This house is situated on a steep, tree-covered site in the West Lake Hills neighborhood of Austin, Texas.

The program called for a single-bedroom residence with living, dining, kitchen and library spaces all located on one main level, along with a carport and a screened porch.

The client envisioned a home nestled among the trees but preferred to avoid the conventional solution of placing it on stilts. Instead, the design incorporates a carport at grade with the screened porch positioned above it. The structure is partially embedded into the hillside at its upper edge, then projects outward into the tree canopy as the land slopes away. The primary suite is located on the lower level, suspended within the trees closer to the bottom of the site.

Constructed of poured-in-place concrete, the house features a planted roof covered in grass, softening its presence from the street and reinforcing the idea of a “buried treehouse.”