DALLAS RESIDENCE

A courtyard house in Texas, built to keep the sun out and the light in.

The plan wraps a central court, so every main room looks across water rather than at a neighbour. Deep overhangs carry the whole south side — in a Dallas summer the shade is structure, not decoration. Travertine runs from the terraces up the walls without a break, and the house reads as one piece of stone with openings cut into it.

Vertical oak slats warm the recessed volumes and screen the upper bedrooms without closing them. Two pools sit on the same axis, one shallow and still, one for swimming, and at dusk the linear light under the steps turns the whole terrace into a single lit plane.