Recipient of the 2019 Interior Design Excellence Award (IDEA) by IIDA Delta Regional, this 5,500 SF modern residence on Lake Conroe was designed to meet specifically challenging zoning and design standards and performance specifications. These challenges were later transformed into opportunities for elevating the design.
Working closely with the owners, NANO developed a site strategy that was fully integrated to the advantages and challenges of the design standards and site attributes to develop this unique residence. Utilizing waterfront views along with a fierce programmatic desire for privacy, NANO created an extraordinary living environment for the owners by achieving maximum building efficiency while providing a secluded residential oasis.
Project Team
- Terri Dreyer
- Ian Dreyer
- Kristine Kobila
This project was defined through the study of the locally required setbacks and site boundaries. Subtle changes in the relatively flat terrain were utilized to define limits and translate into clever thresholds from exterior to interior.
The fragmented geometry of the reservoir retaining wall and the requisite setbacks were analyzed as a sequence of parallel and tangent lines, ultimately employed when defining programmatic spaces. In the horizontal planes, public and private areas overlapped; then extruded vertically into volumes where the intersections defined circulation and material transitions. Purposeful site lines were drawn not only to enhance the natural views of the property, but also as a response to the space the viewer inhabits.
The selected site met all of the owners’ needs except one – the view towards the lake would have the most glazing and would be facing directly west into the setting sun. We addressed this by installing high performance curtain wall and storefront systems, along with smart screening devices and insulated metal framed tubes to reduce solar and thermal gain.
By varying the angles of the different living spaces, we were able to further alleviate any additional solar gain while also addressing the clients’ privacy concerns. On the first floor, glazing folds and slides away to bring the lakefront, pool, and exterior kitchen into one continuous space.
The street entrance was bound by design codes set forth by the private Bentwater Community, but the waterfront entrance was not. Through this restriction, a design opportunity was soon realized in redefining the entry.
The street entry became a thickened threshold, revealing an inner sanctum – a courtyard before the actual entry. Through this restriction, a design opportunity was born: create an expressive, secondary space through which a single glass, secondary threshold reveals the vista beyond.
