Light Touch [McKinney York Architects]
An Airy & Elegant Remodel
Words Christopher Ferguson, AIA Photos Andrea Calo
A modest mid-century home in Windsor Park receives a gentle renovation and expansion, breathing light and outdoor views into its smart, art-filled interiors.
Nestled at the end of a cul-de-sac and set back below a mature tree line is a quiet, modernist ranch home dating back to the earliest days of Windsor Park, one of Austin’s oldest planned communities.
From the street, the home looks much as it did in the 1950s. Homeowners Brian Carlson, a principal architect at McKinney York Architects, and his husband, Omar Barnhart, purchased the home in 2007 and knew that any eventual renovation would need to preserve the best components of the home’s mid-century detailing.
The original, triangular clerestory windows at the front of the house were preserved, and a wall below the ridge beam of the gabled roof, which previously separated the living room from the kitchen, were removed. These simple moves helped push light into the home, a strategy complemented by a generously day-lit primary suite addition at the home’s rear, which added about 400 square feet and an abundance of daylight to the home’s original tiny footprint.
Beyond the original brick exterior wall, the couple added a double height bedroom, master bathroom, and an expansive, hidden closet with self-contained laundry utilities. Outside the suite, a small mud room and a taut home office create a light-filled threshold connecting the backyard to the main artery of the home.
A rich material palette in the addition introduces warm and earthy terracotta tones over a white oak floor, supported by sensitively sized and placed windows. Notably, three human-scale, undivided portals help balance high and low light in the bedroom, while also creating a visual connection to the home’s expressive, ruddy brick as it transitions from an exterior façade into an interior finish.
In the backyard, the exterior addition bookends one side of the wedge-shaped plot, which enjoys additional privacy thanks to its adjacency to a quiet utility easement. Adding a simple, covered porch offers shade at the new back entrance.
Quiet and poised, the well-crafted and thoughtfully-detailed spaces are bright, well-proportioned, and expertly curated. As the couple turns their attention to a more ambitious kitchen renovation sometime soon, the story is only beginning to unfold.
Contact:
(512) 476-0201
1301 E 7th St.
mckinneyyork.com
@mckinneyyorkarchitects
Heads Up
An original radial sculpture by Austin artist Adreon Henry visually anchors one end of the home’s main hallway.
Teamwork
Rosewood Construction, well-known for their craft and expertise in sensitive expansions and new construction, provided general contracting services for the project.
