Ranch & Vineyard · Jim Wells County, Texas
ArmagosaCreek
Salute.0
The place
Cattle, young vines, and a house on the rows. A ranch and vineyard in Jim Wells County, in the ground since 2023.
The rows are a line being drawn. The house — block, glass, and a two-sided fire — is still a drawing. The work is already here.Salute.0 is the line.
Ranch
Bull, bird, ground
Vineyard
Deer, vine, glass
01 · The ranch
Already working.
Brush country in Jim Wells County. Caliche underfoot. A dirt road, a pipe gate, mesquite. Cattle on the place. Armagosa Creek is a ranch first.
02 · The vineyard
A line being drawn.
Not a producing vineyard yet. First-year plants on drip, walked at night with a light at the far end. This is the vineyard the house faces.
03 · The camp
Living on the ground.
A Springdale trailer, a blue-roof shop, a red carport, a block well house, a black cistern. Lone Star, 1st Battalion. Water and work before the house.
04 · The house
Forty-five by twenty-five.
Twelve-foot block. Sixteen-foot ceilings. Kitchen pulled back five feet so the glass can sit in shade. Living and kitchen share a hearth. The house on Armagosa Creek.
Open the plan
Width
45′–0″
Depth
25′–0″
Enclosed
1,125 sf
Block
12′
Ceiling
16′
Setback
5′
South glass
20′ × 10′
Fixed glass
11′–2″ × 10′
05 · Film
Blanc du Bois.
Over the vineyard. Over the CMU house. In — a couple at the table, the Texas white, something to eat.
06 · Concept
As it might be held.
Sixteen plates from the photographs on the ground. The house, the rows, the cattle, the camp — drawn forward.
Open the plates
07 · Language
Mass, shade, fire.
Masonry, a long roof, a wall of glass that becomes a room when it opens. Built for this dirt in Jim Wells County, not for a mountain.
Concrete masonry
Twelve-foot block walls. Mass against the heat. The same language as the well house already on site.
Corrugated metal
A roof that throws shade and sheds weather. Shop-built, not precious.
Steel and glass
A twenty-foot rollable wall on the kitchen. Fixed south glass on the living room. The dusk comes in.
Sage millwork
Kitchen in a quiet green. Island, stools, a long run of cabinets against the north wall.
08 · Plates