AIA Houston home tour showcases inventive architecture

Architect Luis Ayala is used to designing huge modern projects, mostly schools and university buildings. So it was a big shift to buy a 136-year-old house that was falling apart and tackle it as a project both for his work portfolio and for his own home.

The 1,000-square-foot bungalow in Old Sixth Ward is the first residential project for Luis and his wife, Mariella, who also works at his Luis Ayala Studio and his architecture/interiors photography business.

It was infested with termites, suffered layers of unsympathetic renovations and needed all new plumbing and electrical wiring. On top of that, the Ayalas removed the main living area ceiling and some internal walls to create a space that felt much larger and lived more efficiently. A guest house and detached garage, and they were reworked as well.

The Ayalas’ house is one of seven on the Nov. 7-8 2026 AIA Houston Home Tour, which will showcase some of the best architect-designed homes in Greater Houston.

The tour homes are found throughout the Houston area, including First Ward, Heights, Bellaire, Montrose, Museum District and Timbergrove and range from a restored First Ward bungalow with just 1,086 square feet to a spacious Bellaire home with 5,740 square feet.

Architecture firms whose work is on the tour are HR Design Dept, Collaborative Designworks, studioMET, Luis Ayala Studio, Dillon Kyle Architects, Inflection Architecture and McIntyre + Robinowitz Architects.

“The (home tour) offers a unique opportunity to experience some of the best residential architecture being created in our city,” says home tour chair Shawn Gottschalk, principal at studioMET Architects. “What stands out this year is how each home responds thoughtfully to its site, its owners, and the way they live. While the projects share a commitment to strong design, each approaches architecture in its own way through form, material, scale, light, landscape, and connection to place.”

The Ayalas were living in a 2,500-square-foot home in suburban Katy, a house that felt spacious compared to their 900-square-foot house back in Paraguay. They were becoming empty nesters – their daughter lives and works in Austin and their son is a student at the University of Houston – and were contemplating their next move.

Their favorite coffee shop and restaurants are within walking distance of their new home, and the walking trails of Buffalo Bayou Park are nearby.

They had friends who lived in Old Sixth Ward and liked the neighborhood. When they found their little house – which they have dubbed their “casita” – they considered fixing it up and leasing it. But the draw of the city won,  and they set out to save the little white house.

“I told someone that it’s a religious house because it’s held together by the grace of God,” quipped Luis, whose big architecture project right now is the Museo de Ciencias – a natural science museum nicknamed “MuCi” – in Asuncion, Paraguay.

“The Realtor disclosed that it was a historic house like it was a bad thing,” Luis said. “That’s why we liked it. We wanted to give this house a new life.”

This house was Ayala’s first residential project and the couple’s first stab at historic preservation. Not only did they learn much about finding historic salvage and following City of Houston rules for fixing historic homes, but it was a chance for Mariella to push her husband out of his color comfort zone.

Gray and white are Luis’s choices for just about everything, but when they found wallpaper in a green and pink pattern in a small telephone room off of a hallway, Mariella saw a chance for color.

Not only did she believe the tidy neighborhood called for color, but now the house’s own story was one of lively pattern.

They called on an interior designer-artist friend, Adriana Oxford, to help them find paint colors that would work.

They settled on Benjamine Moore’s Titanic Rose for a front bedroom suite that Mariella uses as her office.  Built-in shelves and kitchen cabinets in the main living area were painted Benjamin Moore Avocado and an even deeper shade of green was chosen for the primary bedroom.

Tourgoers will see how an older home can retain its charm but still work for modern life. “This house is from the 1890s, but we don’t have to live like they did back then.”

Their updated kitchen has a 9-foot island topped with terrazzo-style quartz, and in one corner of the kitchen there’s a countertop coffee station. Underneath they’ve hidden a full-size washer and dryer that are revealed when lower cabinet doors are opened and tuck into the sides.

The Ayalas also found simple ways to disguise uneven floors and walls: basic crown moulding and quarter-round trim. To save money, they bought IKEA cabinets, but installed custom-made doors on the boxes.

The home’s detached garage was set up to function as living space, so it has a small full bathroom. Luis uses this for his office and occasionally handles questions about the motorcycles and bicycles that people might see during video calls.

“They ask why I have an office in a garage. I tell them, no, my garage is in my office,” he said.

2026 AIA Houston Home Tour

November 7-8  |  Noon to 6 PM

Tickets: Full tour, $35 advance or $40 on tour weekend; bike riders, $30; children 12 and younger, $25; single home tour, $10. Tickets are good for both days. Purchase online or at tour homes during the tour.

Presenting Sponsor: eggersmann USA

These houses will be on the 2026 AIA Houston Home Tour Nov. 7-8

901 Pecore St.

Inflection Architecture

6414 Kury Lane

 McIntyre + Robinowitz Architects

2511 Yupon

Collaborative Designworks

1515 Banks St.

Dillon Kyle Architects

5304 Holly St.

studioMET

1611 Missouri St.

HR Design Dept

For more information, visit the AIA Houston website: www.architecturehouston.org/hometour