Balcones House is the private residence of Elizabeth Alford and Michael Young of Pollen Architecture & Design, and it is located in Austin, Texas. The interior makes extensive use of light wood, and focuses on line and order. This house is a recreation of a modest mid-century house plus an addition. The intent was to maintain the spirit of the original design while expanding, repairing and solving the functional problems of the original house. Most of the original structure was too badly damaged to retain, but the new house retains the essence of the original house reinterpreted, upgraded, and preserved for the future. The house is designed from an integrated perspective, employing passive solar principles and many green features. These include window placement to optimize daylight and solar heat gain in the winter while avoiding summer heat, a roof that reflects most of the sun’s heat, extra insulation, low-embodied energy local materials such as new-growth cypress and pine, photovoltaic panels, and rainwater catchment. Pollen developed several custom materials used in the project including an exposed aggregate concrete slab topping with a terrazzo-like effect and concrete tiles with a texture pattern that creates unique light and shadow patterns on the wall.
