Fall Creek Ranch by Lake|Flato

San Saba County, Texas

By RECORD Editors

Architects & Firms

Lake|Flato

Location: San Saba County, Texas
Project size: 3,600 square feet

Program: Fall Creek is the client’s home away from home—a flexible retreat from Austin that functions as a weekend getaway, hunting lodge, summer camp, and working ranch. The architecture reflects this versatility through a series of buildings that step along the bluff, framing views of the creek and meadow below. Designed for both solitude and social gatherings, the home comfortably hosts one or many, with a generous porch and outward-projecting living spaces that support communal life while maintaining intimate connections to the surrounding landscape.

Design Solution: Perched on a bluff overlooking Fall Creek, a string of humble, shed-roofed structures meander along the ridge to frame a series of vignettes of the spring below. These familiar agrarian forms and quintessential Hill Country landscape serve as a retreat for family and friends looking to escape city life in Austin, located one hour east. Limestone walls and weathered steel anchor a soaring canopy stretching beyond the confines of the building. Beneath it, a porch rivaling the size of the interior living room greets guests and ranchers, providing a respite scored by the sound of the falls. Once inside, the living spaces project outwards to give occupants a true bird’s eye perspective of the creek, contrasted by intimate framed views of the meadow surrounding the home.

Photo © Casey Dunn

Structure and Materials: Drawing from nearby ranching structures, the home features a robust steel column and beam system bridged by timber ceilings and floors. This steel skeleton is anchored throughout the side by a series of charcoal Lueders limestone walls—extrusions of the site’s natural geology. The interiors of the structures echo the Leuders masonry found at the exterior, while introducing Texas post oak, blackened steel, saddle leather, and ledge stones sourced from the site to cultivate a rich, truly native palette.

Additional Information
Completion date: February 2023
Total construction cost: Withheld
Client/Owner: Withheld

Photos © Casey Dunn

Drawing courtesy Lake | Flato; click to enlarge

Credits

Architect
Lake Flato Architects
311 3rd Street
San Antonio, TX 78205
(210) 227-3335
lakeflato.com

Project Team
David Lake, Steve Rake, partners; Dan Carter, associate; Trey Rabke, architect

Engineers
Structural Engineer: Structure Works

Consultants
Landscape: Shademaker Studio LLC
Lighting Design: Studio Lumina

General Contractor
Classic Constructors

Photographer
Casey Dunn

Specifications

Exterior Cladding
Masonry: Charcoal Leuders limestone
Metal panels: Flat-seam weathering steel
Metal/glass curtain wall: MHB, Rayners

Roofing
Metal: G90 Paint Grip Corrugated Metal Roofing

Windows
Metal frame: MHB, Reynaers

Doors
Entrances: MHB, Reynaers
Wood doors: Quartersawn white oak
Sliding doors: MHB
Special doors: Custom sliding perforated steel doors

Hardware
Locksets: MHB, Reynaers, Rocky Mountain Hardware
Pulls: Rocky Mountain Hardware

Interior Finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: White oak and walnut millwork
Paints and stains: Plaster
Paneling: Live edge post oak planks
Solid surfacing: Taj Mahal quartzite (kitchen)
Special surfacing: Oil-rubbed bronze panel
Resilient flooring: Locally sourced Texas post oak
Other special finishes: Fireplace hearths–site-quarried limestone boulders by client