Houston House and Home - Index

Houston House and Home - houstonhouseandhome - Index

of our projects. Cross-ventilation is an
important part of building sustainable
buildings here,” says Eagleton.
At 2,700 square feet each, the threestory
Butterfly Lofts are much larger in
scale and have more stories than classic
shotgun houses, but they do sit long
and narrow on their north-south axis,
and the volumes of each story are open
to allow breezes to pass through the
structure. In each three-story loft,
a central stairwell to one side connects
all floors, yet allows air and light to
circulate.
WHY BUTTERFLY?
The Butterfly Lofts’ name comes from
the shape of their rooflines.
Each loft’s roof slopes down toward the
other to form an open v-shape that
resembles butterfly wings. Angled to shed
water from Houston’s occasional deluges
more effectively, the roofs’ winged
appearance brings a modern aesthetic to
the structures as well.
Each loft has a large two-story screened
porch facing a back yard to the south of
the house. Large operable casement windows
are carefully placed opposite the
porch to help draw breezes from the
porch through the house.
“The porch is why we bought the
house,” says Sandy Steitz, a longtime
RIGHT: “Dave and I live out here,” says
Sandy Steitz of the two-story screened
porch at the rear of their loft. X-braces
made of aircraft cable stabilize the porch
in high winds. BELOW: Detail of entry.
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