Every fall, the AIA Austin Homes Tour descends on Texas’s design-savvy capital, offering the public a rare peak into superlative homes by leading local architects. The 38th annual event, taking place this year on October 26 and 27, includes nine innovative Austin residences, both new builds and renovations, selected by the AIA Austin Homes Tour Committee for their design excellence. Of the nine firms with projects in the 2024 showcase, six have female architects at the helm. It’s also the first year that an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) used as a primary residence will be part of the lineup.
On the self-guided tours, participants can meet the architects and designers behind the featured residences and draw inspiration for their own projects. “You get to see houses that are really aspirational, but also super sustainable, affordable, creative on complicated sites, or made with innovative materials and building technologies,” says American Institute of Architects (AIA) Austin executive director Ingrid Spencer. “To go on this tour will be a feast for anyone who loves design and is interested in learning how living in a house can elevate your life.” Read on for a preview of the nine homes on the 2024 AIA Austin Homes Tour.
Bridle Path Residence by Point B Design Group
This smart renovation of a 1950s split-level Austin residence accommodated additional space for the owners without actually expanding the house’s footprint. Through strategic changes that required relatively minimal intervention, like realigned wall heights and a repurposed carport, the home now spans 3,000 square feet. The rear of the lush lot also has a 550-square-foot ADU.
Bryker Woods Residence by Hunt Architecture
The architects and owners of this single-story Austin residence relocated the lot’s existing 1940s bungalow, where they’d lived for four years, to construct a new home that would complement the 400-square-foot rear studio they built two years prior. Natural light pours through the large skylight aligned with the central spine of the house. The home employs a mix of gable and flat roofs coupled with brick and vertical cedar siding.
City Park Residence by Alterstudio Architecture
A profiled wood–and–native stone exterior complements the warm mahogany walls inside this sweeping residence on a verdant slope overlooking downtown Austin. Outside, a garden descends to a covered terrace with a pool and lawn. “I can’t describe how amazing this house is,” says Spencer. “The views, the craft, the variety of levels and experiences….it’s just a showstopper.”
Daniel Drive Residence by Clark Richardson Architects
This newly built Austin residence cleverly reimagines the shotgun layout while paying tribute to its owner’s Louisiana roots. A floating steel stair in the central vestibule takes visitors to the second floor, where an oversize screened porch peers over the city’s downtown skyline.
Double Duty by Pollen Architecture & Design
Situated behind a 1940s house in an East Austin alley, this ADU used as a primary residence marks the first of its kind to be featured in the AIA Austin Homes Tour. Tall ceilings and clerestory windows make the 758-square-foot interior feel spacious. Glass doors connect the living room to a 159-square-foot screened porch.
Hartford Residence by Restructure Studio
A 483-square-foot addition to this 1932 home added space, including a new primary bedroom and laundry/mudroom, without erasing the original charm. “The Hartford Residence shines because it is an old Austin house that remains old Austin….just updated beautifully,” says Spencer. The expansion incorporates reclaimed brick from the original rear facade. Other new elements include a large kitchen island with bar seating and a cozy screened porch.
OFFbeat by Nick Deaver Jes Deaver Architecture
Once a derelict 1930s cottage, this renovated home in the heart of Austin conceals a metal-roofed addition that holds a glass-walled, cantilevered living space with a 28-foot concrete bench overlooking the rear garden, as well as a screened porch. The asymmetric gabled roof at the entry hints at the eccentric elements inside: there are wood details throughout, such as sinker cypress sills and ledges made from logs reclaimed in rivers and swamps.
Post Oak by FAB Architecture
A central courtyard awaits inside this newly constructed home south of downtown Austin. The exterior’s board-formed concrete, steel, and stucco elements complement the warm walnut, industrial steel, and smooth plaster within. A two-story dining porch with a steel louvered screen offsets the home’s southern exposure and provides privacy for the upper-level bedrooms.
Sundown Residence by Hogan Architects and Development
This West Austin retreat, originally designed in the 1980s by renowned architect Robert Renfro, sits on a secluded hillside with a ravine and stream. The thoughtful renovation and addition combines a reverence for postmodernist ideals with a commitment to contemporary amenities.
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