Built in the late 70s, Long Island Retreat began as a 1,600-square-foot, three bedroom structure that had been in the family for many years. To preserve the original home, the structure of the existing house was converted into bedrooms and a game room for the children.
Local architect Charlie Lazor of Lazor Office envisioned this inspiring custom home as a stack of blocks, and played with direction and opacity on each to produce open and enclosed interior spaces.
Our clients purchased this site high on a ridge overlooking Lake Austin and the Pennybacker Bridge. The property came with a house which proved ill-matched to their needs but which nestled neatly amid beautiful live oaks.
The Black Core House espouses the firm’s Principal Irit Axelrod’s modern visual language, influenced by numerous International Style and Bauhaus buildings found in modern Tel Aviv. This design influence runs deep in all her projects.
Situated on a sloping site, Hollowcat Wild is a composition of three stone boxes. A guesthouse and garage stretch alongside a 6-ft-deep, 150-ft-long arching cut into the limestone strata.
This 1954 one-story house by architect Otto Ransleben was compromised by a clumsy two-story 1970’s addition that blocked eighty percent of the public core’s daylight, leaving it a cave-like shaft. The overhangs of the addition were stubby relative to the height and offered insufficient protection from the elements ..
They came to our studio with their vision of the apartment. Martyna in love with the Scandinavian style wanted a flat in white and gray, while Mateusz wanted more modern but warm. We decided to try to combine their requirements in one project.
The decision to encapsulate the remains of the 17th century cottage with almost everything left intact, including the dry ivy branches and the trimmings, in a modern house is both bold and brave and is successfully carried out by the project team.
