The Broadmoor House takes a stand for unembellished clarity in form, function and material. The project was born of the client’s desire for a modern multi-generational home that could house a substantial contemporary art collection, while also providing a setting to promote regional philanthropy.
The Broadmoor House is a classically proportioned contemporary home, deeply informed by the sum of what is both imposing and delicate about the inimitable Chihuahuan Desert and its Franklin Mountain backdrop. To the north, the home’s glass entryway sits atop a terraced courtyard, opening into large light-filled spaces where family can gather amongst a collection of paintings and sculpture. The Living Room is a defining pavilion that sets the tone for either quiet contemplation or exuberant celebration, taking its dwellers from sunrise to sunset throughout the colorful desert season. Many of the home’s rooms feature high ceilings, maintaining propriety with strong horizontal lines and astute use of material transitions.
The glass entryway acts like a breezeway and lightwell, sharing its resources with other communal rooms.
At the rear façade, a ninety-foot pool, used for daily swimming, hovers seventeen feet above the golf course, reflecting and refracting the shapes of the mountains and the home’s cantilevered eaves. Throughout the home, massive, moveable glass walls and carefully placed clerestory windows sit under 12’ deep overhangs, framing both expansive views and small, favored glimpses.
Meaningful use of Texas vernacular forms, such as the dogtrot breezeway, creates passive cooling and distributes filtered light throughout the home. The architecture provides shade from the desert sun and allows for privacy by using the simple, native materials of Texas limestone, concrete, steel, glass and white oak. Every room in the Broadmoor House is designed as an architectural response to the desert’s circadian rhythms, capturing the coolness at the beginning and end of each desert day and offering a sheltering place in between.
