• Year
• 2012
• Project
• Edgeland House
• Type
• Residential
• Area
• 1,500 SF
• Location
• Austin, TX
• Photography
• Paul Bajardy, Casey Dunn
• About

• Edgeland House reimagines one of North America’s oldest housing typologies, the Native American pit house, through a contemporary lens of environmental restoration and design innovation. Built on a rehabilitated brownfield site along the Colorado River, the home is partially sunken into the earth to draw on the ground’s natural thermal stability. Its green roof and hydronic heating system work in tandem to regulate temperature year-round, creating a highly efficient and resilient envelope.

  The project’s design is as much about healing the land as it is about inhabiting it. By reintroducing over forty native plant species in collaboration with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the landscape restores the site’s ecological balance and softens the industrial edge of its surroundings. The home’s two slender pavilions—one for living, one for sleeping—are separated by an open-air courtyard, requiring residents to engage directly with the outdoors as they move through the space.

  Edgeland House stands as both dwelling and landform, a piece of architecture that merges with the topography to form a living extension of the site. Through its integrated systems, modest footprint, and sculpted connection to the earth, it demonstrates how contemporary design can regenerate the environment while redefining the experience of home.

   

Work Performed by Bercy Chen Studio