A River Runs Through It in Austin
A design firm with a modernist aesthetic combines geometry and naturalism in a Texas yard with a new meandering creek
Annie Thornton
17 June 2018
Houzz Editorial Staff
Photos by Tilt/Shift Studio
Yard at a Glance
Location: Austin, Texas, just north of downtown
Size: A quarter acre
Designer and builder: Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher of Austin Outdoor Design
This recently redesigned yard in Austin, Texas, reveals how a successful collaboration between homeowner and designer, as well as strict local building regulations, can creatively stretch a project further than had the designers had free reign with the space.
The homeowners, a couple, wanted the landscape around their contemporary home near downtown Austin to feel more natural and organic, with a winding creek and Japanese-inspired landscape elements incorporated throughout. “We tend to be very straight-lined and modern,” landscape designer Jose Roberto Corea says of his firm’s typical designs. “Here, the client pushed us a little further than our normal comfort zone.”
The intersection of more natural shapes and ordered geometry appears often in the project and creates an elegant tension between the two styles. Meditative walks, loosely arranged plantings and stone representations of water meet direct paths, defined edges and clean-lined steel and concrete elements.
Yard at a Glance
Location: Austin, Texas, just north of downtown
Size: A quarter acre
Designer and builder: Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher of Austin Outdoor Design
This recently redesigned yard in Austin, Texas, reveals how a successful collaboration between homeowner and designer, as well as strict local building regulations, can creatively stretch a project further than had the designers had free reign with the space.
The homeowners, a couple, wanted the landscape around their contemporary home near downtown Austin to feel more natural and organic, with a winding creek and Japanese-inspired landscape elements incorporated throughout. “We tend to be very straight-lined and modern,” landscape designer Jose Roberto Corea says of his firm’s typical designs. “Here, the client pushed us a little further than our normal comfort zone.”
The intersection of more natural shapes and ordered geometry appears often in the project and creates an elegant tension between the two styles. Meditative walks, loosely arranged plantings and stone representations of water meet direct paths, defined edges and clean-lined steel and concrete elements.
Entry Courtyard
The home’s bright orange front door sits at one end of a new entry courtyard. A small deck made of massaranduba wood (a more affordable hardwood alternative to ipe) meets the driveway, widens to accommodate an intimate seating area and then continues to the front door.
On its way to the door, the deck spans a sunken gravel “dry pond,” which features a small water feature and aquatic plantings in one corner. Clumping bamboo and other green foliage plants frame this central area, their organic shapes juxtaposing the right angles and straight lines of the deck and planter borders.
Find a landscape designer to design your yard
The home’s bright orange front door sits at one end of a new entry courtyard. A small deck made of massaranduba wood (a more affordable hardwood alternative to ipe) meets the driveway, widens to accommodate an intimate seating area and then continues to the front door.
On its way to the door, the deck spans a sunken gravel “dry pond,” which features a small water feature and aquatic plantings in one corner. Clumping bamboo and other green foliage plants frame this central area, their organic shapes juxtaposing the right angles and straight lines of the deck and planter borders.
Find a landscape designer to design your yard
Pool Deck
The home’s main living area overlooks the backyard, including a pool that was existing. The team designed this area for practicality, aiming to get the homeowners from the house to the pool as efficiently as possible, as well as for looks, as so much of it can be viewed and admired from indoors. “They’re not necessarily sunbathers,” Corea says. They skipped larger areas for lounging in favor of masses of plantings and easy-to-navigate paths that connect the pool to other parts of the yard.
The home’s main living area overlooks the backyard, including a pool that was existing. The team designed this area for practicality, aiming to get the homeowners from the house to the pool as efficiently as possible, as well as for looks, as so much of it can be viewed and admired from indoors. “They’re not necessarily sunbathers,” Corea says. They skipped larger areas for lounging in favor of masses of plantings and easy-to-navigate paths that connect the pool to other parts of the yard.
The pool area showcases one of the many places in the project where multiple paving materials intersect. Here, black lava rock gravel, concrete pavers and massaranduba decking meet. Corea says he often likes to mix floor materials in order to frame a space or accentuate changes in floor height.
Various gravels feature prominently in this garden, for the above reasons but also to reinforce the Japanese garden aesthetic that the homeowner wanted. Practically, they also help ensure the yard complies with the city’s stringent permeable-surface regulations, which in some instances require that more than half of the property’s square footage (which includes the house) be able to drain water. “It’s amazing how much we’re driven by the impervious cover here in Austin,” Corea says.
How to Choose the Right Gravel for Your Garden
Various gravels feature prominently in this garden, for the above reasons but also to reinforce the Japanese garden aesthetic that the homeowner wanted. Practically, they also help ensure the yard complies with the city’s stringent permeable-surface regulations, which in some instances require that more than half of the property’s square footage (which includes the house) be able to drain water. “It’s amazing how much we’re driven by the impervious cover here in Austin,” Corea says.
How to Choose the Right Gravel for Your Garden
Outdoor Kitchen and Bar
A new eating and entertaining area, featuring a cantilevered bar and outdoor kitchen, sit on a raised deck to the left of the pool. The deck connects to an overflow room in the garage, with a roll-up door enabling the party to spill from the indoors onto the deck. The deck’s floor height matches that of the garage, keeping the transition fluid.
The outdoor kitchen, bar and shade structure are all steel-based, with the front of the kitchen cabinets orange-painted steel. Though clean-lined, the design is in no way simple. The bar, cantilevered on the corner, serves as the base for one of the pergola’s posts.
Orange bar stools: Loll; see more outdoor bar stools
A new eating and entertaining area, featuring a cantilevered bar and outdoor kitchen, sit on a raised deck to the left of the pool. The deck connects to an overflow room in the garage, with a roll-up door enabling the party to spill from the indoors onto the deck. The deck’s floor height matches that of the garage, keeping the transition fluid.
The outdoor kitchen, bar and shade structure are all steel-based, with the front of the kitchen cabinets orange-painted steel. Though clean-lined, the design is in no way simple. The bar, cantilevered on the corner, serves as the base for one of the pergola’s posts.
Orange bar stools: Loll; see more outdoor bar stools
The bar overlooks a planted pond, where the backyard’s new water feature ends.
A piece of aluminum bar grating forms a bridge over the pond, drawing visitors and the homeowners deeper into the yard. “We wanted to make sure you could walk over it in heels,” Corea says of the fine gauge they chose for the bridge. From the bridge you can look down and see water and plants through the grating.
How to Introduce a Water Feature to Your Garden
A piece of aluminum bar grating forms a bridge over the pond, drawing visitors and the homeowners deeper into the yard. “We wanted to make sure you could walk over it in heels,” Corea says of the fine gauge they chose for the bridge. From the bridge you can look down and see water and plants through the grating.
How to Introduce a Water Feature to Your Garden
Pond and Meandering Creek
Once over the metal bridge (just out of frame on the left side of this photo), the yard’s more naturalistic side takes over. A meandering recirculating creek (a request of the homeowner) bisects the yard and flows underneath a steel raised bed, a more modern accent from the designers. Masses of plantings define space and help to screen and conceal other areas of the yard. “They’re also objects that are living and add a layer of beauty to the space,” Corea says.
Designing the creek’s route and placing the individual Texas limestone boulders was a collaborative effort between the design team and the homeowner, who worked together until they had a shape and path they liked. “We knew where we needed it to end and where we needed it to start,” Corea says, although it took a few rounds to get it right (and for the designers to let go of their modernist aesthetic.) “Our first iteration was very rectilinear,” he says. (Flowing water also keeps mosquitos away.)
Orange lounge chairs: Loll; browse Adirondack chairs
Once over the metal bridge (just out of frame on the left side of this photo), the yard’s more naturalistic side takes over. A meandering recirculating creek (a request of the homeowner) bisects the yard and flows underneath a steel raised bed, a more modern accent from the designers. Masses of plantings define space and help to screen and conceal other areas of the yard. “They’re also objects that are living and add a layer of beauty to the space,” Corea says.
Designing the creek’s route and placing the individual Texas limestone boulders was a collaborative effort between the design team and the homeowner, who worked together until they had a shape and path they liked. “We knew where we needed it to end and where we needed it to start,” Corea says, although it took a few rounds to get it right (and for the designers to let go of their modernist aesthetic.) “Our first iteration was very rectilinear,” he says. (Flowing water also keeps mosquitos away.)
Orange lounge chairs: Loll; browse Adirondack chairs
The three main backyard areas (the pool, the kitchen and deck and the creek area), are connected by clear routes. “The idea is to have these direct-ish paths to habitable areas,” Corea says. Once you reach those areas, you then have more freedom to explore the space.
The creek and seating area with the two orange lounge chairs reveal this circulation philosophy for the yard. For example, the path to the creek is very defined. “We restrict your access by putting you on the bridge, but then we release you again,” he says. It’s a contrast of restriction and then meandering. Gravel surrounds the creek, and a larger boulder placed in the middle of the creek acts as an informal step to connect to the small seating area.
The creek and seating area with the two orange lounge chairs reveal this circulation philosophy for the yard. For example, the path to the creek is very defined. “We restrict your access by putting you on the bridge, but then we release you again,” he says. It’s a contrast of restriction and then meandering. Gravel surrounds the creek, and a larger boulder placed in the middle of the creek acts as an informal step to connect to the small seating area.
The wood fence behind the orange Adirondack chairs conceals the pool equipment and AC unit. A cedar plank boardwalk runs along the side of the house, connecting the backyard to the front.
Mild steel was used for the raised bed that bridges the water feature between the pool area and the larger pond and creek area. The designers chose the material for a number of reasons: The clean lines mixed with the patina that develops over time creates an attractive planter. Though slightly different than Cor-Ten, the steel used here is still very long-lived, lasting for decades before it rusts through.
As with many of the design decisions in this project, drainage and permeability also came into play. “The steel allows us to create these raised beds or retaining walls without having to eat into impervious covering,” Corea says, as the material is so much thinner than wood or stone.
As with many of the design decisions in this project, drainage and permeability also came into play. “The steel allows us to create these raised beds or retaining walls without having to eat into impervious covering,” Corea says, as the material is so much thinner than wood or stone.
The backyard creek starts in this rectilinear pond, at the farthest end of the yard, planted with papyrus and other aquatic plants. Water in the limestone-edge basin spills down into the meandering creek, which weaves through the backyard before ending in the square pond in front of the outdoor kitchen.
The site plan shows the home’s redesigned front yard, bottom left, and the backyard, with meandering creek, at the top of the drawing.
Before. This photo shows the backyard and pool before the redesign. Paving surrounded the pool deck and the part of the yard that the new creek occupies was bare lawn. The garage door, which we can see on the dark brown building, now opens up onto the new covered deck and outdoor kitchen.
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Get the Look: Japanese-Inspired Garden Style
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Get the Look: Japanese-Inspired Garden Style
Find a landscape designer near you
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Very nice. Looks great in all seasons.
I am head-over-heels in love with this house/yard. It calms me just looking at it. Beautiful transformation!
The beautiful creek makes that house truly unique. Absolutely amazing!