A stunning designer home in the middle of a Texas nature reserve

Families are looking for comfort, warmth and, in many cases, for the home to serve as a refuge between civilisation, privacy and nature. That is why homes next to gardens, parks, and even forests are more valuable, despite being in a residential location.

The Texas architectural studio Tobin Smith Architect explored this question in depth in its project Casa Escuda. A home located in a residential neighbourhood in the heart of San Antonio (Texas), secluded away by its main façade, which offers privacy, and a natural space.

Main façade / Dror Baldinger

Walls that open onto a forest

Casa Escuda was designed for a family with two teenage children and built on a triangular corner plot. It consists of 573 m2 of floor space distributed over one main floor and a two-storey wing. The rear of the house overlooks a wooded nature reserve. This panoramic view gives the house "a sense of isolation despite its residential context", as the street and other properties in the area are to the front.

Wing / Dror Baldinger

The team used the wooded landscape to make the house a home for family life and a haven as if they were in a cabin nestled in the forest.

Bedroom / Dror Baldinger

The rear façade was configured based on these principles. This consists of a line of modules made up of window walls. The windows are separated by parallel white stucco walls set back from each other, like "fins", offering staggered spaces and views. Moreover, the rear façade of the two-storey wing is not so open and is clad in brushed grey stucco.

Bar / Dror Baldinger

The glazed rear façade contrasts with the main façade, the front, which is conceived as "a series of shields that provide privacy and mitigate solar exposure", as Smith defined it. The solution proposed for this front façade is the use of pieces of Texas limestone, combining some smooth lines between mostly textured ones, assembled in such a way as to form an extensive wall. Arranged between the canvas of the wall, windows of various sizes follow the rows created by the stone.

Waterfall / Dror Baldinger

A waterfall at the entrance

The main entrance is situated roughly in the middle of this large wall. Consisting of a large lintel, a curved, open element in the middle, made of steel and weather-resistant, stands out above all else (also because it juts out high above the wall). This rusted steel element, in addition to its aesthetic function, serves as a downspout for the water accumulated on the roof, creating a waterfall. This water flows down to a round cistern at the bottom, from which a small channel, also made of rusted steel, runs parallel to the stone wall, through which the water flows.

Lounge / Dror Baldinger

Beyond the entrance is the lounge, which overlooks the wooded nature reserve. From here, there is a corridor on each side where the main bedroom, guest rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, study and garage are located. The two-storey wing serves as a semi-independent module. The lower floor houses a guest room and a second garage, while the upper floor houses the children's bedrooms and a games room. Various materials make up the finishes, including porcelain stoneware floors, walnut wardrobes and other furnishings and black soapstone.

Courtyard / Dror Baldinger

The whole house is bright, especially those spaces that open directly onto the windows of the rear façade. Next to the communal spaces is a large courtyard that looks out onto the forest, offering views of "ephemeral foliage and the skies".

"Fins" / Dror Baldinger

Common space / Dror Baldinger