“There’s a magic about this place. Its whisperings have been carved in granite for two hundred million years. Human kind has made it home for millennia. This is the heart of Texas Hill Country. It is solid. It is stable. It is a bastion of eternal beauty.”

Those are the words of architect Marley Porter, who probably could have made his living as a poet. Instead, his Living Architecture firm is bringing to the Hill Country what may be the most exciting vision since Norman and Wayne Hurd decided to purchase a goat pasture on Lake LBJ back in 1968. Porter’s grand project is just down the road from the Hurds’ now-legendary Horseshoe Bay resort; it will be a dazzling mountain-top development in Cottonwood Shores, which will include an amazing variety of attractions.

The mountain itself is the main attraction. Called Little Castle Mountain by early settlers, the rocky knob offers spectacular 360-degree views of Lakes LBJ and Marble Falls, the towns of Marble Falls and Horseshoe Bay, and the rows of stately hills behind and beyond. A profusion of boulders and live oaks direct the architectural symphony that Porter has composed, and all the buildings are designed to complement the natural beauty of the setting.

That’s normal for Porter, who says, “The mountain is the architect.” “We’re going to live with the land, not on it.” He developed a passion for working with nature while serving as tribal architect for the Navajo Nation in Arizona; he was named in 2005 as one of the top 10 green architects in North America by Natural Home & Garden magazine. And Roy Williams (known as the “Wizard of Ads”), who had Porter design the Chapel Dulcinea in Austin, calls him the “great architectural outsider of our generation.” But really, accolades like that (and there are many more like that!) don’t tell the whole story of Marley Porter, and this story probably won’t give readers a realistic sense of what he’s planning for Cottonw ...

Read the entirety of this article in the print edition.

Subscribe online — it's quick and easy