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Heights house gets a modern, metal update

By Sarah Rufca

June 2, 2014

Palmer Schooley learned early in life that he liked to build things.

Before he was an architect, creating restaurant spaces for Azuma, Kata Robata and Benjy's, Schooley worked as a carpenter's assistant in Ohio. It was that tactile experience of construction that convinced Schooley to take on the roles of builder and contractor to transform the 90-year-old Heights house that he owns with his wife Merry, the owner of events décor company Art Attack. The small one-bedroom bungalow now serves as just one wing of the 3,000-square-foot house, joined by a modern aluminum and wood structure that expands out from the side of the bungalow and juts backwards to create an L-shaped structure, wrapping around the large lot and its central courtyard.

The original bungalow structure now holds the large kitchen and a purple-hued bedroom suite for the Schooleys' tween daughter, Livia. The kitchen boasts bamboo plywood cabinetry and an impressive custom island that holds keepsakes culled from travel. The house is connected to the addition by a floating window-lined hallway that has become a makeshift dining room, with a table made of Brazilian ipe wood and a base by Houston artist/welder Mike Scranton.

"When we floated this space across, we didn't really know this would turn into the dining space, but it did," said Palmer Schooley. "I grew up in a modern house in Ohio where the dining table was always exposed to the passers-by on the sidewalk. We like to wave at people out walking their dog."

The metal-exterior addition functions as one long, lean space inside, broken only by pocket doors that can close off the guest suite on the front end and the master suite in the rear.

Schooley's other residential projects have used solar panels to create zero-energy structures, but on his home he wasn't sure if he had the space to support solar, especially with a lounge-friendly roof garden complete with synthetic grass taking a large part of the roof real estate.

"We had the option of doing a geothermal heating and cooling system, but the pool cost basically the same as the geothermal. I asked Merry which one she wanted, and she said that was a dumb question," said Palmer Schooley.

With the pool winning an easy victory, the Schooleys found more subtle ways to make their home sustainable and energy efficient. Most strikingly, the living space is filled with all sorts of unexpected windows to create a flowing and airy space full of natural light. There are clerestory windows throughout, a channel glass wall in the living room, sun tunnels that direct natural light into closets and bathrooms and a large skylight added into the bungalow roof over the expanded kitchen space, adding a soft beam of light that creates a halo around whomever is standing at the sink.

"Palmer took a lot of time to think about the angles of all the windows and even the roof overhangs because we wanted to have the light without getting that harsh heat from the sun," said Merry Schooley.

In addition to relying mostly on natural light, the Schooleys also take advantage of Houston's naturally cooling breezes. In addition to the rooftop deck and the outdoor space surrounding the central pool, there's also the original porch of the bungalow, though the Schooleys prefer the screened porch at the front of the addition. In between the guest suite and the living room, a small notch patio (known by the Schooleys as the gentlemen's smoking parlor) also functions as a breezeway.

"The traditional Heights porch is a lovely thing but not really occupiable most of the year," said Palmer Schooley. "You can open all these doors and even the skylight above the kitchen is operable, it opens up. When it's nice we just open a variety of windows a little and they migrate the hot air out."

The airy space and natural materials create a perfect canvas for the Schooleys' collection of art. A painting by architect Karl Jensen, a friend of Palmer's during their time at Rice University, is the centerpiece of the living room, hanging over a custom sofa and across from a pair of Bertoia diamond chairs. Elsewhere in the living space a work by Jorge Enrique is paired with a figurine by Houston artist Jesse Lott and a Norwegian trunk that was owned by Merry's grandfather. In the dining room a "video canteen" by The Art Guys is hung opposite a classic George Nelson starburst clock.

"Too many modern houses just look goofy and not terribly comfortable to live in, so you don't act comfortable when you live there. That seems like a waste of time to me," said Palmer Schooley. "Good modern architecture should be comfortable."