Project: Hilltop Residence
Architects: Miró Rivera Architects
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Area: 8,070 sq ft
Photographs by: Courtesy of Miró Rivera Architects
Hilltop Residence by Miró Rivera Architects
Today, we are glad to bring you a stunning design of a contemporary home in Austin, Texas by Miró Rivera Architects. But if you’ve already seen the pictures of the finished design, you will find it very hard to believe that this extravagant 8,000 square feet home was once a dark and abandoned structure dating back to the 1980s.
Its new owners wanted to release the full potential of the site and the old building, that is why they had the architects transform the seemingly boring house into a masterpiece of the contemporary style. Besides its beautiful exterior and interior design, the Hilltop Residence brings unobstructed views of the beautiful Lake Austin and the hills in its background.
When the new owner of this 1980s house called for a complete renovation, the architects saw the opportunity to transform its dark, dated interiors while taking better advantage of the home’s spectacular location atop a promontory offering a 180-degree view of Lake Austin and the rolling hills beyond.
The existing driveway and garage, which had occupied a large area of prime real estate at the center of the property, were reconfigured in order to provide for a generous, landscaped courtyard accessed by a series of stepped terraces faced with Pennsylvania bluestone. Exterior stucco walls were replaced with warm ipe planks, while a small trellis and copper-faced, offset-pivot door greet visitors.
Inside, what was once a fragmented collection of spaces was reorganized according to a clear hierarchy. A central great room acts as a hinge point between the east wing housing the dining room, kitchen, breakfast area, wine cellar, and children’s rooms; and the west wing containing the master suite, home office, and exercise room. Zebrawood cabinets, Brazilian cherry floors, and a distinctive fireplace clad in stainless steel mesh accent the interior’s subdued material palette. Meanwhile, a sweeping aluminum trellis unifies an existing terrace along the home’s rear perimeter, providing shade and capturing breezes. An expanded ipe deck steps down to a zero-edge pool serviced by a small outdoor bar, all set against the seemingly limitless backdrop of the hill country beyond.
