This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Architectural Record logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Architectural Record logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
    • Commentary
    • Editorials
  • PROJECTS
    • Building Types
    • Interior Design
    • Museums & Arts Centers
    • Adaptive Reuse
    • Colleges & Universities
    • Lighting
    • Snapshot
  • HOUSES
    • Record Houses
    • House of the Month
    • Featured Houses
    • Kitchen and Bath
  • PRODUCTS
    • Material World
    • Categories
    • Award Winners
    • Case Studies
    • Partners in Design
    • Trends & Insights
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Best Architecture Schools
    • Top 300 Firms
    • Theme Issues
    • Record Houses
    • Record Products
    • Good Design Is Good Business
    • Design Vanguard
    • Historical Archive
    • Cocktail Napkin Sketch
    • Videos
  • CALL FOR ENTRIES
    • Record Houses
    • Guess the Architect Contest
    • Submit Your Work
  • CONTINUING ED
    • Architectural Technology
    • Architect Continuing Education
    • Continuing Education Center
    • Digital Academies
  • EVENTS
    • Record on the Road
    • Innovation Conference
    • Women In Architecture
    • Webinars
    • Advertising Excellence Awards
  • MORE
    • Subscribe
    • Customer Service
    • Digital Edition
    • eNewsletter
    • Interactive Spotlight
    • Store
    • Custom Content Marketing
    • Research
    • Sponsor Insights
    • eBooks
  • CONTACT
    • Advertise
Home » House At Wind Point
House of the MonthResidential Architecture

House At Wind Point

October 19, 2007
Ingrid Spencer
KEYWORDS Texas
Reprints
No Comments
Garrett Boone, founder and chairman of the board of The Container Store, has traveled the world and seen much great architecture. But it was his stay in an architect-converted barn outside Frankfurt, Germany that made him realize he had never actually owned and lived in an inspiring home. “I had memorized the Yeats poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree as a boy,” he says, “and that poem sums up what I realized I was looking for—a place to find peace and to feel truly inspired. That barn in Germany really opened my eyes to that fact.”
 
The Boones, who have three grown children and spend most of their time in Dallas, had purchased a heavily wooded five-acre plot in East Texas, on the eastern shore of Lake Tawakoni. It was there that they decided to have their own Innisfree built, and they hired Max Levy, FAIA, of Dallas-based Max Levy Architect, to design it. Levy, known for his small, hands-on practice and carefully crafted Modernist designs, says that the program called for a 3,000-square-foot house with some kind of communion with the outside spaces. “I realized that the best way for us to build a house on this beautiful site without cutting down trees or hurting the land too much was to build a series of small buildings rather than one big one,” says Levy. The Boones agreed to the idea, and Levy took the plan several steps further. “Another way to kill trees is to dig a foundation,” he says. “To keep this house resting lightly on the land we used 12-inch diameter concrete piers. It’s the first house I’ve ever done with absolutely no site grading. We ended up cutting down only one tree.”
 
Connected by an Ipe-wood elevated boardwalk, the compound comprises seven separate buildings—the main kitchen/dining/living area with screened porch, a master suite, three guest bedroom buildings, a bunkhouse, and a boathouse. Oriented with breezes in mind (“The buildings are like a school of fish,” says Levy, “all facing toward the current.”), each building is its own private sanctuary. While each little structure takes the form of an elementary gabled box, the interest lies in the details, such as the windows, which Levy calls “breeze structures.” Mesh boxes constructed of aluminum tubing and insect screens protrude from each building at varying heights, allowing the windows to swing out. While the buildings use a geothermal heating and cooling system, Levy notes that this is not the greenest aspect of the project. “The idea isn’t how to make the heating and cooling more efficient,” he says, “it’s to figure out ways to turn the damn thing off. For this project, even in the heat of the Texas summer, the owners seldom have to turn on the AC. It’s the height of the ceilings, the orientation, the shade of the woods, and the breeze structures that do it.”
 
While the Boones were keen on the idea of the separate structures, they weren’t so sure about the cladding Levy chose for each building—three-tab composition shingles, in colors sympathetic to the surroundings, including green, black, and gray. “I don’t blame them for being skeptical about the shingles,” says Levy. “They’re literally the cheapest roofing you can get, and are usually seen on the roofs of horrible suburban builder houses. But, they are maintenance free, and they actually come in some nice colors. It’s like architectural camo—the little buildings are hidden in the trees.” Levy used other inexpensive materials throughout the project, including industrial fans, MDF interior cladding, battleship linoleum (“That’s the greenest stuff around,” says Levy, “and it’s coming back in fashion”), aluminum storefront windows and doors, and silver-bowl light bulbs with white vinyl disks on the wall behind them to reflect light. Industrial pendant lighting was also used in the kitchen and dining areas.
 
The 1,200-square-foot main building, where the kitchen and dining areas are located, boasts built-in window seating and storage, a 37-foot-long island, and a wood burning stove, behind which the Keats poem is inscribed. “There’s a spiritual quality to this place,” says Garrett Boone. His wife Cecilia agrees. “It’s got spaces where you can just sit and be, places for solitude. And then there’s the conviviality of the warm and informal cooking area.” The house has changed their lives for the better in more ways than one. They’re ready to give up their house in Dallas, with its acre plot, and purchase a condominium to use as a pied-a-terre. “Why would we need any other outside space than this?” asks Garrett.

 

AR Subscribe

Recent Articles by Ingrid Spencer

Circuit of The Americas

The George W. and Laura Bush Residence

Quick Take: Robert A. M. Stern Architects' George W. Bush Presidential Center

Related Articles

House At Wind Point - House of the Month -

Early Hurricane Sandy Winds Partially Collapse Crane at NYC "Billionaire's Haven"

Related Products

BIM for Design Firms: Data Rich Architecture at Small and Medium Scales

The Iconic House

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

More Videos

AR Tremco Webinar


 


 

Events

December 12, 2019

Improving Building Delivery with BIM

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU
May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

BIM brings countless advantages to the construction team, but the biggest benefit lies with the owner. For architects continuing to develop and enhance delivery methods, BIM is the solution. In this webinar with Rob Glisson, AIA, principal at ROJO Architecture, see how BIM can help you reduce risk, accelerate schedules, establish more accurate budgets, decrease costs, and better serve your clients.

December 17, 2019

Minimizing Risk in Blindside Waterproofing Applications

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

This course will identify blindside waterproofing product technologies, their differences, the criteria for product performance, and how to design a waterproofing system accordingly. Best practices for mitigating application risks and managing critical areas prone to moisture infiltration will be reviewed, including the sequence of installation and for detailing failure points.

View All Submit An Event

Products

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

See More Products

Tweets by @ArchRecord

Architectural Record

AR December 2019 Cover

2019 December

In the December 2019 issue, Architectural Record reveals the winners of the annual Record Products contest.

View More Subscribe
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
    • Editorial Calendar
  • Call for Entries
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Renew
    • Create Account
    • Change Address
    • Pay My Bill
    • Free eNewsletters
    • Customer Care
  • Advertise
    • Architectural Record
    • Advertising Awards
  • Industry Jobs

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing