Nestled into a heavily wooded site along Houston’s Buffalo Bayou, the design for the Mott Lane Residence conceives of the home as a series of stacked layers. A rusticated stone base serves as a conceptual foundation for the house. This volume contains spaces for parking and storage while also framing outdoor spaces for the pool and patio. The stone column of the fireplace transcends the various levels, while also providing a subtle cue that helps define public and private areas.   

At the level above, two linear bars rest upon the stone, tapering to form a threshold at the west and expanding toward the woods to the east. The first bar contains the more public programs of living, dining, and kitchen. The second bar encloses the more private primary bedroom suite. A glass enclosed family room serves as a bridge between those two elements while providing views to the swimming pool below and the forest beyond.

A generous roof canopy floats above these bars, defining the space for the top floor while also providing shade to the spaces below. Planes of glass wrap the bedrooms of the upper level while also providing a sense of lightness to the roof plane. An opening within the canopy frames a view of the sky while also allowing sunlight to reach the swimming pool below.