The Robb Report, Luxury Homes Feature, Showcases the Technological
Prowess of Winn Wittman’s Work
Take a look at the full article and images of Acuqavilla.
“During a chance meeting at a Starbucks on a quiet Sunday morning in Austin, Texas, architect Winn Wittman agreed to help transform businessman Milton Verret’s staid mid-1990s McMansion into a lively and contemporary haven. Completed this year, the reenergized five-bedroom, 10,500-square-foot lakeside house—Verret’s primary residence—now incorporates automated systems for both lighting and audiovisual entertainment and has two climate-controlled garages for the owner’s car collection (which includes a 2010 Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce, a 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia, a 1967 Chevy Nova, and a 1956 Cadillac convertible). Wittman added playful, unifying elements during the two-year renovation, including powder-coated-steel screens with decorative cutouts that keep the house cool, and an uplit motor court of concrete strips that, says Verret, “looks like a runway.”
Seeing the Light | To maximize light in the double-height living room, Wittman added floor-to-ceiling glass windows and several Zeppelin lamps by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders. The lamps reflect off of a silver-leaf ceiling, illuminating some of the detail that went into this once disorderly space. “It was a mess,” says Wittman of the room’s previous incarnation. “There was a piano-shaped swimming pool right in the middle, and everything leaked.” The architect and homeowner made the space more elegant with furnishings they chose on buying trips to New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, such as the sofas and coffee table from Minotti and the chair from Swiss manufacturer de Sede. Wittman also incorporated a whole-home audio system from Bang & Olufsen. “The living room is fantastic for just sitting, relaxing, and watching the sailboats out in the lake,” says Verret, whose four grown children and two grandchildren often come to the house for long weekends.
In the second-floor landing, Wittman installed droplet-shaped lights from Leucos that are wired with fiber-optic filaments. The filaments change color at the touch of Verret’s iPad, from which he can control all of the home’s lighting. Wittman embellished the existing porthole windows by placing the decorative steel screen outside; the 1970s Lucite-and-metal rocking chair by Charles Hollis Jones echoes their round shapes. He also transformed a flimsy spiral stair into a curvilinear, modern version that evokes the lines of the staircase in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye outside Paris. The circular leitmotif continues in the powder room (bottom), which features an illuminated sink and mirror, both purchased at shops in Miami, and a sculptural bowl by Dale Chihuly. “Milton really appreciates unusual pieces,” says Wittman.