In Lavaca, one of the oldest neighborhoods of San Antonio, this dwelling had to comply with historic design guidelines that required a front porch, specific roof profiles, window proportions, and certain materials. The 183-square-meter building presents a modest palette of materials, adapted to the surroundings.

The architects Mary English and Xavier Vendrell, both professors at Auburn University in Alabama, designed a home for Mary’s sister Susan and her family. The composition presents five gabled forms and three courtyards. A primary gable runs perpendicular to the street and contains a bedroom on either end, with the kitchen and dining room in the center. The door of the front porch opens directly into a courtyard, an open-air foyer with a space for storing bicycles. From there a second door leads to the interior, with its abundance of crossed and diagonal views as well as transparencies.