so strongly,” a judge said appreciatively.
Honor Award
Custom Outdoor Living Design
Lake | Flato Architects
Verde Creek Ranch
Center Point, Texas
Project Credits
Architect: Ted Flato, FAIA, principal in charge; Laura Kaupp Jensen, AIA, project manager; Megan Toma, AIA, Camille Lane, and Sam Xu, AIA, project designers, Lake | Flato Architects, San Antonio, Texas
Builder: Duecker Construction, Stonewall, Texas
Interior designer: Schooler, Kellogg & Co., Dallas
Landscape architect: Studio Outside, Dallas
Project size: 4,159 square feet (3,861 conditioned)
Site size: 2,000 acres
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Casey Dunn
Key Products
Bath Ventilation: Panasonic
Cabinetry/Millwork: Custom cypress
Cabinetry and door hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware
Cladding: Cypress, Lueders limestone
Cooking ventilation: Vent-A-Hood
Cooktop/range/outdoor grill/Specialty Appliances: Wolf
Countertops: Custom concrete by Newbold Stone
Dishwasher: Bosch
Faucets: Kallista
Foundation: Concrete
Home control: Lutron
Humidity control equipment: Ultra Aire by Santa Fe
HVAC systems: Mitsubishi
Icemaker/Refrigerator/Wine Cooling: Sub-Zero
Insulation: Benjamin Obdyke HydroGap drainable housewrap
Lighting: BK Lighting, USAI, Optic Arts, Tech Lighting, Schoolhouse Electric
Lighting control: Lutron
Paints/stains/coatings: Valhalla, Cabot
Pavers: Oklahoma Stone
Photovoltaics: Hanwha PV, Tesla batteries
Roofing: Galvalume
Sinks: Julien, Franke, custom concrete by Newbold Stone
Toilets: TOTO
Tubs: Americh
Washer/dryer: Whirlpool
Window shading: Lutron Palladiom
Window wall systems: Solar Innovations
Windows: Custom wood by Dover Millwork