Breathing Room

Craig McMahon Architects, San Antonio

In a nutshell: The owners of this ranch-style home built in 1953 needed moderate expansion to accommodate their growing family, but wanted the addition and remodel to seamlessly blend with the original house. They also wanted to update some of the original exterior finishes to improve the home’s curb appeal.

Solutions: The team built a connecting addition from the detatched garage to the home, adding a master bedroom, bath, and laundry room with an acces door for the family dog. They rebuilt the garage and replaced its tar and gravel roof with a low-slope standing-seam metal roof—a mainstay of Texas hill country—and controlled costs by reusing much of the original framing materials.

The exterior was updated by applying hard-trowelled stucco over the existing brick wainscot, burnishing it smooth to resemble a concrete finish. 

In addition to the stucco, several exterior surfaces are accentuated with rusted steel, a look that architect Craig McMahon says was a pleasant surprise. “We took natural plate steel and gave it a salt bath,” he says, “and it rusted into this beautiful, dark reddish brown color. The homeowners loved it.”

The crew later applied Skyco Ospho metal treatment to the steel to keep rust off hands when it’s touched. 

See the full list of winning entries here.