Zui Ng’s flexible design for the Shotgun Chameleon house dates back to the 2006 Venice Biennale, where he exhibited plans for his post-Katrina New Orleans prototype. The Shotgun Chameleon, a part of the U.S. pavilion exhibition Rebuilding After Katrina (organized by Architectural Record for the Biennale), was never constructed. Nevertheless, the idea stuck with Ng for almost a decade and in 2015, he built the home in Houston’s historic Fourth Ward neighborhood for himself and his young family.

The designer says he fell in love with the site, which lies in the midst of “a constantly evolving urban fabric,” where older homes compete with new condominiums and residential towers. “The house had to reconcile with all the contradictions around it,” he says.