In the bend of a tributary on Austinsee, something fascinating rises from the water. The bedroom replaces the once crumbling boathouse with an illegal apartment that was hidden inside. Furman & Keil Architects saw an opportunity to see other problems. Her 880 square meter pavilion floats on a steel frame and dances over floods that sweep regularly through this protected wetland. The two -story structure feels against the landscape of Schwerelos as if it had grown out of the water itself. Every detail does not appeal to nature instead of fighting against it.
Getting there will be part of the experience. You can wrap yourself through the forest on a staircase, which gradually reveals the pavilion through the trees. Or paddle for canoe and approach like the birds who call this place at home. Each route offers its own revelation to understand its own way of understanding the building in its world. The architects understood that the arrival shapes everything about how they feel in a room. They have developed several options to find out what they had created.
Designer: Furman & Keil Architects
The building here meant working within strict wetland protection. Everything came with flat floor boat, from wood to workers to coffee cups. The torn boathouse was left over the water in the same way. These restrictions could have killed the project, but they did better. The steel frame touches the floor lightly and almost doesn't bother anything. What seemed as restrictions became the greatest strengths of the design.
Materials tell the history of place and purpose. Ipe Wood wraps the structure in warm brown that shift with the light. The Brazilian hardwood laughs at moisture and temperature fluctuations that would destroy fewer materials. Screens wrap the living rooms and keeps out mistakes while the breeze flows through. Ceiling fans of the modern fan company hold the air in the further summer days. Everything that was selected for this special place, this special way of being outdoors.
The rooms work to watch and wait. Bird observers can find different petrols for different moods and different ways. The upper level examines the wider waterway, perfect for recognizing heron and heron. Below are closer to the water surface and pay attention to turtles and fish. Some moments require loneliness, others to share discoveries with friends. The pavilion has both flexible enough for the day that the day brings.
When the judges of the Residential Design Architect 2024 were called “a beautiful pavilion” as “a beautiful pavilion”, they recognized something special. Troy Miller, Phillip Keil, Gary Furman, Maanasa Nathan and Dawson Williams created an architecture that feels inevitable as if it should always be here. In cooperation with the builder Crowell and the landscape architects Word + Carr, they navigated regulations that stop most of the projects. The result proves that working with environmental restrictions often creates the most beautiful solutions. The room is not just on the water – it belongs there.
