An ideal vacation home is meant to be welcoming and luxurious in order to ensure that its visitors would still be able to enjoy modern comforts despite living within a small city or at a remote location for the duration of their holiday. The Brushytop Home can be found in Blanco, Texas, USA, and it was sketched out by John Grable Architects from San Antonio for a family of four.
Since it is a weekend home after all, the Brushytop House features a rustic, simple exterior appearance that is complemented by more than adequate living conditions. In order to guarantee unrestricted views of the rugged Texas landscape, the architects decided to include multiple large windows in the design, which also play a key role in allowing natural light within.
With 2,200 square feet of living space, the residence boasts a cross-shaped layout that comprises 3 masonry boxes. These boxes encircle a special wing that was made out of timber and glass and which incorporates the main living room. The third box includes multiple storage spaces, which are quite essential for a home that is not meant to be inhabited permanently.
The garage has enough space for 2 and a half cars and can also be used as a dining pavilion that is protected from sunrays by a special lattice screen. This area also boasts a generously sized ceiling fan that guarantees optimum air circulation and comfort.
From the John Grable Architects:
Designed as a weekend getaway cabin for a young family of four, Brushy Top House provides a simple, rustic, yet completely refined setting to enjoy the Texas Hill Country landscape. The clients, both in the military, were eager to push the design envelope to create a space for family and friends to gather and escape city life without sacrificing their urban sensibilities. Rather than place the structure high on the hill where originally envisioned, the architect sited it lower, close to a stand of trees to create a foreground to distant views instant natural landscape and welcome shade in this drought-prone region.
The 2,200 square-foot, cross-shaped building is organized as three masonry boxes that flank a central glass and timber wing great room that rises to the south maximizing panoramic views of the valley and distant hills framed by the big Texas sky. The third masonry box is storage unit anchoring the structure into the northern sloping site. The 2 ½ car garage, required by deed restrictions, doubles as a dining pavilion, open to framed views to the east and west. A lattice screen provides sun control and privacy with rolling screens that open to frame sunsets – an integral ingredient – to family evening meals, while a large ceiling fan overhead provides air circulation on hot summer nights.