status | completed 2024

contractor | P2 Commercial Construction

photography | Inked Fingers

Most Architectural firms focus on the technical/infrastructural requirements of a quality post production office.  For this project however, Design Hound noted that in addition to the technical requirements, the process of editing involved long hours for both the editors and their clients in dark, quiet rooms.  As such, the resulting new office for TBD Post Production focuses on creating comfortable editing suites and individual offices that facilitate client interaction and solve the technical issues invisibly.  Additionally, the public break area and kitchen are combined into a hospitality driven gathering space equivalent to a private club.  One of the glass and steel screen walls of the adjacent conference room slides open to expand the space for larger gatherings and community events.  A large photographic panorama of the northern boundary waters [an homage to one of the Owner’s favorite places] combines with steel, glass, wood and leather to provide a connection to the materiality and spectacle of the natural world - which is a welcome respite from eight [plus] hours behind a computer screen in a dark room.

status | completed

interiors | Design Hound

photography | Casey Dunn

L'Oca D'Oro is a restaurant that evolved from a pop-up dinner series developed by front of house expert Adam Orman and self-taught chef Fiore Tedesco.  Their focus on family, each being fathers, and their heritage, both from upstate New York, is apparent in their interactions and relaxed demeanor.  They tasked Design Hound with developing a space that would create memories of great family meals and welcome gatherings that focused on food and interactions among guests.  Taking on the challenge of creating a nostalgic restaurant in a corner retail space with existing 20' tall glass and aluminum storefront windows, the design team developed a sense of intimacy in a tall space by developing a “wallpaper billboard” at the bar perimeter drawing attention from the outside while maintaining visual warmth for the customers.  Upon entry a long wooden bar creates a peninsula wrapping around the kitchen and focusing the guest’s attention on the wood-fired hearth centerpiece.  The interior then transitions to the barrel-vaulted dining room backed by a hand-plastered Tuscan blue wall [installed by Fiore's mother] with different plantings lining a high shelf and hanging in front of the storefront windows.  The park and trees across the street, which the vault directs patron's eyes to, combine with the interior plantings to eliminate the visual appearance of the existing storefront windows.  Views to the kitchen and prep areas abound at the bar area and through windows from the dining room.  A pasta making room, visible throughout the day from the dining room, transitions to a private dining space during evening hours.   

landscape | Urban Patchwork

photography | Molly Culver Photography

Jesse Griffiths, the Chef and Owner of this one-of-a-kind establishment located in East Austin, is the original ambassador of farm-to-table dining within Texas.  The restaurant is a physical representation of Jesse’s philosophy regarding food sourcing, prep and seasonal eating. The front of the space, with low ceilings and white-washed walls, is an homage to the small town country stores that are an essential part of historic American vernacular.  It houses the butcher case and a custom 4'x10' pecan butcher block table where bakers prep pies while nearby the butcher breaks down daily protein.  Eliminating the wall between front-of-house and prep/back-of-house created a truly transparent dining and butcher shop experience.  The transition to the rear of the space ramps up to the main dining area with vaulted wood ceilings and dark blue accents of wood trim and button-tufted upholstery.  Steel and brick create the perfect backdrop for the chef's line with a wood-burning grill and bar while the meat rail, installed by Design Hound, runs from the walk-in cooler along the cookline/under the hood and to the butcher area.  Seating along the chef's counter and intimate bar are dominated by views of the open fire and various stages of meal preparation.  Beyond the main dining room, the outdoor patio is enclosed by a trellis covered in native Texas mustang grapes providing shade from the Texas sun and a visual break from the adjacent parking lot. The patio’s outdoor kitchen can be utilized for daily service or booked for private events like wild hog roasts.  

photography | Ryan Farnau and Molly Culver Photography

Tasked with converting a new aluminum and glass enclosed storefront space into a Chef/Owner driven restaurant on a limited budget, Design Hound utilized a strategy of insertion.  The space itself was broken into areas that would work together to accomplish a warm and inviting space that directs the patrons attention to the food from the time its creation begins in the open kitchen to the moment it arrives on their table.  A wood-clad soffit levitates over large white tiles lining the walls of the kitchen and bar areas. The tile runs above the pass at the kitchen and terminates just as the private dining area begins, creating a visually clean transition from open kitchen to dining.  A custom 12 foot steel and wood shelving unit separates the bar and large communal tables from the dining room.  It's multi-purpose functionality provides an area for display of the Chef's personal cookbooks and inspirational items, provides storage for smallwares and subsequently offers glimpses between the adjacent spaces.  Within the dining area, booths are clustered around towers of masonry with long-armed sconces hovering overhead.  A turn-of-the-century tent manufacturer was tasked with creating the operable curtains that can enclose the private dining room, where the subsequent folds of shadow and light soften the space.  Specifically curated for the space, massive natural-edge slabs of Cottownwood at the bar, communal tables and communal lavatory, bring a contrasting light-colored wood tone to the darker tones of the restaurant.  A bi-level wooden deck with built-in seating abutting planters filled with herbs is accessible just off the entry.  It's open-air feel under 100-year old oaks and adjacency to the small garden utilized by the Chef reminds patrons of the farm-to-table ethos that pervades the restaurants mission.  

kitchen equipment | Tine Design

photography | Ryan Farnau

After working with the Owners of the Contigo and Chicon brands in Austin, Design Hound was introduced to Frede Edgerton and his wife, the originators of the Contigo brand.  They had recently relocated to a ranch north of Fredericksburg, Texas that had a replica Old West town including a row of old west buildings previously used as shooting ranges, a dining hall containing a commercial kitchen with hotel rooms above and a replica Alamo building tucked up against the caprock at the north end of their property.  Believing the existing 'town' could be utilized as a boutique wedding event center with on-site lodging, a rarity in the picturesque limestone hills around Fredericksburg, the group brainstormed on how best to utilize the existing buildings to accommodate the needs of a wedding venue. The westernmost unit of the Old West buildings was transformed into overnight accommodations for the bride's parents with the remaining buildings becoming overnight suites for guests, each clad in white clapboard siding with accents of the same material inside, large patio windows overlook the hill behind them.  The existing front deck and its multiple shed roofs that ran along the front of the Old West town was simplified into a single sloped roof providing shelter and areas of shady communal gathering in front of each suite.  The private sheriff's office was converted into a groom's suite.  The ‘Alamo’ building was converted into multi-purpose space that could accommodate covered outdoor brunches, cooking classes, or bridal space.  The saloon building was cleaned up and expanded to combine the existing indoor space with a newly added covered outdoor area to ensure that any event would be exceptional, rain or shine.

interiors | Ann Edgerton

photography | Mark Menjivar

The industry veterans behind J. Black’s and the Golden Goose bar, Ashley and Sean Fric, realized that the options for them to have a night [or day] out with solid cocktails and even better food was becoming more and more difficult since starting a family.  So they relocated away from the nightlife destination of downtown Austin to East Austin where the dearth of nearby options for family dining became too important to ignore, so they decided to use their expertise to create a solution.  After many late-night discussions regarding the ‘feel’ of their new establishment, they kept arriving at memories of the wonderful times Ashley had spending time with her quirkily and amazing Aunt Colleen while growing up in Houston.  Ashley, and subsequently Sean after meeting her, knew that she would not be the strong, fun, independent wife/mother/friend she had become without those hours spent amongst Colleen’s company and her collections of knick-knacks and ad-hoc in-home art installations.  Therefore, this casual, family-friendly restaurant and bar was to be an homage to Aunt Colleen. After all, what is a great restaurant without fantastical inspiration?  Ashley and Sean showed up at Design Hound with pages upon pages of photos of Colleen’s unique house, and we talked for hours about Colleen and their hopes for the restaurant that would soon be located in their neighborhood.  Our office poured over the images with fascination, hoping to glean some design cues that would honor Colleen while giving Ashley and Sean a restaurant they would love.  The resulting project, located on the corner site below the new Alamo Drafthouse in the Mueller Development of Austin, will utilize accents of green and brass and create a playful but elegant space for everyone to enjoy elevated comfort food and a drink or two.  To achieve just enough privacy for a truly enjoyable meal or date-night, the open-concept dining area is broken into smaller spaces with millwork elements that display a curated assemblage of Colleen’s collections.  A dramatic Cy Twombly inspired custom wallpaper adds depth to the space, and the glass enclosed private dining room and its wedding photo wall (another inspiration from Aunt Colleen) provide a place to enjoy a large group meal without pretension.  Clerestory windows and a glass backbar, where shelves act as shutters, allow controlled sunlight to enter the space and minimize glare. Small design touches like a screen made of Colleen’s collection of teacups, slightly embellished ceiling medallions around flush-mounted lights, and inspirational quotes taken from Colleen’s pin-up board transcribed on the green steel columns further the personal touches that are so dear to Ashley and Sean.  A large outdoor bar area just off the entry and visible to anyone heading into Mueller via the main entry, is anchored by painted planters and a picket-style fence.  Lastly, a ‘To-Go’ window just off the outdoor bar will cater to pedestrians looking to grab a coffee or picnic lunch to enjoy in the park just to the south.

photography | Reagen Taylor

The original restaurant design by Clayton & Little Architects, Mark Word Design and Joel Mozersky was highly lauded for its beautiful aesthetic, however the restaurant Owners desired a revision to the original interiors concept that would create a more casual experience for their patrons.  With a limited timeframe of three weeks to create the new vision and a subsequent two and a half weeks to implement it, Design Hound, immediately took an inventory of the existing spaces to determine which changes they could make to create the greatest impact with the least effort.  After deciding to revise the layout of one of the private dining rooms to better accommodate group functions with audio/visual capabilities and altering the lounge area to a smaller private dining room and waiting area, the team inventoried furnishings, light fixtures, artwork and existing finishes.  Based on the revised layouts and that inventory, as well as subsequent discussions with suppliers, fabricators and installers, a plan materialized.   Each area within the restaurant would have a unique feel with common undertones of cohesion.  The entry/bar area with its beautiful walnut and brass bar was reinvigorated with new large pendants and sculptural lightbulbs, colorfully re-upholstered barstools within a new table layout, and a multitude of hanging plants to visually connect it with Mark Word’s beautifully designed patio area just outside the front door.  The former lounge was converted to a private dining area with a lush dark blue wall color and a blue-and-white striped privacy curtain similar to the existing awnings.  The adjacent walkway also utilized the dark blue wall color but introduced splashes of orange-red, brass barstools and intimate lighting.  The extremely public visible front sunroom received some blue accents and a custom Judy Paul mural covering the previous antique mirrored wall.  The adjacent Private Dining Room’s acoustical issues were resolved with padded/upholstered wall coverings with exposed brass tacks.  A dramatic green wallpaper was placed within the side dining room where the walnut trim was painted.  Last, navy-blue bentwood chairs, red napkins and new quirky ‘Italian’-themed artwork were placed in each area to further unify the casual theme. 

photography | Mark Menjivar

Design Hound’s first project with Eric Silverstein and his team behind The Peached Tortilla, this 2,500 square foot brick-and-mortar restaurant along Austin’s Burnet Road Corridor began as an abandoned plumbing showroom.  The program for this sized space included creation of a patio within the 2,500sf footprint with dining for 15, a dining area and full-service bar with seating for 50, a larger than normal kitchen that would serve the restaurant and the Client’s food trucks, offices for catering staff and restrooms.  Considering the history behind Eric and his food [a fusion of growing up in Japan and Atlanta] and an existing graphic identity of orange and peach with a little green on a background of white-space, the team at Design Hound saw a unique design opportunity.  Patrons enter directly into a corner of the dining room to find a small host stand greeting them.  The dining room itself mainly consists of white painted vertical wood siding and walls.  However, a theatrical play of plywood triangles, some in their natural color and others stained multiple tones of the aforementioned orange and peach, create an homage to Japanese origami paper in the background.  The Georgian side of Eric was introduced as a contrasting but complimentary element via custom white-washed wood slat bench and booth seating that line the walls and simple white spindle back chairs. The soffit, continuous across the dining area, provides a shelf for plantings that add a touch of green keeping the interior palette in line with The Peached Tortilla’s branding.  The bar, just off the dining area by the kitchen, has a green tiled accent wall with a marble top and white wood display shelving with beveled glass mirrors behind.  This being the only area where the existing clay-tile walls could be left exposed, they were cleaned and utilized as the perfect location for a portrait of Lady Bird Johnson.  At the outdoor patio, a white-picket fence provides enclosure while more plants hang from the ceiling, a nod to the classic southern porch. 

kitchen equipment | Best Restaurant Equipment & Design

photography | Inked Fingers

Located in the rapidly expanding community of Cedar Park, Texas, Design Hound was tasked with infusing a bit more of the understated sophistication of Austin into the newest location for the wine-focused restaurant and associated coffee shop known jointly as The Grove and Lola Savannah Coffee Lounge.  Set in a newly-constructed retail center amongst stands of Live Oaks, large windows are utilized to retain the indoor/outdoor appeal of the Grove’s other establishments.  The front door, originally planned for the corner of the space by the landlord, has been relocated with a more prominent stucco volume entry.  Inside, the space is continually surrounded with wine as finely-crafted bottle storage lines most of the walls.  The expansive bar area, where the entry was to be located, opens out to its own covered deck.  An inviting scheme of marble, wood and elliptical textured tiles around the bar encourage an intimate conversation over a bottle of wine, while the adjacent high-top area beneath a custom white-lacquered steel light fixture serves as a node for larger and more casual gatherings.  Just on the other side of a bottle-lined millwork piece separating the bar area from the main dining area and the semi-private dining room, large glowing pendants dramatically sweep from the back wall and descend from a gapped, white-washed acoustical wood ceiling. Custom pendant lights with over-sized elliptical shades hang over the high-back button-tufted booths that line the window walls.  Uninterrupted views to and from the second large covered wood deck, where festoon lights hang overhead, instill the entire project with a feeling of relaxed Hill Country sophistication. Lola Savannah, the coffee bar, at the opposite end of the restaurant from the bar, offers take-away items throughout the day and then converts to an overflow dining area [or private dining room] with the pull of a curtain to hide coffee equipment. 

photography | Merrick Ales

Bringing Coopers BBQ into a historical building in downtown Austin with a large heritage oak located in the existing rear courtyard consisted of a complete gut and remodel of the existing 2-story building on Congress Avenue, two separate additions, insertion of an elevator within the turn-of-the century existing building, weaving an outdoor deck and its accompanying supports around the oak tree, completely new utilities, and installation of a high-end VRF air-conditioning system with smoke scrubbers to clean the BBQ smell from the smoker ventilation system.  In addition to approvals by the usual site planning and building department officials required to bring a project through the approval process and to completion, this project required multiple meetings and negotiations with the Austin Historic Landmark Commission, the City of Austin Arborist,  Austin Energy, Austin Water Utility and pollution control system engineers.  The Coopers BBQ in Austin is a far-cry in both size and scope from the beloved and quaint original restaurant up the highway in Llano, Texas.  At times, the complexity of the project began to outweigh the aesthetic and operational constraints.  Luckily, the existing historic building and the neighboring structure had so much character that Design Hound did not need to re-create a shabby-chic aesthetic – it was already present.  The design team focused on working through the complexities and the functionality with an eye to design opportunities such as the juxtaposition of the modern steel frame that supports the second-story addition and braces the original structure against raw brick with painted advertisements from 100-years ago.  Additionally, the Client had huge stores of old barnwood, beadboard and rusted metal that he offered up to clad almost every surface. He also found and restored and old bar and backbar that was placed upstairs in the newly minted ‘Llano Lounge.’  In the end, the space looks and functions as all had hoped and is fast becoming a go-to staple for BBQ enthusiasts.

*under construction

photography | Kathy Tran

The potential of the site off of East 5th Street in Austin, especially the beauty of the bones of an abandoned 5,000 square foot Quonset hut, were recognized as an opportunity to create something truly unique.  Design Hound took advantage of the multiple elements of the complicated program [micro-brewery, giant climate-controlled oak foeders for aging beer, an open-kitchen revolving around an 8' custom wood-fired grill, and an 'elevated' mezzanine holding the actual Brewer's Table].  Though contradictory at first, these elements began playing off one another and gave shape to the restaurant within its extruded semi-circular housing.  As the functional aspects of the design were further resolved, opportunities to modify the building in accordance with its new identity arose.  Elements of wood and exposed steel became the visual breaks the space needed in contrast to the texture associated with the existing building.  Large expanses of glass disappear at the threshold between the bar and the covered outdoor dining area.  Within the dining room inside, massive wood foeders that age beer for blending into proprietary, limited-release beers offer a counterpoint to the activity of the open kitchen. Simple festoon lights overhead offer a nod to beer halls all over the world and large scale black wicker pendants create ethereal shadows on the white barrel-vaulted structure.  If lucky enough to be invited, patrons ascend a steel plate staircase and look out over the action below while enjoying some of the finest fare the restaurant has to offer at the actual 'Brewer's Table.' 

photography | Reagen Taylor + Robert Lerma

Our firm grew slowly but steadily during its first two years, and we found ourselves working on top of one another.  The search for a new office space began and ended on the Eastside of Austin at the corner of 6th Street and Pedernales.  Honestly, we lucked into the space via Craigslist and could not believe what we had found.  Though raw and lacking character, it had restrooms, a kitchenette, a storage area and a large open space lined with views to the always active 6th street.  With a shoestring budget and carpentry + steel skills within the office [mainly Ramiro], an idea began to take shape.  Upon entering, we placed some casual seating and furniture as a place for Clients to relax and wait for a meeting or for members of our team to take a break and catch up on the latest issue of a design magazine.  The adjacent front valance, partially blocking views of the workstations beyond, is clad in wood flooring with steel boxes for displaying items of interest.  The continuous snaking plywood desk behind the valance starts by the kitchenette and turns back on itself to create two 'U-shaped' work pods before wrapping around a column in the center of the space and ending just beyond.   Views to the restroom entry and kitchenette are blocked by a large steel panel with a Texas Flag hanging in front and coats hanging behind hidden from view.  Utilizing two large curtains custom made by a turn-of-the-century tent manufacturer in Idaho, we hid the existing [poorly framed/finished] materials lab.  The curtain softens the space both visually and acoustically and provides a literal backdrop for the conference room containing a large live-edge wood slab communal table and a wall-mounted TV.  Fluorescent lamps in the existing globe pendant lights were swapped for LED bulbs by Ketra that allow for modulation of light temperature and brightness depending upon the incoming daylight or the office's mood and a large brass pendant is hung above the conference table.  Knowing that we spend almost as much time at the office as we do at home, we curated a selection of specimen plants and artwork that have been placed throughout the space to provide a comfortable and inspirational workspace. 

photography | Ryan Farnau and Molly Culver Photography

photography | Mark Adams

Design Hound’s first project under its former iteration as Kevin Stewart | Architect, A-OK Chinese was a budget conscious conversion of a 1,500 square foot space into a fast-casual concept within an unassuming retail center.  The program suggested that the minimal but impactful design elements inserted would freshen the space and broaden its appeal to the surrounding neighborhood’s youthful demographic.  The material palette of white subway tile, plate steel and chalkboard paint were combined with splashes of red and wistful accents lending themselves to memories of the Chinese-American take-out establishments of our youth.  Subway tile lines the entry wall and frames a photo of Richard Nixon, the first president to visit the People’s Republic of China, eating with chopsticks before turning into a standing counter for quick dining and a shelf for wine and beer display.  Plate steel was bent into the shape of a bar-height banquette in front of the Point-of-Sale and also utilized for booth seating opposite the entry wall.  Traditional ‘Chinese Red’ accents the areas around the kitchen pass-through, the wall along the booths and the existing steel trusses.  Aside from simple recessed cans within the white-lacquered ductwork-hiding soffit over the dining area, the space is lit by inexpensive chrome clamp lights attached to a large salvaged sprinkler pipe that runs, rather sculpturally, over the queue before bending and terminating above a corner table.  The white cloth-bound wire powering the lights wraps the pipe showing that sometimes exposing the matter-of-fact elements associated with buildings, in this case wiring, have their own beauty.  Industrial drafting stools and chairs, old felt menu boards with plastic letters, bathroom walls lined with wheat-pasted Chinese paper placemats, and graphic instructions on how to use chopsticks provide the finishing touches. 

photography | Ryan Farnau

Jodi Elliott, the chef and owner at Bribery Bakery, often gets asked why she chose the name “Bribery” for the outpost selling her baked goods and cocktails – it refers to baked goods as ‘bribes’ for good behavior.  This type of tongue-in-cheek play on what one normally associates with dark, back-alley deals became the starting point of our design for this bar and food destination in the Mueller neighborhood of Austin.  From that beginning idea of turning Bribery on its head and making it a fun and light-filled space that families would enjoy, Design Hound worked to add as much of Chef Elliott’s larger-than-life personality into the space as possible. Exterior accents of powder-coated pink entry doors, a matching display case, and vinyl decals reminiscent of cake decorations attract the attention of daytime passersby.  Inside the space, large swaths of flocked pink wallpaper line the perimeter, while a teal and white faced bar area beckon customers to approach the display case, marble bartop and liquor lined shelves.  Backed with mirrors and supported by brass bar railing components, the shine on most of the surfaces is eye-catching and fun.  Seating comes in the shape of black-and-white patterned stools, pink upholstered chairs and vertical tufted camel-colored banquettes with pink feet.  As night approaches and the sunlight begins to fade and the interior of the space with its eye-catching pink neon sculpture running from the front of the soffit by the entry all the way to the display case offers a fun and welcoming glow.

photography | Ryan Farnau + Robert J Lerma

For the State Fare re-concepting project, the second of three for Cherry Pie Hospitality Group, Design Hound was tasked with repurposing much of the existing restaurant layout to create a fun and lively neighborhood restaurant.  Early on the project team felt the large space had a cavernous, cafeteria-like feel.  To remedy that feeling, large steel and amber corrugated glass partitions were placed on top of existing booths and banquettes to provide a sense of privacy.  Additionally, a herringbone patterned reclaimed wood wall was placed just behind the host stand to offer a sense of mystery and surprise as the patrons entered.  Booths and wall-paneling were re-upholstered, chairs were switched out, a new color scheme was introduced to brighten up the space and the flooring was replaced.  Lastly, a small music room was created off of the entry for intimate acoustic performances. 

photography | Julie Soefer