Edgeland House, where the wild things are

Edgeland House tucks into a bluff above the Colorado River, and a triangular green roof of prairie plants insulates the sunken home.… Read More

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April 19, 2025

Located in a (formerly) derelict industrial zone in east Austin, Edgeland House is one of the most written-about residences in town, despite being all but invisible from the street. Owner Christopher Brown, a lawyer and author of dystopian science fiction, built his unique house on a brownfield with an abandoned oil pipeline running through it. Once the pipeline was removed and the site cleaned up, he hired Bercy Chen Studio LP to build a house wedded to the land.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Blackland prairie advocate John Hart Asher consulted on the green roof planting for Edgeland House.

Taking inspiration from Native American pit houses, the house tucks into a bluff above the Colorado River. A meadowy pyramid — a green roof of prairie plants that insulates the sunken home — disguises evidence of human habitation until you’re nearly on top of it. An exhaust pipe poking through the grasses hints at the living space below, reminiscent of the Lost Boys’ lair or Bilbo Baggins’s hobbit hole.

And then you find, essentially, the roof edge of Edgeland House and look down with astonishment at the hidden house below. A wide concrete stair leads down to the entrance — entrances, really. The house is divided in two by a canyon-like breezeway. An open-concept living room and kitchen make up the public half of the 1,400-square-foot home. Two bedrooms and a bath are found in the private half.