402 redbud trail | austin | texas II

[wegofaster]

I am fortunate enough to work with architects who create projects like this here in Austin. COTTAM HARGRAVE are a architect design build firm in Austin Texas who I am currently working on a project with that will have some similar attributes to this spec home just completed. It is a work of art. The new project promises to encompass some of these features and overcome its presence in details such as: glass curtain wall spans of over 40 feet by 14' feet tall, concrete construction with a cantilevered pool that will compete with this one... but that is for another post when we get further along. Till then wet your appetite with this.

jan sotelo
www.modern.ws

[wegofaster]

Here is the project description.

402 Redbud Trail


Gary Robinson approached Cottam Hargrave, looking for a partner to design and build a modern piece of architecture that would respect the natural beauty of the site and the vision of Emmitt Shelton and the founders of the community of West Lake Hills.


All building sites contain elements that lend to the architectural solution. It is the job of the architect to interpret these elements and allow the manifestation of an appropriate solution. In the case of 402 Redbud the site communicated so much that the concept was all but revealed upon the initial site visit. The approach to the house weaves carefully up and across the site, preserving tree lines that allow visual privacy from Redbud Trail. Volumes cascade down the hillside following the natural grade closely in an effort to minimize destruction of the site. These volumes are grouped into two masses that are attached by a minimal steel and glass bridge that spans a narrow ravine that divide the two. The massing creates an open courtyard which embraces the dramatic view afforded by the site.


Primary living spaces are located on the first floor of the house. The centralized kitchen and living room open out to the courtyard of grass and stone that surrounds a hot tub and cantilevered pool with two negative edges. The kitchen and breakfast area are visually clean with commercial appliances and walk-in pantry. The living room, the largest volume of the house, has three exterior walls that are primarily glass anchored by two stone masses. The dining room is situated at the rear of the house, surrounded on the two sides by textured concrete walls that wrap the backside of the house. Separating the dining room and the kitchen is the long gallery, which is the organizing processional element. Although the procession begins at the street, it is not fully realized until ascending the cascading steps past the reflecting pool and entering the gallery. At this point, the observer can see through the core of the house and the glass bridge to the terminus, which manifests at the structural concrete wall of the master wing.


Passing through this concrete wall, one enters the master suite. The bedroom perches just above the tree line, with a glass wall opening up to the view. Entering the room, one’s eye follows the concrete wall that wraps around the master suite, passing by the walk-in closet and around the bathroom, terminating just past the indoor/outdoor shower enclosure. A niche in the wall contains a Japanese soaking tub designed for two bathers. The bath utilizes minimal furnishings with elegant fixtures achieving an experience of cleanliness and serenity.


Upstairs from the master suite is a complete guest suite featuring a full bath and kitchenette. The second study and library are also located on this level. Two large window walls on the sides of the library open up to a patio overlooking the pool.


On the second floor of the main house are two bedrooms, a full bath, and a media room that opens to a large concrete patio that also overlooks the pool and ravine. The bedrooms feature full-height built-in closets and desks.

A three car garage, ample workshop and wine room occupy the lowest level of the house. The stone encased wine room features glass-doored and temperature controlled wine storage. This area also accomodates built-in storage and a dedicated mechanical room.

The main structure of the house is constructed with concrete and structural steel, with light gauge steel framing throughout. The exterior is clad in stucco and limestone veneer with copper accents. Stained concrete floors and hardwood flooring are predominent in this unique house.

[wegofaster]

- 5500 sq ft of Living Area
- 3 Car Garage
- 5 bedrooms including
- Master Suite
- Guest Suite with Kitchenette
- Wine Storage or Anti-room plus Wine Room or Cellar
- Workshop Area
- Study
- Library
- 4½ Bathrooms
- Central Kitchen with Walk-In Pantry
- Casual Kitchen Dining
- Living Room with Fireplace
- Formal Dining
- Media Room
- Laundry
- Modular Closet Systems
- Ample Storage
- Steel & Glass Bridge
- Mesquite Hardwood Flooring
- Cork Flooring
- Architectural Concrete Floors
- Lighting Control System
- Poured-in-Place Concrete Walls
- Leuder and Shell Limestone Walls
- Copper Accents
- Energy Efficent and Low Maintenance Construction

[wegofaster]

- 2/3 Acre Wooded Site
- Dramatic Hill Country Views
- 1250 sq ft of Exterior Living Area
- Grass and Limestone Patios
- Negative-Edge Swimming Pool
- Hot Tub
- Outdoor Shower
- Leuder and Shell Limestone
- Copper Cladding
- Poured-in-Place Concrete Walls
- Steel Construction
- Metal Roofing
- Large Overhangs
- Aluminum Windows
- Low Maintenance Landscaping

[wegofaster]

rendering from street

[wegofaster]

from library

[wegofaster]

another

[wegofaster]

it takes a while to decrese quality of these pictures, stay with me.

[wegofaster]

1

[wegofaster]

3

[wegofaster]

4

[wegofaster]

5

[wegofaster]

6

[wegofaster]

pool substructure, the first thing on site

[wegofaster]

first floor

[wegofaster]

2

[wegofaster]

3

[Don Gaiser]

And for my first post......

That is very Falling Water'ish, and I like it!! :P

[wegofaster]

I will post more of my photos later when i have more time to reduce their size. Let me know what you want to see, and i will try to locate some of my photos.

If you like this project, Go to my site to see some of the design ideas for the next collaboration we are doing with COTTAM HARGRAVE

http://www.jansotelo.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album81

or visit our main page at www.modern.ws

[wegofaster]

A link to Cottam Hargrave

http://www.cottamhargrave.com/index3.html

Check Out their other projects.

[primocordara]

great project wegofaster, do you have a skippy of it?


Why was the pool structure first, is it acting as a sort of retaining wall ?

[Richard]

Jan, mate what an awesome project.

That pool which you obviously had some influence over is simply a stunning feature and adds so much to the overall concept.

Well done!!!

Cheers, Richard

[wegofaster]

a pic of the steps leading to the equipment room below 15,000 gallons of water...

[wegofaster]

No more comments?

Come on someone has to have somthing to say!!

[primocordara]

Do you have a section /deail of the edje of the pool,I mean the "infinite" effect of the water surface appearing to merge with the horizon?

[franjayo]

Beautiful work Jan, I would like to see more pictures of the pool. It may be interesting if you can include some shots of the Wine Cellar & Humidor.

[chedda]

Yes you are truly lucky to be involved with a project like this im sure many are envious stuck in a mundane practice, dare i ask the budget for this project ? I particulary like the glass to glass corner in the kitchen . The building has a very film like quality.

[wegofaster]

a few more of the negative edge

notice the orange cone, thats the driveway entry

[wegofaster]

below this patch of grass is the garage where a porche carrerra sits

[wegofaster]

2

[wegofaster]

3

[wegofaster]

one of the wine room

[wegofaster]

basment, ground floor

[wegofaster]

cellar, not great, but all i could find now

[wegofaster]

cigar room 2

[primocordara]

Thanks Jan, great project!

The Porsche goes well with this house!
I guess the water is being pumped back from the edje to keep the level.
Must be dificult to aceive a perfectely leveled edje.

[wegofaster]

you think you would need a laser level, but most guys here are mexicans with a simple level and string line....pretty amazing

[Gummy_Void]

I was wondering if you were required to deal with splash displacement. I was involved the design of a swimming pool with a glass wet edge. Two of the pool walls were topped with 450mm glass panes, vertical cantilevers, which became the wet edge of the pool. Using a similar detail, the water flowed over the top of the glass, was caught in a trough, and pumped back into the pool. The water shortages here in Sydney meant that we had to have a second line of glass to catch any splash displacement, that the trough fail to catch.
I’ll post some pics tomorrow.
Was this a consideration at all? Also, chlorinated water spilling on to landscaped areas had to be avoided.

Amazing house though, LOVE the cigar room.

[primocordara]

Hey Jan, perhaps you will find this pool interesting.
This house in Peru has a suspended pool with a glass side so from this point of view you see the ocean above and below the pool.
If you look closer you will see a girl swimming through the glass!

[primocordara]

here a closeup.


Link:
http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/residential/archives/0404_1barclayCrousse.asp

[wegofaster]

i did not have to deal with surgue protection on this pool, but many times in the past... Surge is important, because if your catch basin can not collect all of it, then the water is lost.

Normally we calculate surge and adjust the size of the catch basin accordingly.

Also of importance is the view, so you protect against seeing the catch basin from any of the view areas... this gets tricky when your on a windy area, i.e. a lake or ocean.

I would love to see some photos of your pool if you get a chance to post them.

thanks Gummy

[wegofaster]

thanks for the post... i have seen the pool in arch digest before. you can also look through the floor... its an amazing engineering feat.
thanks

[bcleaver]

I was wondering why you chose to place the canted wall of the pool outside the water basin. I have designed several pools and always place the 'outside' wall in the water so the vertical wall is exposed-
Bob

[wegofaster]

I did not make this decission, but can tell you why.

If you dont mind seeing the wall under water, then you tilt in in towards the pool... if you want it to look like it drops off to infinity, then you tilt it away from the pool. It makes the wall look like its paper thin from the inside of the pool, and front of the pool.

[Marr]

This house looks great! It also looks very american in a good way. I can see Wright, Nautra and Schindler in it (although Schindler is not really american). The house sits nicely in the landscape and appairs to be full of architectural experiences. Great job! :clap:

P.s. holy crap, there are some rich people in this world to be able to afford houses like this.

[Marr]

Don't you have some pictures of the living rooms and dining rooms?

[wegofaster]

one interior shot before i go

[wegofaster]

front entry, notice the port holes in the ceiling

[davistalexander]

you think you would need a laser level, but most guys here are mexicans with a simple level and string line
ha.. cheap labour...what do you do about quailty control ?...mind you i do not have anything cheap labor..

[wegofaster]

;) well actually, quality control is easy when you have workers that take pride in their work.... unfortunately they are not inexpensive

[jparchitectus]

Link reference to continued discussion

Contemporary Pools (http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1230&page=1&pp=10)

[Jamesbufkin]

Hello everyone.

I stumbled on this site by accident searching for a picture of the 402 redbud project. I am the structural engineer for the project and would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have regarding the structure.

Thanks,
James Bufkin PE

B.Arch UT 95
BSAE UT 95

[Jamesbufkin]

you think you would need a laser level, but most guys here are mexicans with a simple level and string line....pretty amazing

Jan,

The negative edge of the gunite shell inside the pool was intentionally floated 1/8" high at the tip of the cantilever. That is the design deflection of the 20' cantilevered pool when full of water. Once loaded with water the pool will level out and the negative edge will sheet flow as intended.

This very issue was one of the major reasons driving the design of the pool structure and the very small allowable deflection we could have in the pool structure. The structure is post tensioned and conventional rebar. The pool floor and walls were placed at the same time so the pool shell is one placement of concrete (not gunite). The inner shell is approximately 4" thick gunite and provides the main method of holding water as well as finishing.

Thanks,
James

[david p]

wegofaster- could you talk a little about the design/build process? pro/cons...

:cheers:
dp

[wegofaster]

I was curious who the structural engineer was on this project.

Thanks alot James for the info. I am really intrested in talking woth you in more depth about the design. I have a project coming up that may afford us the time to talk a bit. We'll give you a call soon.

If you need any water feature design development, please let us know. We would be happy to help.

Welcome to the forum.

[wegofaster]

dp

In short a nice instance of design + build is that it gives you controll of the entire project from concept to reality, a bad instance is that it gives you controll of the entire project from concept to reality... :P

Explain you ask, well
If your design is great, but your execution is not, then you get :bang head
If your construction is great, but your design is not, then you get :bang head

So you see, you should know what your doing and have a good team of people to give their input, NOT "YES MEN", but people who acually have an intrest in the result of each project...

Overall, its the best job out there, but you have to take full responsibility for each project you create. ;)

[david p]

dp

In short a nice instance of design + build is that it gives you controll of the entire project from concept to reality, a bad instance is that it gives you controll of the entire project from concept to reality... :P

Explain you ask, well
If your design is great, but your execution is not, then you get :bang head
If your construction is great, but your design is not, then you get :bang head

So you see, you should know what your doing and have a good team of people to give their input, NOT "YES MEN", but people who acually have an intrest in the result of each project...

Overall, its the best job out there, but you have to take full responsibility for each project you create. ;)

i guess having good clients too is important.
dp
:cheers:

[wegofaster]

those find you when you have good projects. :wondering
:cheers:

[Francesco]

Very nice. Bravo !

[Melvyn]

Nice work~~~!!

[Online]

Awesome work!!!