We’ve reported on this incredible box-like residence on Mockingbird in Highland Park, a home that caused some friction with neighbors thanks to its unique design and use of materials. With a building envelope you’d most often find covering a warehouse and some really innovative use of natural materials, Russell Buchanan’s “Mockingbird House” caught the eyes of AIA Dallas, which gave the home an Honor Award.
The house is a two-story, 4,140-square-foot home that is basically a rectangular box served by a vestibule that, when lit up at night, glows amber thanks to the onyx slab construction. The owners, whose trade is in wholesale stone, used several different types of granite, quartz, and marble in the home’s construction.
Buchanan, who likened the home to a giant refrigerator box, says the insulated panels provide a construction efficiency that is unmatched, and have the added benefit of providing sound-dampening properties that keep the home quiet despite the busy street just outside.
When I toured this home during a Dallas Architecture Forum event, what really struck me was the versatility that this type of construction could lend. And considering that the home was pretty much finished in a year, well, that’s incredibly fast for a well-insulated home.
Congratulations to Buchanan for his forward-thinking design!
