Side Angle Side
The basic ingredients of all homes may be the same; what sets them apart is how they are thoughtfully put together.
Words by Jessi Devenyns Photos by Casey Dunn
When a house becomes a home, it’s both an evolution and a return to basics. Doors, windows, frames, and materials have all existed for generations, but it is through the simultaneous adherence and defiance of rules that a structure can become a sculpture worthy of a photograph.
Although Casey Dunn didn’t imagine his home as a drool-worthy addition to his portfolio, for the nationally acclaimed architectural photographer, it seems only appropriate that his home would be an impeccable design that is framed between four concrete walls.
For architects and partners Annie-Laurie Grabiel and Arthur Furman who designed the home, the process was a little less straightforward. For them, it began with a secondhand memory of a home that resembled the quintessential house that a child would draw. “It was the only thing Casey really gave us was the form of this house,” recalls Annie of the initial concept. With the ease only a comfortable relationship brings, Arthur chimes in saying, “He relayed to us this fascination with a project that he photographed early in his career up in Maine that was a simple, iconic shape with a gabled roof.”
“We would try to overcomplicate things for no reason and then end up editing it out and keep coming back to this box.”
Despite the bare bones directions, the couple insists that it was actually a challenge to keep the design simple; such a blank canvas to work from was an invitation for their imaginations to play. “We would try to overcomplicate things for no reason and then end up editing it out and keep coming back to this box,” Arthur says as he gestures to the cavernous, white-washed space that comprises the hybrid living room-kitchen.
Although the living space already takes up most of the bottom floor of the house, it seems almost endless with expansive picture windows offering unencumbered views of the garden. Annie acknowledges with satisfaction that the idea was for the design to communicate an effortless union between the two spaces. After all, with Texas having weather that beckons one to enjoy evenings with friends on the patio, it was an instinctive choice to incorporate the outdoors inside. Indeed, the interplay between nature and home continues through the choice of wooden furniture, airy ceilings, milled pine beams, and concrete walls.
As a home, the structure belies its traditional form and bends the rules. The front door is unconventionally situated in the middle of the home, and guests are guided through a concrete courtyard to access the interior. Similarly, the bedrooms are located at the front of the house, and overhead, the angle of the roof transforms the master bedroom into an attic loft. All of these design choices, however, happened through an evolutionary process: one which took place throughout relationships and over glasses of wine in the congenial atmosphere built only by working with friends at home. “We’d get together, have wine, sketch, look at Pinterest,” Arthur recalls. “I think that it was just a much longer and slower and more organic process than what we would do nowadays.”
In the end though, the hours of rework gave rise to an arrestingly simple, yet welcoming, structure that reflects the life that Casey has built for himself, and Arthur explains, “it ended up feeling right for a lot of reasons.”
A First
The Dunn’s home was the first project that Arthur and Annie took on as independent architects with their firm, Side Angle Side. It was one of the homes featured in the 32th annual AIA Austin Homes Tour.
Contact:
Side Angle Side
sideangleside.co
arthur@sideangleside.co
