David Heymann

In 2014 he published a book of short stories, My Beautiful City Austin.

• Name — David Heymann • Born — 1959 • Known for — Architecture • Education — Cooper Union Harvard Graduate School of Design • Movement — Green • Notable Works — Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas, Audubon Society visitor center • Spouse — Sandra Fiedorek

• Illustration — Bush and Vladimir Putin by a limestone fireplace at the Western White House Deedie Rose, a Dallas arts and architecture patron, recommended Heymann to George W. Bush and Laura Bush to design the new house for their Prairie Chapel Ranch, which later served as their home away from the White House when Bush became president, during which time it was referred to as the Western White House. Heymann designed three adjacent, single-level buildings, all clad in honey-colored native limestone: a three-bedroom house, a two-suite guest house, and a garage building. Heymann sited the buildings and a swimming pool "into an almost imperceptible rise amid an existing grove of live oaks and cedar elms." During the design process, Heymann would outline potential layouts on the ground so the Bushes could visualize how the house would work in each setting. Heymann worked closely on the design with Laura Bush. "She has a lot of experience from seeing the carefully organized houses that her dad built, and she has a very, very good eye," he says. "One thing we wanted was to make sure the house fit into the landscape," Laura Bush said. "I think it does, with the low house and the native limestone that looks very natural. It also takes advantage of the landscape with all the views." The buildings were designed using strategies to achieve environmental sustainability. Combined, the three buildings amount to less than 4000 sqft of interior space. They are positioned using basic passive solar principles, absorbing winter sunlight, while being shaded in summer. A 10 ft-wide porch encircles the main house, which in plan is "a narrow rectangle broken into an arc." The design takes maximum advantage of the breeze by being long and narrow – most of the house is only one room wide. Heymann selected limestone quarried very close to the site. "They cut the top and bottom of it off because nobody really wants it," Heymann says. "So we bought all this throwaway stone. It's fabulous. It's got great color and it is relatively inexpensive." The buildings use geothermal energy to heat and cool, and require less energy for that purpose. A 42000 USgal underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from the roof. Wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers is also funneled into the cistern after being purified in underground tanks. The water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around the buildings. The encircling porch provides a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors. Most movement between rooms goes via the porch, and most of the windows of the house are full height doors that open onto it. When the doors are all open the house "becomes a veritable pavilion." Heymann says, "it’s a very simple idea: Outside is cold or warm, you’re in the sun or the shade or the wind, or you’re not, but that’s something you trust. The sensation is real. And direct." "It's slightly motel-ish, but we love that," Mrs. Bush says. There are no stairs or thresholds, Laura Bush points out. "We wanted our older parents to feel comfortable here," she said. "We also want to grow old here ourselves." In 2017, Heymann completed the construction of a painting studio adjacent to the main house. The studio gets its daylight from a north–south facing light monitor in the roof, with a lighting system designed to provide continuously balanced daylight-colored light. The studio's north storage wall rolls into pockets, allowing the studio to be opened to the outdoors.

Born in 1959, Heymann received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from The Cooper Union in 1984. He worked for the architects Tod Williams and Associates (now Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects), and I.M. Pei and Partners, before receiving his Master of Architecture Degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 1988. Heymann lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Sandra Fiedorek.