This Seemingly Subdued Austin Home Takes You on an Experiential Journey

The City View House in Austin, Texas takes residents and curious onlookers through a journey sprinkled with moments of surprise. From the street, a passerby has little understanding of what unfolds behind the private, ultra-modern facade—yet the home begs passersby to wonder.  

The home embodies a mid-century modern concept, “discreet from the street.” But the interior and rear of the four-bedroom, six-bath home (plus casita) are anything but. That purposeful effect required dedicated editing and fine-tuning from architect Mark Odom of Mark Odom Studio and builder Brent Fannin of FIA Homes.  

Designing—and Editing—the Massing  

Discreet from the street became an important concept for the team early on when considering ways to blend a new luxury home into the hilly, eclectic Austin neighborhood.  

“We wanted to hold on to a sense of timelessness, to pay homage to our neighborhood. The ‘new’ is very sometimes in your face, and that’s not what we’re about,” says Odom. “We want to be very form-driven; we want to be very experiential-driven and peak curiosity and pull you in, versus being in your face.”  

But the crux of this project was that city view, says Odom. To kick off a project, the team develops a narrative on what the home will be about. It’s a simple tactic that helps remind the architecture team of the most important components, allowing for more honed-in, purposeful design. For this home, it was that city view.  

Capturing the view was another benefit from the intentional massing. From the discreet elevation, the rear of the home cascades down a hill, providing that city view and experience from every angle with expansive windows, cantilevered masses, and a variety of outdoor spaces.  

One question toyed with was the location of the garage. What could be a simple choice was made challenging based on the steep lot. The first iteration from the design team included parking the car on top of the home, which created an experience of homeowners descending into the home. Ultimately, that meant the car would take over a primary view—a no-go with the purpose of the design being to maximize that view.  

“It would have increased the cost of foundation probably sixfold from an engineering perspective,” says Fannin. “We were proposed wood, which, right away I said, ‘No,’ because I know that in Central Texas, it's a very difficult material to live with. It doesn't weather well and the house could potentially always feel splotchy.”  

The team used pre-aged thermally modified ash wood instead, cutting their own 20-foot-long slats out of randoms. It was the best material because it maintains a natural finish almost immediately, but the cost of ordering those slats would have been “astronomical,” says Fannin. The installation process took nearly four months with a makeshift millwork shop set up in the garage.  

“It is the architectural detail, in my opinion, that you see on the house first, so it had to be right,” says Fannin.  

On the inside, Odom selected natural, subtle materials and textures like travertine, natural wood, and stucco. Materials needed to be true and timeless that stood up to use and never stole the spotlight.   

“A lot of the heavier conversations were, ‘How do we maintain view, no matter where you are? How do we maintain this experiential flow?’ which means that we never want to give the 'Ah!’ moment away at the very beginning. We want to make you work for it, right?” says Odom. “And so there's a series of unfolding components as you walk through the house. ‘How do we how do we never lose that?’”  

The team needed to get the flow right to accomplish the series of components, and sometimes that required a sharp pivot mid-project.  

The midcentury modern-style sunken living room that’s in the final home became an element halfway through the construction of the project. It was an area Fannin couldn’t get over. The original design included a full set of stairs that descended from the kitchen to the living room, but that disrupted movement from leaving the kitchen and hitting the back of a couch down the stairs troubled Fannin for several months, so he tore out the stairs and rebuilt.  

“You look at the living room now, it has a wide set of stairs that aligns itself with the hallway and the door out to the outdoor living space,” says Fannin. “The rest of it is walled off and kind of cordoned up in a way that creates that conversation pit. It gave us more space for furniture, and it changed the layout for the living room, where the space would feel more cozy.”