The northern suburb of University Park is the leafy setting for this new Dallas house designed by local studio Smitharc Architecture + Interiors. Despite being just a few miles from downtown Dallas, this is a verdant, suburban oasis, home to Dallas Country Club and golf course.
The family house – named St Andrews Residence – sits on a wedge-shaped site directly opposite the greens, with the plan arranged to take in the views across the street.
Covering some 9,000 sq ft, the programme accommodates the busy lives of a family with three children. The lower-ground floor is a playground of function and entertainment, housing a garage, gym, ballet room, golf simulator room and den, while the ground floor is extensively glazed, with the main living spaces looking out onto the tiered lawn that steps up from the street at the front, and across a pool and garden at the rear of the property.
The main bedroom is also housed on the ground floor, while the children’s rooms, guest suites, and an art studio are set on the upper level, with a rooftop lounge located on the upper deck.
Despite its suburban location, St Andrews Residence has more in common with the glass and steel spires of downtown, with sleek finishes, overscaled interiors and high-tech detailing. Interior design was by Collins Interiors.
The most dramatic feature is the 13 ft-tall sliding glass walls, set within steel frames along recessed tracks to allow the living spaces to open up to the garden.
These are paired with slatted steel solar screens, which help keep the hot Texan sun at bay during the heat of the day. The architects claim inspiration from rural vernacular architecture, back when screening was the only way to condition air.
The main service spaces are all contained within the central spine, a monumental wall clad in Indiana limestone that also acts as a buffer between the glassy, public realm and the more private areas of the house. This stone wall is lit from above by a skylight that runs almost the entire length of the house, an impressive 93ft, cutting through the living room, dining area, kitchen, utility room and main bedroom.
Unadorned I-beams support bleached cypress-clad ceilings, with a Bulthaup kitchen in satin aluminium to continue the industrial palette. The other key interior element is the staircase, which blends a ribbon of folded steel with a sturdy curved support.
The glazed living space is effectively a pavilion separating the house’s front and back garden, complete with sliding doors that create a pathway right through it.
This is a house conceived for entertaining, carefully concealing its scale and scope through the set-back design and modest street frontage.
INFORMATION
-
Five women-led studios reshaping Indian creativity at Design Mumbai 2025Design Mumbai 2025 opens 26-29 November – Wallpaper* meets five women-led local brands exhibiting at this year's show
-
An Australian holiday home is designed as a bushfire-proof sanctuary‘Amongst the Eucalypts’ by Jason Gibney Design Workshop (JGDW) rethinks life – and architecture – in fire-prone landscapes, creating a minimalist holiday home that’s meant to last
-
100 George Street is the new kid on the block in fashionable MaryleboneLondon's newest luxury apartment building brings together a sensitive exterior and thoughtful, 21st-century interiors
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume
-
This ethereal Miami residence sprouted out of a wild, jungle-like gardenA Miami couple tapped local firm Brillhart Architecture to design them a house that merged Florida vernacular, Paul Rudolph and 'too many plants to count’
-
Tour Cano House, a Los Angeles home like no other, full of colour and quirkCano House is a case study for tranquil city living, cantilevering cleverly over a steep site in LA’s Mount Washington and fusing California modernism with contemporary flair
-
An ocean-facing Montauk house is 'a coming-of-age, a celebration, a lair'A Montauk house on Hither Hills, designed by Hampton architects Oza Sabbeth, is wrapped in timber and connects its residents with the ocean
-
With a freshly expanded arts centre at Dartmouth College, Snøhetta brings levity to the Ivy LeagueThe revamped Hopkins Center for the Arts – a prototype for the Met Opera house in New York –has unveiled its gleaming new update
-
From Bauhaus to outhouse: Walter Gropius’ Massachusetts home seeks a design for a new public toiletFor years, visitors to the Gropius House had to contend with an outdoor porta loo. A new architecture competition is betting the design community is flush with solutions
-
Robert Stone’s new desert house provokes with a radical take on site-specific architectureA new desert house in Palm Springs, ‘Dreamer / Lil’ Dreamer’, perfectly exemplifies its architect’s sensibility and unconventional, conceptual approach
-
New York's iconic Breuer Building is now Sotheby's global headquarters. Here's a first lookHerzog & de Meuron implemented a ‘light touch’ in bringing this Manhattan landmark back to life
