Colquitt House | Michael Viviano

Michael Viviano's parents tapped him for the design of a new house that would accommodate their busy lifestyles and serve as the social hub for their close-knit family. Their desire was to have openness to a point, but for the entertaining spaces to have a somewhat traditional degree of separation between them. The site is a busy corner lot in a bustling part of Houston, so the interior of the house and the exterior landscape needed to cultivate a quiet sense of calm. Stylistically, Michael had to ease his parents' transition from a series of more traditional homes to a more modern setting. The massing of the house and choice of materials would need to maintain a dialogue with familiar house typologies and vernacular forms. The interior would be set up as a clean, streamlined backdrop for the antique and vintage furnishings the couple would bring with them, which would blend with contemporary pieces as they settled in. 

Michael and his mother Catherine, who built the house herself, now run their eponymous design-build practice together.