Jiménez house, Houston

About

The 2,200 square foot house is the most recent transformation of a project that began in 1993. The present design consists of integrating a one story addition to the original house. The resulting L-shaped configuration encloses a lush garden/courtyard, providing a shaded and private domain. The masonry block and stucco structure faces another building of the same owner: the professional studio across the street and that, like the house, was also built through incremental phases from 1983 onwards. By following a similar process of design and construction, the house and studio together expound on the rich architectural possibilities that spring from the combination of a simple set of boxes. As for the materials and elements used, subsequent construction phases for both house and studio have been carried out respecting the configuration and original finishes: exact prismatic volumes, pierced by steel windows the size of which depends on the use of rooms, and finally clad with a rough and white rendering that contrasts with the lush green vegetation surrounding the house.

Sources

• Arquitectura Viva