Text from Black Rabbit Architecture The project sits on a beautiful 5-acre Cyprus tree lined Lake Austin waterfront oasis that lies just a few miles outside of downtown Austin. The 480 sf cabin consists of a single kitchen-living-dining room, bath, storage space, and deck.
The lot, nicknamed ‘the Narrows’, is a 100’ wide 5 acre heavily wooded lot that has been owned by the Youman family since the 1970’s, and other than a small dilapidated shed, had never been previously developed.
Plans had been developed in the past for large multi-family homes as an investment, but Sandy and Dudley just wanted a small place to unwind in retirement.
Sandy wanted a simple and unique cabin that would be ‘married to the land’. We chose natural materials that would be as maintenance free as possible for years to come. Our material palette consisted of ipe wood, steel, glass, and concrete.
The ipe rainscreen system allows the walls to breathe naturally while the floor-to-ceiling face-glazed custom steel windows allow uninterrupted waterfront views.
The canopy over the deck and low board-formed concrete planter wall (overflowing with fresh herbs and native plants) frame the lake views. Other wildlife visitors, such as deer and coyotes, try to steal the spotlight within this framed view by inhabiting the front wooded lawn area.
The cabin is used as a weekend family retreat for Sandy and Dudley, their children and grandchildren, and extended family, hence the name “Cousin Cabana”.
Sandy and Dudley also use the cabin for entertaining, a private group Pilates class, and a launching pad for their adventurous son, Rick, to wakeboard and mountain bike the nearby trails.
