Our clients owned a home in River Oaks and had recently purchased the adjacent lot. Initially, they asked us to reconfigure the layout of their existing house, envisioning the neighboring property as the site for a swimming pool and pool house. After exploring several options, it became clear that the level of modification required would prove renovation no longer practical.

The decision was then made to merge the two lots into a single property and design a new home that spanned the full width of the site. Their vision was for a light-filled house that seamlessly connected indoor to outdoor living spaces throughout the year. Because this would be the only home on the block occupying two lots, we were careful to design it in a way that respected the scale and character of the neighborhood.

The resulting design is a simple rectangular form, defined by a single gable roof running its length. The living room and garage extend from this central structure as secondary volumes. On the ground floor, public spaces open to the outdoors through floor-to-ceiling glass doors, shaded by a continuous porch. A covered outdoor room creates a fluid connection between the front pool and the rear garden while also capturing cool breezes. Inside, the stained concrete flooring continues onto the exterior porch and dogtrot.

From the street, the gable roof rises directly from the first floor, giving the house a modest and respectful scale. The upper level—containing bedrooms and a library—is tucked within a composition of dormers. These dormers, clad in the same cedar shingles as the roof, blend into the larger roof plane, appearing as integral elements rather than added features.