30th Annual AIA Austin Homes Tour

_{www.aiahomestour.com
October 15-16, 10AM-6PM}

by Brittani Sonnenberg

There’s something irresistible about peeking into other people’s homes, whether it’s through a reality TV home improvement show or a lit window on a dark street. The annual AIA Homes Tour gives Austinites that coveted look inside our neighbors’ gorgeous abodes … in a legal fashion. (Turns out climbing over the fence for a better glimpse of the pool isn’t worth the ten-hour glimpse of a jail cell.)

This year, the tour will feature twelve homes by award-winning architecture firms like Furman + Keil, Mell Lawrence and Rick & Cindy Black. “The tour this year assertively reflects the ‘tailor-made’ nature of residential design,” says AIA Austin Board Secretary and architect Christopher Cobb. “Every project responds to the site, program, and client in a unique and powerful way. You really couldn’t remove or change any of those parameters without fundamentally changing each of these projects.”

Why are architecture tours such a big draw? “Someone smarter than me once said that although a specific residential project is designed for a limited audience, the best architects always design them like the whole world is watching,” opines Cobb. “With the AIA Austin Homes Tour we have the opportunity to invite the audience in, to share in the experience with us. The tour resonates with people because residential architecture is so deeply personal and intimate — and at the same time it is also authentic. People want those kind of experiences and with this tour they get that, every time.”

For more information visit: aiahomestour.com

_{Read more from the Architecture Issue | October 2016}