Courtyard Residence
Marfa Square House
Marfa, Texas, USA
Client
Private commission
Marfa, Texas, USA
The project
A house on the high desert near Marfa planned as nine squares around one open court, built of sun-baked brick and lime plaster with deep openings to the plain.
Discipline
Courtyard Residence
Location
Marfa, Texas, USA
Year
2022
Area
280 m²
01·The brief
Nine squares and the sky
A writer's house on two acres of high desert grassland. The brief was an untidy arrangement answered with an orderly plan: rooms as squares around an open court, the court to the south, the sky doing the decorating.
02·The approach
Brick, lime, one court
Walls are sun-baked brick rendered in lime, floors are sealed screed, openings are deep rectangles set for the plain and the sky rather than the road. The court is open to the sky with one water trough; rooms are arranged around it like a nine-square grid, and the plan can be read from the roof terrace.
03·The result
Completed in 2022
The house was completed in 2022 and has been through four desert summers. The lime has taken the dust; the court's trough is used daily by the resident birds. Published with the owner's consent.
Scope of work
01Architecture
02Interior architecture
03Courtyard and shade design
04Custom joinery design
05Landscape reinstatement
06Furniture selection
