Rob Allen & Jim Buie of Longview, Texas, are architects who designed one of the few purely modern homes in Volk Estates. This white asymmetrical home uses sleek but rugged materials in which to raise a family. Modern architectural projects are often associated with grand estates, museums, or very private eccentric homes.

4037 Druid is public in scale, and architecturally exciting in a very traditional suburban neighborhood. A modern house is often looked at as stern, rather than as a warm accessible home in which to live. The demarcation between the sidewalk and stoned concrete floor of the center hall sometimes disappears for children and their neighborhood friends roller-blading, cycling or just running through. This is an inviting, elegant and robust home.