Spec House

Explores the everyday programs for a work-live family of four

Houston, Texas
2019 AIA Houston Design Award Winner
2020 Texas Architect Studio Award Winner

After examining residential development in Houston, a pattern began to appear. The reoccurring repetition suggests three architectural tendencies: room trends, exterior style types, and arbitrary shapes. Developers describe the floor plans as “open.” The interiors resemble a series of “piggy-back” rooms. Secondary rooms bear little to no relationship to their primary ones while reducing opportunities for improvisation. Spec House explores the everyday programs for a work-live family of four.

Today’s living patterns calls for flexibility.

Programs shift within a single space. The kitchen for example, is utilized for preparing food, doing homework, and working eliminating the need for secondary spaces. Unlike the developer’s scheme of small rooms attached to large ones, Spec House attempts to combine both primary and secondary rooms into one. The home is designed to accommodate unrelated programs within a single volume.

A thickened concrete wall serves as structure, enclosure and program.
The wall bends where daily live-work activities appear to overlap. Trees and overhangs shade the home’s most active areas from direct sun exposure during the hot months of the year. A secondary wall made up of vegetation wraps and notches through the interior volumes, while diffusing the natural light. The large glazed openings are meant to disappear and extend the catch-all volumes outdoors. The glazed areas float above the ground for natural ventilation in the hot and humid climate. The cool, dry, ventilated air travels up through the home, allowing the moist stale air to escape through operable louvered panel positioned on the roof.

Breathing Lessons