Matt Fajkus Architecture, LLC

10/18/2022

Our Descendant House has been named Runner Up in this year's Andersen Bright Ideas Awards! Thank you Dwell for the feature announcement!

On a steeply sloping site in Austin, Texas, a family home for three generations finds balance between autonomy and connection.

10/05/2022

A still life composition on the landscape.

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic.

The third dichotomy is "Earth + Sky," as we aim to negotiate between the ground plane and the the sky throughout our designs.
Westlake Dermatology Marble Falls is our featured built project on this topic, which is designed as a pavilion on the landscape, both sitting on and floating above the earth. The scheme allows the building to be a lens to frame views of the Hill Country landscape beyond and to remove the stigma of "going to the doctor."

10/04/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic.

The third dichotomy is "Earth + Sky," as we aim to negotiate between the ground plane and the the sky throughout our designs.
The Octant House is our featured new project on this topic, which is designed to register horizons, both literal and figural. The house is organized as 8 parts, consisting of 4 rectangular zones that move either up or down in the "z" axis.

10/03/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic.

The third dichotomy is "Earth + Sky," as we aim to negotiate between the ground plane and the the sky throughout our designs.
Westlake Dermatology Marble Falls is our featured built project on this topic, which is designed as a pavilion on the landscape, both sitting on and floating above the earth. The scheme allows the building to be a lens to frame views of the Hill Country landscape beyond and to remove the stigma of "going to the doctor."
Photo by Charles Davis Smith.

09/29/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Manifold House is our built featured project on this topic, which is designed as a singular pronounced object on its site, while also negotiating the slope to provide a variety of spatial experiences throughout. A veil of morning fog accentuates this even further.

This photo was sent to us by a friend of MFA who lives across the valley from the house in Austin's Hudson Bend.

Special recognition to MFA Team Members Ingrid Gonzalez Featherston and Sarah Smith Johnson on the project.

09/26/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Free-Flow House is our new featured project on this topic, where this view captures the unique layout of the figure/ground massing, as also expressed in the diagram on the right. This design move eliminates the feeling hallways or corridors, as the circulation space is meaningful, and it's also a strategy to harvest daylight within an expansive single-story layout.

09/23/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Manifold House is our built featured project on this topic, which is designed as a singular pronounced object on its site, while also negotiating the slope to provide a variety of spatial experiences throughout.

Special recognition to MFA Team Members Ingrid Gonzalez Featherston and Sarah Smith Johnson on the project.
Photography by Leonid Furmansky.

09/21/2022

Our Filtered Frame Dock is featured in the current issue of Austin Home! It's an honor to get the recognition in this piece, titled "For All Seasons," written by Chris Warren.

Photography is mostly by Leonid Furmansky, and a corollary online feature is here:
https://www.austinhomemag.com/13000-perforations-let-light-in-this-lake-austin-boat-dock/

09/20/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Free-Flow House is our new featured project on this topic, where the mass/figure of the house is dissolved across the "ground," or site. This allows the experience of moving through the house to unfold sequentially, rather than a reading of the house as a single/simple "figure" on the "ground."

09/19/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Manifold House is our built featured project on this topic, which is designed as a singular pronounced object on its site, while also negotiating the slope to provide a variety of spatial experiences throughout.

Photography by Leonid Furmansky.

09/16/2022

Continuing the series to acknowledge our 11-Year Anniversary as a practice: we're taking the opportunity to look both backward and forward by recognizing that our work can be broadly defined by "balanced dichotomies." We're celebrating 11 dichotomies by featuring 11 built projects and 11 new projects on each respective topic. The second dichotomy is "Figure + Ground," as we aim to balance solid and void at varying scales throughout our designs.

Our Free-Flow House is our new featured project on this topic, where this pocket courtyard is actually a void but can also be read as a figure or object-like. This design move is also a strategy to harvest daylight within an expansive single-story layout.

09/15/2022

Our Filtered Frame Dock is nominated for the Loop Design Awards. Anyone can voice their choice, until the end of today, at the bottom of the linked page. Consider choosing this project - a structure that negotiates between the realms of land, water, and sky by framing one’s experience and understanding of the natural environment, above, along, and in the water. As an instrument for light and ventilation, the structure is calibrated to provide a comfortable balance of sun and shade, shelter and breezes throughout the year.

Photography by Leonid Furmansky.

https://www.loopdesignawards.com/project/filtered-frame-dock/