The Paramount Residence is another interesting new-build by Baldridge Architects. This site recently covered the Mohle Drive Residence, also in Austin, Texas, which expertly integrated into an area listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In the Paramount Residence, we find Baldridge at their most creative.
To elaborate, the space afforded to the architects allowed them to build considerably on the tried and tested, and avowedly mid-century concern for opening out the house. Instead, with such a large area to work with, the interior design indulges in something a little different: a series of spaces modelled on different moods.
This preoccupation with moods has its most striking manifestation in the kitchen, living room and dining room area, the pattern of which is repeated in two different rooms a kind of bizarro mirror image (indeed, you would be forgiven for thinking you were simply looking at two different houses, with the same layout and different décor.
First, we see the room in a scheme notable for its lightness and warmth, with light brown wood panel walls and tabletop to match the tubular steel chairs with wood lattice in a similar light brown colour. This is also complimented by white marble floor and matching white walls and marble worktops. Meanwhile, there is bright lighting in the adjoining corner room, and the design makes for a generally relaxed feel.
Second, we see the room in a slightly heavier, more stylish scheme, with darker wood panels, more minimal, clinical dining chairs and an all-round less busy décor. In the adjoining corner room of this second iteration, the seating is turquoise and a series of framed pictures lend a slightly more mid-century, even Googie quality to the space.`
With so many different ideas contained within this and several other areas of the house you could almost accuse Baldridge of spoiling the potential owners for choice… although when all’s said and done, that’s not such a bad thing.
