Texas Made/Texas Modern: The House and the Land
Editorial Reviews
Review
—Kirkus Reviews
“Two years after releasing
Marfa Modern, a book on the interiors of homes in Marfa, author Helen Thompson and photographer Casey Dunn are at again. This time, the Austin duo details modernism in Texas in Texas Made/Texas Modern. Using 19 projects from around the state, the book examines the relationship of the house to the site, the materials used and how structures function in the harsh climate.”—Austin Home“A gorgeous display of modernist architecture and interior design that’s particularly Texan.”
About the Author
Casey Dunn is an Austin-based architectural and landscape photographer whose work has appeared in
Dwell, the New York Times Magazine, Interior Design, Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, and Paper City Magazine.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
• Load-bearing columns to replace supporting walls
• Open floor plans
• Facades unencumbered by structural constraints
• Horizontal windows that light rooms equally
• Roof gardens
Modernism was a perfect fit in Texas, where prosperity boomed and new technology begat structural and manufacturing advancements. But, the use of broad expanses of glass, so alluring as a hallmark of the style, was also its most glaring weakness—in Texas, at least. This was clear to two iconoclastic Dallas architects who fervently believed that modernist design in their state should take into account local nuances that the international movement ignored.
David Williams and O’Neil Ford co-opted the modernist movement with their own version of what modern should look like in a state where topography, climate, and culture are powerful. The land and the climate were so compelling, in fact, that it made no sense to these two contrarians to create buildings that did not acknowledge their influence.
From the Publisher
El Paso, Texas
The sparkling remnants of the abandoned quartz mine became the inspiration for the massing of the new house: A modernist white lime stucco rectangle balancing atop and perpendicular to a rectangular building rendered in a rubble style that’s commonly seen around the city.
San Antonio, Texas
“This is a house with a lot of history,” says San Antonio-based architect Tobin Smith. And, it’s not afraid to show it. The pink brick and Saltillo tile residence is a singular example of a house designed by O’Neil Ford that still is essentially in its original condition.
Weatherford, Texas
“We wanted to be simple and direct,” says project architect Brian Comeaux, “and to use the existing five-bedroom ranch house as the anchor in a compound.”
Austin, Texas
The neighborhood’s Bohemian past informed architect Paul Lamb’s intuition about what the house could feel like—casual, imaginative, and a place where life is lived to the fullest. “The site is powerful,” says architect Paul Lamb. “Materials can be robust and we have room to breathe.”
Marfa, Texas
Architect Michael Morrow wondered how to embrace the sky, which was what had attracted the peripatetic client to Marfa in the first place. “It dawned on me,” says Morrow, “to put light boxes on the roof so that the house would have views of the sky and also would have light inside.”
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