AIA Dallas Tour of Homes Showcases Breadth and Scope of Local Architecture

Designed by Maestri Studio, this stunning contemporary in Forest Hills offers bright and open entertaining. (Photos: Aaron Dougherty Photography)

When it comes to residential architecture, our city is just lousy with incredibly designed homes thanks to our stacked lineup of talented Dallas architects. And like any house porn addict, we here at CandysDirt.com look forward to the annual AIA Dallas Tour of Homes with excitement, as there’s no faster way to induce heavy breathing among us than with high design and risk-taking concepts come to life. 

This year, the sole architect-curated home tour doesn’t disappoint. With seven incredible houses ranging between 2,700 and more than 6,000 square feet, you can get a taste and feel for the modern and contemporary residential architecture of Big D, from Forest Hills to Preston Hollow and beyond. 

One of our hands-down favorites on this year’s tour, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29, is a beautiful, warm contemporary with a touch of the Texas Hill Country vernacular on a beautiful lot in Forest Hills from Maestri Studio. Unlike many more traditionally styled homes in the neighborhood, Santa Clara offers front yard living with huge glass walls that open the home’s interior to the neighborhood. 

“It’s very friendly,” said Eddie Maestri, whose firm has had two other homes on the AIA Dallas tour — once in 2012 and in 2014, too. Almost every member of his staff had a hand in this Forest Hills home, his second finished in the neighborhood. “There’s a fire pit in the front,” Maestri noted, a perfect spot for the family’s neighbors to come by and linger in the cool evenings of fall. 

Though the results are an outstanding example of a substantial home that takes cues from its setting, it is very much a statement. “They wanted something that stood out,” Maestri said. “We really customized everything to them.”

That’s putting it mildly, as Maestri Studio oversaw every minute detail — right down to the custom artwork — in this property. “It allows us — from start to finish — to really give our clients what they want,” he said.

If you want to see Maestri Studio’s brand of detailed custom design, tickets to the AIA Dallas Tour of Homes are $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the tour. Want to see an incredible home on Euclid that’s not on the tour? You can buy tickets to the Oct. 26 Premiere Party tickets for a $100 for non AIA members and $75 for AIA Dallas members.

For our loyal readers, we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for your chance to win!