Courtyard + Connector Residence: Porch-To-Pool Living in Austin, Texas
Courtyard + Connector Residence stands in Austin, TX, United States, as a new-build house by Chioco Design. The project responds to a single-family neighborhood with an extroverted plan that reaches from the street to a sheltered pool courtyard. Designed in 2023 for a speculative builder, it borrows materials from nearby homes and gives them a crisp, contemporary reading.
Morning light skims a deep front porch, catching cedar soffits and the limestone wall wrapped around an outdoor hearth. Beyond the glassy foyer, a clear line of sight stretches to the pool courtyard, pulling the eye through the lot.
This is a single-family house in Austin by Chioco Design, organized as volumes around a central court. The plan encourages neighborhood engagement at the street and social life at the center, using a porch-to-foyer-to-courtyard sequence as its backbone.
Set the Street Edge
The front elevation breaks into distinct masses to reduce perceived scale, letting mature oaks remain the tallest presence. A generous porch—tiled in terra cotta and anchored by a limestone fireplace—invites lingering on mild Austin evenings. Tall black-framed doors slide and pivot to dissolve the threshold, so conversation spills easily between sidewalk, porch, and foyer.
Cross the Connector
A transparent hall links the street side to the court, its wood ceiling and slender posts acting as a quiet cadence for movement. Skylights tip daylight onto the limestone and terra-cotta surfaces, warming the connector and clarifying direction. From here, rooms peel off with purpose: living and dining to one side, kitchen and service volumes to the other.
Courtyard as Living Room
At the center, the pool reads as a cool plane bordered by planters and low steps for casual seating. The primary suite opens directly to this court, while public rooms face it with expansive glazing, keeping hosts and guests in visual contact. Materials repeat inside and out—terra-cotta underfoot and pale limestone walls—so the court feels like a continuation of daily routines, not a separate zone.
Split Levels, Right Sizes
Subtle level changes tune scale for different gatherings, from an intimate dinner to a house-wide party. A few risers lift the dining area beside a tall stone hearth, sharpening acoustics and sightlines. Nearby, the kitchen centers on a long island beneath trim pendants, with a veined stone backsplash running the full span for clean, uninterrupted prep and serving.
Rooms with Touch
Private rooms prioritize outlook and calm. The corner-window bedroom frames tree canopies, while the bath pairs terra-cotta tile with a wood vanity and brass fittings, all under a timber lid. Even secondary rooms carry the material continuity: a powder room uses the same clay tile below soft green millwork, a small gesture that keeps the house legible.
By dusk, porch lights glow against the limestone, and the courtyard mirrors the sky. The connector reads as a gentle spine, guiding movement without fuss. It’s a house that makes route and ritual feel one and the same.
Photography courtesy of Chioco Design
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