Murray Legge: How This 800 Sq Ft Home Added 3 Stories USING CORK! | #AIAAustinHomesTour2026 #AIA

In this AIA Austin Homes Tour episode of TALKdesign, I sit down with architect Murray Legge, FAIA, to walk through his South 3rd Street project in Austin, Texas.

We talk through how he quadrupled the living space of a compact 800-square-foot 1930s cottage on a tight 3,500-square-foot urban lot. Rather than building outward and losing the garden, Murray added three stories behind the original bungalow, wrapping the extension in natural cork insulation to create a quiet, healthy family home.

Whether you are planning a renovation, looking at non-toxic building materials, or interested in small-footprint architecture, this episode covers practical ways to prioritize quality of space over total square meters.

💬 WHAT WE EXPLORE IN THIS EPISODE:

• Adding three stories behind a vintage bungalow while navigating site limits, street character, and a 15-foot powerline setback.

• Using natural cork cladding as a hydrophobic, fire-retardant insulator that off-gasses zero toxins and smells subtly of toasted wood when warmed by the sun.

• Bringing rooflines down near ground level so the building envelope feels accessible at human scale.

• Designing interior flow with sunken living areas, hidden bookcase doors, custom perforated steel stairs, and timber joinery.

• Managing passive solar orientation: capturing morning east light, using soft north daylight, and blocking western heat—including how solar orientation flips between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

• Improving indoor air quality by choosing blown wood-pulp insulation over synthetic spray foam.

⏯️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS:

01:10 Visiting architecture in person