Austin Home – Liquid Assets

Liquid Assets

Secluded in the City

Because of its proximity to downtown, Bouldin Creek is a popular neighborhood to build a home. But even hardcore urbanites can benefit from having a space where they can retreat and relax, and that’s exactly what clients asked Camille Jobe, of Jobe Corral Architects, to design for their lot in the heart of town.

Her solution was to create a small courtyard in her C-shaped plan, and the gem of the courtyard is a water feature that gives the space a little bit of Zen. The work of landscape design company Mark Word Design, the water feature consists of four custom-fabricated steel boxes, each filled with water. Since the lot slopes significantly, the water is designed to cascade from one box to the next lower one. Scuppers control the level of the water in each box. Once the water reaches the bottom box, it is recirculated back up to the top.

To add a natural and loose look to the landscape, Word added water lilies to the boxes.

“When you go in the courtyard, you can hear the sound of the water, and the city escapes you,” Jobe says. “You’re in the middle of your own little oasis.”

Austin Home, “Liquid Assets”, 2016
LINK TO ARTICLE+