Bermuda Residence
Architecture by Ron Wommack, FAIA
BERMUDA RESIDENCE
The desire for living space with room for a collection of documentary photography, art installations and sculpture led Bermuda Residence’s owner to a cul-de-sac in the Lakewood Hills neighborhood of Dallas. He built his residence in 2008 on a site located between the Santa Fe Trail and a clutch of houses still occupied by the original owners from the ’50s. The house is shaped inside and outside by the art collection. The owner worked with architect Ron Wommack to achieve a similar effect of intersecting boxes sheathed in siding made of fiber cement planks.
The monolithic vertical rectangle that graces the front of the house has a luminescence reminiscent of a stone façade, but the shimmer of the fiber cement planks suggests weath ered wood. In a surprising contrast, the planks that wrap horizontally around the house are red--a welcoming shade somewhere between brick and terra cotta. The rectilinear house fits snugly into the 65-foot-by-100-foot, envelope-shaped lot. At 3,200 square feet, the twobedroom semi-loft (there are only two hinged doors in the house) feels sleek, sporting the efficient lines of a well-designed yacht with ample built-ins throughout. A screened-in porch and floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto a flagstone veranda framed in an angular arbor of ipe wood make the house feel more expansive than it actually is. The porch incorporates engawa (transition) space as an integral design concept of the residence, similar to projects by Tadao Ando.
Minimally furnished in mid-century, Modern-inspired mahogany, leather and chrome pieces assembled by Dallas interior designer David Cadwallader, the house is inviting and comfortable. The Hans Wegner reproduction wishbone chairs in the breakfast room and reupholstered Saarinen bucket chairs around the massive dining table invite visitors to linger and relax. The furnishings thoughtfully complement the art, which includes arrangements of compelling photographs that appear at natural focal points throughout the house. A wall of the living room is a permanent art installation where the drywall has been crumpled in a customized manner as if it were a sheet of crimped paper. Up the floating white-oak staircase is a hallway that serves as a gallery space between guest and master bedrooms and features works by both mainstream and emerging artists. Carefully conceived for contemporary comfort, the house serves as a great backdrop for the owner’s life and evolving art collection.
Architecture: Ron Wommack, FAIA
Interior Design: David Cadwallader, ASID; David Cadwallader Design
Landscape Architecture: David Rolston; David Rolston Landscape Design
