2025 RDAA | Project of the Year | Alterstudio Architecture | Pecan Grove Residence

A theme of restraint emerged among many of this year’s design award winners, a quality that the Pecan Grove Residence exemplifies beautifully. A judge summed up its practically uncontested rise to star of show: “Lots of intelligent decisions were made on a very small footprint.” 

Exquisite is not too strong a word. — Keep Reading

XCEED Siding® by VERSATEX

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2024 RDAA | Custom Urban House | Westbrook Residence

There are architectural firms that work on design ideas and then wait for a willing client to underwrite the build. These firms tend to have a signature style, recognizable through iterations of projects. Alterstudio prefers design ideas to...

2022 RDAA | Architectural Details | Tarrytown Residence

“When our clients approached us about doing this house, they told us that they liked our work, but they really like dark houses,” Kevin Alter recalls. “We asked, ‘How dark is dark?’” As it turned out, dark was very dark. It’s a challenge to...

2022 RDAA | Custom Rural or Vacation House | Constant Springs

Is it rural or is it urban? This new house overlooking an escarpment occupies that liminal zone between the two—a close-in suburb in Austin that’s both lush and walkable. “It’s one thing to do a glass house on 50 acres,” says Kevin...

2021 RDAA | Custom Urban House | Highland Park Residence

Alterstudio’s ambitious design for full-time art collectors succeeds on many levels, not least for its elevation of a featureless suburban lot—and the artwork inside. Deep lot setbacks influenced its boomerang-like footprint, which is...

City Park Residence

Austin, Texas, only recently ceded its title as the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country. The boom carried it through more than a decade of building frenzy that is only now beginning to ease, but there is still considerable pressure to capture any building opportunity within the city...

Alta Vista Residence

Austin’s exponential building boom is leaving no neighborhood ungentrified, and that certainly makes it tough for anyone who needs affordable housing within the city limits. One glimmer of hope is the city’s ADU program, which allows homeowners to add another dwelling on their...

Highland Park Residence

Kevin Alter has lived in Texas long enough to understand the power of the sun there. The way shadows fall across the land. How the light changes over the course of a day, giving a house an improvisational nature. As intangible as it is vital, sunlight “starts to become a register for one’s place in the...

Sugar Shack

What is the value of an architect? Houses like Sugar Shack by Alterstudio make the answer crystal clear. Imagine this half-acre undulating lot in the hands of a speculative builder with a stock plan. What gyrations of foundation and stair design would have ensued to reconcile the contours of the...

Parti Shot: Barton Hills Residence

Completed project now a recipient of an RDAA 2025 Custom Rural or Vacation House award. | This hillside lot in Austin’s highly desirable Barton Hills neighborhood offered panoramic views and “particularly bad soil conditions,” says Kevin Alter. The previous 1970s house on the property stepped down...

Past and Present RDAA Winners Celebrated in Boston

Prior to the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2025, Residential Design magazine hosted an awards celebration honoring winners of the RD Architecture Awards past and present. The event, “An Evening with Residential Design...

ABI May 2025: Soft Business Conditions Persist at Firms

The modest uptick in the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score to 47.2 for the month means that fewer firms reported a decrease than in April. In addition, inquiries into new work increased this month for the first time since...

House Price Appreciation by State and Metro Area: First Quarter

House price growth slowed in the first quarter of 2025, partly due to a decline in demand and an increase in supply. Persistent high mortgage rates and increased inventory combined to ease upward pressure on house prices.…

Build Anywhere With Propane

Propane simplifies utility access in remote areas, powering everything from gas lanterns and kitchen ranges to fireplaces and backup generators. This allows builder to construct homes wherever they want, and homeowner to live wherever they want, without sacrificing comfort or amenities.

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Case Study: 607 Woodward Apartments by Bonstra | Haresign

Few firms in Washington, D.C., understand city buildings as well as Bonstra | Haresign. Founded just over 20 years ago by David Haresign, FAIA, and his partner Bill Bonstra, FAIA, the 30-person office has completed countless complex...

Parti Shot: Blakely Retreat by Wittman Estes

It’s increasingly rare these days to find that perfect parcel of land for a view house—one that’s easy to build on and easy to get to. At just under 10 acres, this site on Washington State’s Blakely Island in the San Juan Archipelago is “one...

Three New Leaders Elected to AIA Board of Directors

Three new leaders have been elected to The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Board of Directors, to serve terms beginning on December 5, 2025. AIA delegates elected...

AIA Announces 2025 Award Winners in Housing, Architecture & More

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of its 2025 Awards in 11 project categories including the Housing, Architecture, Interior Architecture, COTE Top Ten, and Small Project Awards. AIA presented the awards...

April Private Residential Construction Spending Dips

Private residential construction spending fell by 0.9% in April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. This decrease was primarily driven by reduced spending in single-family construction and home improvements. Compared to a year...

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