Bellaire Porch House

  • Location
    Houston, TX
  • Completion Date
    August, 2016
  • Size
    0.15 acres
  • Team
    Architect: Lake|Flato; Natalye Appel + Associates
    Civil Engineer: Karen Rose Engineering & Surveying
    Lighting Designer: Illuminations (Design Build)
  • Photography
    Lake|Flato, Claudia Casbarian
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About

This quiet composition marries a modern architectural vocabulary with a highly performing and sustainable landscape drawn in similar lines. The light ecological footprint of the landscape is expressed in highly efficient irrigation, rain chains for rainwater collection, landscape as filtration for runoff water, and native planting.

To extend the use of the outdoor rooms in all seasons, simple, vernacular architectural forms with custom porches and covered walkways are a porous frame between the inside and outside. Five separate living areas are threaded between communal areas and linked by landscaped courtyards and terraces. Planted hedges create small and large gathering spaces at grassy lawn areas while rain gardens and cedars are an expressive backdrop. The edges of the site are buffered by a stand of bamboo, with colorful perennials that create an extended visual line from the central porch, along a linear pool and stretch out to the horizon.

A Mexican Plum tree highlights an intimate courtyard and artistically stands among Macho Ferns, anchoring the main entry steps that lead to the front door, while a water feature provides visual interest and creates a calming environment.

A soothing palette of native and adaptive plants includes Inland Sea Oats, Butterfly Iris, Ligularia and Frog Fruit.