Online
AD Italy
DATE
June 2026
LOCATION
Italy
This Texas home, a custom design by Joshua Rice and Carlton Graham, enhances the American landscape and recalls the grand modernist mansions of the past.
Written by Sonia S. Braga
(Translated) Water features, transparencies, and plenty of art in this contemporary-style home where everything is custom-designed.
This contemporary-style home opens onto the landscape with glass windows and natural materials, in a continuous dialogue between interior and exterior.
Green hills dotted with oaks and gentle slopes covered in cedars: the charm of the Lone Star State is reflected in this pristine corner of the Texas Hill Country , where every glance embraces a natural horizon from another era. Horizontal lines also inspire this Texas home , with its unmistakable features, low volumes and evocative transparency. Visitors arrive via a long wooden walkway that cuts through the woods, passing gravel, lawns, and water features, just before reaching a limestone façade and an imposing yet silent swing door.
From nature we come to nature, masterfully constructed by Carlton Graham , founder of Graham Architecture . "The concept uses long horizontal lines that echo the horizon, and the interiors follow the same approach," explains Joshua Rice , principal of the Texas-based studio Joshua Rice Design , which oversaw the project's interiors. This creates a habitat that, despite extending across two levels and several wings, never appears imposing. Instead, deep overhangs and rows of glass blur the line between interior and exterior, while stone, wood, and warm neutral tones soften this approximately 1,000-square-meter composition, creating a serene and enveloping atmosphere.
Nature and transparencies
The inspiration came from the unique shape of the location. From the beginning, the goal was to orient every space toward the long views of the Hill Country, where the land slopes into a broad canopy of vegetation. And everything had to convey calm and peace, that slow , peaceful pace of life so sought after by the owners, a couple with two children who moved to Texas from Los Angeles , making this house their full-time home. For their new retreat, they wanted a modern, sophisticated design reminiscent of their life in California . Carlton Graham and Joshua Rice made their desires tangible.
Story continued in the LINK Below…
Photography: Lacey Land
