The limestone and ipe wood house – designed by Natalye Appel + Associates Architects – celebrates nature and art.
A MOVEABLE FEAST THIS HOME’S ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OFFERS VIEWS, COMFORT, VISUAL INTEREST BY BARBARA CANETTI • PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLAUDIA CASBARIAN
Architect Natalye Appel has created an intriguing indoor/ outdoor enigma in a Bellaire neighborhood. From the street, the limestone and ipe wood (a dark, dense wood that doesn’t rot) looks like it belongs to a mid-size, modern house mixed into the eclectic combination of nearby ranch, Tudor and maxi-mansions. But once behind the 8-foot-high fence, a most unusual home evolves. The first thing a visitor notices is all the open space – three large oak trees spreading shade over a courtyard, planted with ferns and other ornamental plants. But looking at the house – rather, looking through the house – is where the uniqueness of this structure unfolds. 54 house& home | September 2015 | www.houstonhouseandhome.net
The whole focus of the house is an indoor-outdoor feel: where does the outside begin and the inside end? It is hard to say because virtually all the walls – made of thick, tempered glass – are moveable, eliminating the shell of the house and opening up the sitting room, dining room, living room or study onto the pool or outside kitchen. Appel, of Natalye Appel + Associates Architects, called the project a “dream job” – saying the owners were adamant about integrating the spaces and, although designed in a modern style, wanted to keep a warm, organic feel to the house with interesting textures and materials. Basically the two-story house was designed with almost all the