Location: Dallas, Texas
Completion: 2008
Scope: Entire Residence
Design Team: S.H. McCombs, Builder
Awards: IES 2010 Illumination Award of Merit
Photography: Charles Davis Smith

A modern tree house, this town-home was designed as a personal art gallery and residence. Spaces flow into one another on each level and between levels. The goal was to provide lighting flexible enough for large art pieces to be placed on any wall surface, sculptures at nearly any location, and be comfortable for entertaining and daily living. And, the engineered wood trusses were already in place, not at even intervals, and could not be moved. Coming up with a pattern that made sense in the ceiling and provided for all the homeowner’s lighting requests was the challenge.

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Art lighting uses trimless, square aperture, adjustable accents. Care was taken working with contractors to align rows of fixtures, and to ensure proper distance off the wall for best art lighting, even with quite a number of conflicts. The wine cellar is a dramatic, black truss ceiling space with lights carefully placed between the trusses, and preserving the view to the glass “skylight” through to the floor above with a peek of the grand art installation and central stair.