Our Home of the Week is House 334, a Best in American Living Awards Remodeling Gold Winner from Alamo Heights, Texas.
The home was purchased for a downsizing experiment and design/build opportunity, to explore a different way of living on the smaller 50-foot wide lots found in the central San Antonio neighborhood.
Frustrated with the zoning limitations imposed on the smaller single-family lots of the area, as well as with clients’ attempting to overbuild to maximize homes for use and resale, the designer started the project as a study to create an open, compact, inviting home with comparable outdoor living spaces to those found on larger properties.
The 1,200-square foot existing home was a prototype for residential concrete construction by a local builder and was constructed of solid concrete interior walls and tilt-wall concrete exterior panels. The shape of the existing home worked well for the public spaces; however, it required substantial demolition to its core exterior elements to create the open spaces.
The bedroom addition followed, with a careful connection to respect the original home’s scale and concrete character. Every inch of the home was utilized for necessary space, including a home office desk in the transitional hallway and built-in storage rather than dedicated closets. The typical concrete driveway was replaced with large concrete pavers and driveable gravel to ground the pavilion addition, and a roof-top dining deck was created over the garage.
Project Team
Architect: Craig McMahon Architects, Inc.
Builder: Craig McMahon AIA
Interior Designer: Molly McMahon
