A business-to-business magazine focused on the collaborative process and talented work of residential architects and custom homebuilders.
Issue link: https://residentialdesign.epubxp.com/i/811962
PRO-FILE DESIGN Left to right: Ted Flato, FAIA, and Bill Aylor, AIA, of Lake/Flato Architects. Below: The recent Prow House in Fort Davis, Texas, near Marfa, is the first off-the-grid Porch House. Photo: Casey Dunn What's Next for the Porch House? LAKE/FLATO ARCHITECTS SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS When you think about Texas , the image you're apt to conjure is of pulsating heat, sun-stunted vegetation, and abandoned industrial buildings fossilizing along dusty rural roads. Petroleum may not be the state's most precious resource; shade certainly is. Lake/ Flato's work harnesses these gritty ingredients and turns them into buildings that are at once humble and exalted, light and solid, protected and open. The firm was established in 1984 by David Lake, FAIA, and Ted Flato, FAIA, two young architects who had worked together at O'Neil Ford's legendary San Antonio, Texas, firm. As with many fledgling enterprises, the early projects were small, inexpen- sive, and residential. They also expressed a regional modernism before the concept was widely understood and acknowledged. (Back then, everything inspired by indigenous building traditions and materials was dubbed "vernacular.") There was magic in their secret sauce, however, and after a few especially artful and serendipitous projects, their work began to break out on a national scale. A case in point was the Carraro Residence, a 40-acre ranch project in Kyle, Texas. Built in 1990 with a very tight budget ($100,000 that eventually swelled to about $200,000 by the end), it incorporated the skeleton of an old steel equipment shed reclaimed from the scrap yard and resulted in a project that was "more porch than house," says Ted Flato. The ranch's trio of industrial modern buildings resonated as instantly iconic. National design awards soon followed, and the basic DNA of the Porch House was formed. Earthy, durable materials, shaded and screened outdoor rooms, volumes pulled apart but intricately connected—these became the elements of every Lake/Flato house going forward. Por traits: Josh Huskin VOL. 2, 2017 RESIDENTIALDESIGNMAGA ZINE.COM 15