The Barton Hills Residence

The property drops nearly twelve feet from the back door to the rear property line — enough of a grade that the original yard amounted to a patio and a hillside nobody used. Our design broke that slope into three level terraces: a dining terrace off the kitchen, a mid-level lawn, and a lower gathering terrace with a wood-burning fire feature, tucked beneath the property's existing heritage live oak.

Retaining walls are dry-stacked limestone, matched to a stone outcropping already visible on a neighboring lot, so the terracing reads as though it followed the land rather than reshaped it. Steps between levels are cut from the same stone, wide enough for two people to pass, with lighting integrated along the risers for evening use.

Planting is almost entirely native and adapted species — little bluestem and Gulf muhly grass along the terrace edges, with Texas mountain laurel and possumhaw holly providing structure near the house. The oak's root zone was fenced off for the entire nine-week construction period, and irrigation was designed to avoid watering directly beneath its canopy.