The home design risks at play in the Highland Park Residence were devised to meet the needs of the client—an active family with three young children, as well as full-time contemporary art collectors who wished to exhibit and host gallery events on-site. To this end, the home itself functions as an expansive and multilayered work of art, with a separate gallery space behind the private home to host a rotating selection of the clients’ art.
To compensate for a lack of natural features on-site, Alterstudio strove to create an “extraordinary” landscape and interior environment in accordance with the clients’ wishes. The home itself is arranged in a curved silhouette, framing an expansive courtyard with window walls that open to the north and south ends of the property. The modern aesthetics are meant to serve as a “counter proposal” to the Tudor mansions and French chateau-style homes in the surrounding Dallas neighborhood.
The second floor’s ribbed stone cladding forms a heavy floating bar over the main level’s window panes and dark paneling. A white brick path leads to a 35-foot cantilevered roof section over the entryway, bordered by a reflecting pool, a tree extending into a skylight, and stone steps up into the property’s main courtyard.
Inside, the window walls create a horizontal orientation with the landscape and emphasize the verticality of the home itself. The living spaces feature a mix of “raw and refined” finishes, including a juxtaposition of mill finished steel and limestone panels, and of glazed volcanic stones from Guadalajara with walnut cabinetry and stainless steel kitchen fixtures.
The home is built to LEED certification standards and counterbalances its delicate design features, including the first floor’s curtain wall, with tighter envelopes and stronger environmental performance in other parts of the home. Working in partnership with a mechanical engineering firm that specializes in energy modeling and integrated mechanical design, the home’s HVAC systems were designed in concert with the architecture and fine-tuned to meet each space’s occupancy loads and comfort needs.
