MADRONE MESA RANCH
MARBLE FALLS, TX
Rio Estancia is a 6,500 square foot family compound set on a 350 acre working cattle ranch along the Guadalupe River in Kendall County, Texas. Designed for a retired couple and their extended family, the home borrows its layout from the traditional estancia, four connected pavilions organized around a shared courtyard and pool.
The site's crescent shape rises from open pasture to a high point near the property's oldest live oaks, and the design team built the entire plan around protecting that grove. Rialto Studio's land planning kept the ranch's natural grade, tree groves, and prevailing breezes intact, using boulders sourced entirely from the property and siting the courtyard, drives, and pool to work with the land rather than against it.