Tour An Austin Home Designed With Preserving Nature In Mind

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exterior of a contemporary home...

This new Austin residence plays on the forms of the house preceding it while creating a contemporary expression of Texas style. Architect Alex Robinette chose a material palette of board-form concrete, limestone from Cobra Stone and windows from Rehme Steel Windows & Doors and Loewen Windows. The front door is a custom design installed by Vision Woodworks.

entry featuring an antique chest...

The entry to architect Alex Robinette’s new Austin home heralds the restful spaces to come. A painting by Peter Campbell hangs above an Argentine chest from Primitives Furniture & Accessories, which sits atop Austrian white pine from Moncer Specialty Flooring used throughout the home.

study with expansive windows and...

The study reveals a sofa by Cisco Home from Wildflower Organics, where Robinette also sourced the side table. Reclaimed pine from Delta Millworks was used for the siding and sliding door, which features a Sun Valley Bronze handle. The painting in the foreground is by Ørnulf Opdahl.

living room with a steel...

A Studio Piet Boon sofa from Haute Living in Chicago anchors the living room, where it is paired with an antique elm table found on 1stdibs and a leather Cisco Home armchair from Wildflower Organics. The rug was found at Black Sheep Unique. Paul Hastings fabricated the fireplace featuring a honed Lueders limestone slab hearth from Materials Marketing, a steel mantel and lava rocks collected in Colorado.

dining room with mixed media...

A mixed-media work by Lisa Weiss hangs in the dining room. Joining the customized spalted-maple table from Wildflower Organics are chairs from Design Within Reach and a Joost van Bleiswijk-designed chandelier by Moooi from Scott + Cooner. The antique hemp kilim floor covering is from Eliko Rugs.

kitchen with open shelving and...

Robinette’s collection of Broste Copenhagen dishes lines the kitchen’s open shelves. She chose quartzite from Architectural Tile & Stone for the island countertop and backsplash, adding a Wolf range from Harway Appliances and a Blanco sink with Waterworks fittings found at Alexander Marchant.

breakfast room with a banquette...

A Verellen table and Ethnicraft oak chairs center the breakfast area. Above them is a Gervasoni suspension lamp from Scott + Cooner. Housecat Hobbes sits atop a pine bench purchased decades ago. The Jill Carver painting is from Wally Workman Gallery.

library with massive windows, bookshelves...

The library features a Verellen sofa from Wildflower Organics, a coffee table from Four Hands and a Carl Hansen & Søn armchair from Design Within Reach. The floor lamp, designed by Vittoriano Viganò in the 1950s, was found at A+R in Los Angeles and the rug is from Anthropologie. The painting was commissioned from Erik Gonzales.

pool with glass tile surrounded...

Just outside the screened porch, a favorite family hangout, sit a chair from Lekker Home and a side table found on 1stdibs. Robinette sourced sustainable Kebony decking from U.S. Lumber and chose a glass tile from Crossville Studios for the pool, which was built by Hample Pools & Service, LLC.

Architect Alex Robinette is only too happy to rattle off the list of critters sharing her Austin abode’s plot of earth, a leafy locale in the Rollingwood area abutting Zilker Park. “We have foxes, deer, raccoons, skunks—and opossums too,” she says. “Hawks and owls swoop through the trees, and there’s even a massive dragonfly population.” For Robinette, who sits on the boards of Austin Parks Foundation and Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve, her home’s location couldn’t be more perfect. “The tall window wall in the living room is like a movie screen for observing passing wildlife,” she explains. And while the house may be new, it follows the footprint of the land’s original 1940s residence, so as not to disturb all those who share this verdant space.

“Zilker Park is an important piece of our story,” Robinette says, noting she and her husband sought a bigger property simply to protect a larger ecosystem. “The site designed the house,” she adds. “By virtue of wanting to safeguard it, we went through many iterations and options of different spaces. It winds its length among the trees, creating privacy while taking on light and views in all directions.” 

In collaboration with residential designer Ryan Street of Ryan Street Architects, whose project manager was Jeremy Ristau, Robinette reinterpreted the original home’s stonework and steel casement windows into a more contemporary expression. “It’s important to me to build on history rather than copy it, and this house tells the story of the city,” she explains. “Ryan understands the neighborhood and helped delineate initial schematics. We wanted to bring back the previous structure’s spirit in a playfully modern way, even matching the pitch of the original shed roof.” With a material palette of limestone blocks and both steel-plate and shou sugi ban (an ancient Japanese technique of preserving wood by charring its surface) siding, Robinette developed what she calls “a hybrid of Texas vernacular with a raw, simple and rugged design sensibility,” which also appeals to her Norwegian roots. Meanwhile, builder Michael Rhodes infused a feeling of substance and longevity, and architect Brian Carlson of McKinney York Architects helped see the project to the finish line. Even Robinette’s husband played a role in the creative collaborative process, conceiving the curved stone planter at the front that “draws you into the house and embraces you,” Robinette describes.

That welcoming spirit continues inside, where the living room, library, dining room and kitchen together serve as the heart of the home. “The spaces are open to each other to invite connection for our family,” notes Robinette. “One room flows into the next, delineated by material changes, not partition walls.” Furthermore, the couple’s bedroom is nearest to the kitchen but feels like a retreat with its pool and forest views. The office and guest room are tucked away for privacy, while the second floor holds the children’s rooms and additional common areas. 

Just as the home needed to feel livable and low-fuss, Robinette opted for furnishings that felt harmonious and soothing. Equally keen on interiors, the architect credits her mother, who also worked in the design world, for shaping her interests and aesthetic. “Mom always had me in the garden, walking through construction sites or getting lost in antique warehouses,” she recalls. “I’ve been immersed in all aspects of design my entire life.” And that is certainly evident in the array of meaningful furnishings that fill the abode, including two pieces from her childhood: a table that’s now in her husband’s office and a cabinet that informed the design of their bedroom. New additions include iconic chairs by Scandinavians Eero Saarinen and Hans J. Wegner, as well as contemporary pieces by Dutch, Belgian and Italian designers, all with an emphasis on clean lines and natural materials. 

Outside, Robinette enlisted landscape architect Curt Arnette to help create a feeling of continuity with Zilker Park while bringing pollinator-friendly blooms closer to the residence. Whether it’s a swim in the pool, soccer practice on the lawn or an evening spent on the screened porch with a good book, this is a home offering something for everyone, at any time of day. Even the family cat, Hobbes, is living the good life with a myriad of perches from which to surveil all those buzzing, swooping and scampering visitors. “The house feels uniquely ours,” Robinette reflects. “We’ll never outgrow it in style or size.”