A waterfall is one of the features of this cylindrical boathouse in Austin by Texan architects Bercy Chen Studio.

Located on the edge of Lake Austin, the Shore Vista Boat Dock also has a gently sloping staircase that curls around its two circular storeys.

A curved glass balustrade surrounds the first floor deck, but parts to let the gushing water flow down into the lake below.

Behind the waterfall, a lowered part of the ground floor deck creates a makeshift beach where children can play.

The boat slots into a recess in the deck, beside hanging woven seats that provide a place to relax.

Another boathouse we've featured on Dezeen has a glowing blue exterior - see that project here.

Photography is by Paul Bardagjy.

Here's a little more text from Bercy Chen Studio:
Shore Vista Boat House is located on a bend in Lake Austin across from Canyonland Nature Preserve in Austin, Texas.

The site is suggestive of the elliptical form that maximizes the beautiful views of the undulating hills beyond.

Rounded edges of the dock, along with the curved glass railing, peel away, allowing more of the landscape to be captured into the visual frame.

Access is provided to the lake level via a series of stepping‐stones and a sweeping, gently inclined, curved stairs to the second level.

A lowered beach area, allowing one to ease effortlessly into the water, is strategically located at the basin of a waterfall, providing endless hours of enjoyment for the owners’ young children.



Ugly industrial structure in a beautiful setting. That water feature is totally tacky.
Ugly on SO many levels. The proportion is all wrong, the shape doesnt work, the materials look alternately tacky/flimsy, has no sensitivity for its placement in the landscape, tacked on waterfall etc etc.
Im always intrigued when people clearly spend large amounts of time and money and end up with something so impressively unappealing.
YUCK. While that might have seemed pretty "Space Age" back in the 1960s, today it's just darned ugly, a big clusterf*ck of architectural ideas.
'Where Every Prospect Pleases and Only. Man Is Vile" Too bad the clients had so much money. A more modest scheme would have blended into the landscape. :
lol Im just imagining them showing their friends that their boathouse got on dezeen then seeing they are totally panned in the comments…