On Solving That Opposites Thing

Written by Connie Dufner

He wanted modern. She preferred traditional. They both liked privacy — but with lots of big windows. They planned for a redo of their 1960s ranchburger in Preston Hollow, yet the existing house was oddly sited and cut off the view of a pretty pond on the 1-acre lot. To get an ideal house, would the couple have to compromise? Or worse, defer to that maddening truth immortalized by the Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want”?

No and no. Enter Dallas architects Paul Field and Braxton Werner of Wernerfield, who listened to their clients, an industrial designer and his wife who were planning a house for themselves and their two children, now 10 and 12. Werner and Field had worked together at Cunningham Architects and became business partners in 2006. Joshua Rice, an interior designer who had polished his sensibilities at modernist firm Bodron + Fruit, joined the team later to assemble a mix of understated pieces to create a house in which architecture and interior design beautifully bridge the gap between the husband and wife’s contradictory aesthetics.

All that remains of the original house is a chimney anchoring the outdoor fireplace. In its place? A 4,800-square-foot modern ode to a thrilling give-and-take among the couple, the architects and the designer. It is a C-shaped courtyard house, looking out onto the pool and pond, with plenty of glass and, indeed, harmonious elements both modern and traditional. The collaboration began in 2009, when the couple met Werner and Field through their landscape architect, David Rolston, who was on board to do the outdoor plan for the house. Originally, the couple planned to renovate. “It soon became clear,” Field says, “that a ground-up [house] situated on a different part of the 1-acre lot would be a better solution. This allowed us to push the home farther away from the street and locate it on a part of the property that would have better views to the existing pond.”

The path to skillful navigation between the couple’s differing tastes was through materials, says the architect. “The stone and rusted steel was a palette the wife was comfortable with. She felt it wasn’t cold, and had a traditional feel while still being modern.” In a balance of lightness and depth, the white-stucco exterior is flanked by solid walls of stone from Granbury. Reclaimed wood from the corral of a Wyoming rodeo arena infuses the front door and entry, as well as an exterior wall and a master bedroom wall, with rustic timelessness. Cor-Ten steel roofing and chimney trim is a beautiful marriage of just modern enough and materials with a past. “The rust from the steel is dripping down on the stucco,” Field says. “We like that patina and the owners do, too.”

The new house pays homage to the original with a gable roof in the main living, dining and kitchen area, all in a single-story floor plan in which family spaces, public spaces and guest spaces create an efficient and natural flow. Furnishings are what Rice has dubbed tactile modernism. “So often, modern houses are interpreted as shiny, white kitchens and slick floors that look like showrooms,” he says. Here, he chose handsome furnishings wrapped in vintage leathers and luxurious fabrics — “a mix of obscure but contemporary” pieces from the canon of midcentury and modern designers, famous and less so. “There aren’t many things your average person with entry-level design knowledge will be able to identify,” Rice says, “but it all has pedigree.” The pieces, which include modern must-haves as well as custom furnishings by local artists, were found in Dallas, Aspen, Europe and beyond. In the interior design as in the architecture, some soft-shoeing was in order. The husband wanted modern lighting in the dining area. The wife wanted a crystal stunner. “She kept showing me chandeliers,” says Rice, and he rejected many that did not fit into the space. Finally, she found a sly one from the Dutch company Moooi, a traditional chandelier encased in a reflective polyester shade. “I said, ‘Just go for it,’ ” Rice says. On the outside, the fixture is all sleek and modern. But if you’re sitting at the table and chance to look up, you’ll see dripping crystals befitting a grand dining room. If you try, sometimes, you just might find the house gets what it needs.

Photography by Justin Clemons, Robert Tsai, Charles Smith & Shayna Fontana

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