Positioned on a high ridge with commanding views of a lake, a grove of mature live oaks and the rounded peak of Chalk Mountain, the 45,638-square-foot lodge is the focus of an 11,000-acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Serene, secluded and spectacular, the lodge accommodates 80 people for sleep and up to 200 guests for special occasions. All private as well as public rooms extend out to the landscape via porches and terraces. Centralized facilities include a very large living room / dining room with associated porches and terraces, several conference rooms of various sizes, a fitness facility, a pool and a game room.
The buildings sit long and low, hugging the contours of the hill. They nestle into existing trees to form a continuous mass made of natural and manmade forms that rim the brow of the promontory. The rooms inside these simple curved forms are tall, open and filled with light which penetrates from a wide variety of openings with diverse orientations and sun control devices. Public spaces and dining areas engage the natural landscape at every opportunity, providing sunny spaces protected from the north wind in winter and shady spaces oriented to prevailing breezes in the summer. Each of the 39 guest rooms includes porches or terraces, emphasizing again both the formal and functional merger of buildings and the land.
Circulation is held away from the view side in linear passages punctuated by wider, contained patios. A 650-foot long stone wall organizes the circulation and separates it from the open, tree-dotted car court. The stone wall undulates between very large existing oak trees, sometimes using them as focal features in the patios along the circulation route. Colors of the bleached wood, limestone and weathered standing seam metal roofs are compatible with landscape colors.
The lodge buildings extend the strong and lasting sense of place of this site to create a compound which is particular and memorable. The horizon, land contours, vegetation, light qualities, textures, materials, and colors of the site all serve as inspirations for the buildings. No attempt is made to recreate landscape, but rather to work harmoniously and compatibly with it.
