Architect’s Viewpoint: A Vision for Living Well in a Changing Climate

The Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture team designed the VISION House Austin to be a healthy, resilient structure with a small carbon footprint—making sustainability accessible to all.

Green Builder Media and Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture have joined forces in the creation of the VISION House Austin. 

Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture specializes in high-performance, climate-responsive design strategies and strongly believes in common sense approaches to sustainability. This includes the design and construction of buildings that use less energy, are healthier to live in, and more resilient in extreme weather. 

Since its foundation, Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture has endeavored to develop, promote, and educate clients, colleagues, and the greater public about these important tenants of the Green Building movement. After nearly four decades, it remains an unwavering goal of the firm.

Green Builder Media approached the architect about participating in the VISION House program, which seeks to educate both building professionals and consumers about how to build a better home, focusing on aesthetics and performance. The firm knew it had found a like-minded organization. 

“We are excited to partner with Green Builder Media in this program and see it as a great opportunity to showcase our design philosophy of ‘sustainable from the start,’” says Peter Pfeiffer, FAIA and founding principal of Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture. “The most successful designs work in partnership with the surrounding landscape, taking into account local climate conditions. That is why we believe the quest for true sustainability in our built environment begins with the very earliest of design decisions, where you choose to locate the building on the site.”

Clients With Admirable Goals

“The ‘Sustainable Ranch’ project began the same way many of our designs do: with a phone call,” says Pfeiffer. “On the other end of the phone was Judi and Robert George. “The couple had always dreamed of building a home that not only looks beautiful, but that also performs beautifully.” 

Now in post-retirement, the Georges were looking to downsize from a two-story house while also upgrading how the new home would function. 

“The Georges were particularly disappointed with the awkwardly inefficient room layout and poor lighting of their current house and wanted to design a home with more open space and balanced, glare-free natural daylight,” Pfeiffer says. “It became evident that Judi and Robert valued a healthy living environment and were interested in designing a zero-energy home—one that would withstand the test of time and require minimal ongoing maintenance and other hassles typically associated with homeownership.” 

First Things First: The Site

Armed with a general knowledge of the clients’ goals and aspirations, the architect team met with them on the property to discover opportunities land offered in support of, and in partnership with, their project. 

The couple’s two-acre parcel is just a short drive from Austin in Texas Hill Country. The lot is deeper than it is wide, stretching to the East from a North/South street—an ideal orientation for passive solar design.   

“We entered the property on a dirt road that was cut into the hillside along the north edge of an escarpment long ago. Above the escarpment, which rises six to eight feet, several mature oak trees grow out of the hillside,” Pfeiffer describes. “Just north of the road lies a relatively flat shelf of land covered in scrubby Cedar and scraggly little Oak trees. As the end of the road fades into sparse prairie grass, natural terraces step down into a deep ravine at the back of the property. Just before the road ends, a meadow opens up with great views across to the Hill Country beyond.”

The original sketch of Judi and Robet George’s site.

After walking the property for a few minutes, everyone naturally gathered at the end of the dirt road where there was shade provided by the escarpment and trees above, natural breezes blowing down the ravine from the southeast, and a view of the Hill Country to the north. 

“And that is how we decided where the home should be placed on the property,” Pfeiffer says. “In the meadow, where the natural landscape already provides a place for the shade, breezes, and view to collide and coexist.” 

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Judi George, Robert George, and Alan Barley admiring the Hill Country view from the meadow where the home will be constructed.