South 5th Residence | Alterstudio Architecture

Written By Positive Energy

Location

Austin, TX

Positive Energy Scope

MEP Engineering

Project Team

Unique Features

  • A transparent living room hovering over a steep escarpment
  • Protected Durand Oak and critical-root-zone constraints integrated into the home’s spatial sequence
  • Concrete, steel, raw stucco, gabion wall, and perforated Cor-Ten screen balanced with custom wood and steel windows

Awards

Press

The Big Idea

South 5th Residence finds richness in a compact urban site shaped by a remarkable oak, a steep escarpment, and exacting neighborhood constraints. Alterstudio turned those limits into a sequence of privacy, shelter, and release: a verdant entry courtyard gives way to a transparent living room that opens onto far-reaching views. Positive Energy's MEP engineering supports the home’s changing spatial moods with comfortable, healthy, quiet indoor environments while coordinating the systems that make its glass, steel, concrete, and finely detailed interiors feel effortless to inhabit.

Photography Credits

Great residential MEP work for world-class architecture is rarely seen because all of our coordination disappears behind walls and into refined details, and it simply works as intended. Casey Dunn's photographs brilliantly capture the spirit of this home and remind us that what we create is beautiful because it is the sum of so many parts joined into a whole. Please visit Casey's site for more beautiful work.




Positive Energy
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