furman + keil architects extends austin home with elevated 'roost'

a platform hidden within the landscape

Roost by Furman + Keil Architects is a project that reveals itself only gradually. Tucked into a secluded fold of Austin’s terrain, the 928-square-foot timber structure lies far below the elevation of its neighborhood, concealed by tree canopy and reachable only by a narrow stair or a quiet paddle down the water. The descent to Roost, winding through a limestone grotto and into wetlands, creates a sense of arrival that feels more like a passage into a hidden world.

The team offers a way to inhabit the landscape without disturbing its rhythms. Raised above the water on steel piers, the structure appears to hover just above the slough, offering a vantage into the surrounding treetops. A screened porch invites long afternoons of birdwatching, while the shaded space beneath serves both as a launch for boats and a quiet, functional zone for engaging with the shoreline. Without extending the home’s conditioned footprint, the project offers new possibilities for seasonal living.

images © Leonid Furmansky

Resilience in Design

With its Roost extension, the team at Furman + Keil Architects responds directly to the constraints and conditions of its delicate setting. The wetland, inaccessible to most construction equipment, required a strategy that would preserve the terrain while allowing a durable structure to emerge. Elevating the project minimized ground disturbance and preserved the fragile ecology below, while offering new sightlines across the water’s edge. Owls now return nightly, settling onto the structure as part of its layered use.

Roost is shaped by a desire for permanence within a fluctuating landscape. The site’s history of flooding required that every material and form decision serve longevity and adaptability. In re-using the previous steel piers and elevating the new platform, the architects created a resilient envelope that can withstand rising water while remaining deeply attuned to its setting. The absence of traditional foundations reflects a commitment to light intervention.

Roost is hidden deep below its surrounding Austin neighborhood along a secluded waterway

furman + keil architects’ prioritizes Minimal Impact

Furman + Keil Architects’ Roost demonstrates that minimizing a project’s footprint begins with structure. Rather than imposing a new foundation, the team retained and extended the existing piers, forming the bones of a wood-framed superstructure. The materials had to be carried in by barge, heightening the importance of each component. Light wood cladding and open detailing allow the structure to blend into its surroundings, evoking a treehouse more than a traditional outbuilding.

Construction is embraced as an act of negotiation with site. The long stair leading down to the bluff offered no real access, and the barge route necessitated careful logistics. The design responds to these limitations with clarity instead of compromise. By limiting conditioned space, simplifying geometry, and lifting the program off the ground, the result is a project that feels born of the terrain rather than imposed on it.

The spirit of the project is quiet occupation. It frames the wetlands with care, offering just enough shelter to extend daily life into a more elemental setting. There is no sense of spectacle here, only the slow rhythms of light, wind, and water, and a structure that listens to them all.

the project is accessed through a limestone grotto or by canoe for a gradual and immersive approach