Derrington Building Studio
Exterior of the Architect's Studio at dusk — a small corrugated metal building with a deep porch and warm interior light visible through full-height windows, set on a gravel court framed by mature trees and overhead utility lines

New Construction

Architect's Studio

An experiment for walls with nothing to hide

Location
Austin, TX
Status
Built

The Architect’s Studio in southeast Austin was designed and built by Derrington Building Studio. A 1,000 SF workshop, the studio is a working prototype in how to build without cavity walls and designed so that conversion to a future use requires no demolition. Drawing on years of renovating older homes and confronting the problems hidden within their walls, we set out to make a building that elevated humble materials, is easier to maintain, and more honest about how it is put together.

Side porch view of the Architect's Studio at evening, showing the deep canopy on slender white columns, full-height window, and a planter wall in the foreground filled with tall grasses and flowering perennials
The deep porch is the building's primary outdoor room — a planter wall does the work of a balustrade. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Detail of the corrugated metal exterior wall in late afternoon light, with dappled shadows from an overhead tree falling across the ribbed surface and a small wall-mounted light fixture below
The corrugated metal wall as a screen for what time of day it is. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Wide interior view of the main workspace under the gable roof, with two members of the studio team in conversation over drawings on the long white work table, bookshelves at left, and a wall of windows looking out onto the neighborhood at right
The studio at work — the building is the team's headquarters and its longest-running prototype. Photo: Leonid Furmansky

The defining move was to leave the wood framing exposed on the interior and relocate insulation to the exterior envelope. Galvalume siding protects the insulated assembly while providing a durable, reflective exterior suited to the character of the surrounding neighborhood. Inside, the exposed framing becomes the finished surface, eliminating a layer of drywall and its associated labor while expressing the building’s structure.

The result is a modest building shaped by a practical idea: construction should not conceal problems or rely on finishes to create a sense of completeness. At the Architect’s Studio, the structure is the architecture. It is both our daily workspace and a reflection of how we approach design—questioning convention, making deliberate material choices, and finding better ways to build with the resources at hand.

Interior dining and meeting area with exposed pine framing, plywood walls, a wall-hung map of Texas, a clean walnut table with chairs, and a fiddle-leaf fig at right beside a deep-blue accent wall
Meeting area — the visible structure is the room's only ornament. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Wide view of the studio's kitchen with floor-to-ceiling deep blue cabinets, a marble counter and backsplash, exposed pine ceiling above, and a door to a back hallway at right
The kitchen as one continuous wall — every utility folded into a single elevation. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Library nook with a wall of bookshelves on plywood-clad wall, plants on shelves, a black sleeping dog at the foot of the desk, and a skylight in the gable ceiling pouring daylight onto a designer working at a laptop
The library nook gets the building's only skylight — direct overhead daylight on the desk, the books, and Osa. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Tight corridor between two corrugated-metal volumes of the building, looking out toward the street with a timber ceiling overhead and concrete underfoot
The corridor between the two volumes — a single architectural moment that organizes how the building reads. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Street-front view of the Architect's Studio from across the road, showing the modest gable form set behind a low concrete planter wall and against a neighboring single-family house
From the street the building reads as a neighbor — its scale and gable form pulled directly from the surrounding mid-century houses. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Interior view of the workspace looking toward the kitchen, with deep blue accent wall, a piece of artwork mounted at the gable peak, and the white work table with rolling chair in the foreground
Blue accent wall — one chromatic move per room, never two. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Vertical interior view of the studio's pine roof framing, showing exposed ceiling joists and rafters above plywood-clad walls, a small window at center, and the corner of a table at the bottom of the frame
The framing is the finish. There are no cavity walls, no concealed assemblies — what holds the building up is what you see. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Detail of the porch's underside, looking up at the exposed timber ceiling supported on slender white columns, with views into the studio interior beyond and gravel ground at the foot of the columns
Porch ceiling — exposed framing carries the same logic from inside the building out. Photo: Leonid Furmansky
Bathroom interior with white tile walls, a marble counter and basin set against a corrugated metal screen wall, exposed timber ceiling overhead, and a person arranging fresh-cut flowers in a vase on the counter
Photo: Leonid Furmansky

Process: Construction

5 photos
Two members of the studio team working at a folding table on the construction site, with the early framing of the studio building visible behind them and surrounding trees
Studio team on-site at an early construction phase — the project was self-built, so design review and construction administration happened at the same table. Photo: Derrington Building Studio
Active framing on the construction site, with three workers raising and securing wall studs and a fourth worker standing on the partially-framed roof against a clear blue sky
Framing day — the assembly we'd be detailing for months took shape in a single morning. Photo: Derrington Building Studio
View of the studio's gable roof structure being raised, with one worker on top installing rafters and the framed walls below sitting on a fresh concrete slab
Gable framing going up — the cavity-free assembly meant every joint had to land precisely the first time. Photo: Derrington Building Studio
The framed shell with corrugated metal walls partially installed, plywood doors and openings visible, a porch slab in front, and the timber roof ceiling exposed overhead
Walls complete — this is the assembly we now propose to commercial clients evaluating low-maintenance buildings. Photo: Derrington Building Studio
Late-stage site work with a black dump truck delivering a large pile of pea gravel for the courtyard, with the nearly-finished studio building visible behind and a worker in a high-vis vest in the background
Gravel delivery — site work is the final architectural decision on a project this small. Photo: Derrington Building Studio

Recognition

Collaborators

Client
Derrington Building Studio
Contractor
Derrington Building Studio (self-built)
Photography
Leonid Furmansky

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