The expanse and prodigious palette of materials and textures in the state of Texas offer an endless resource of building materials and inspiration for new and creative design strategies. Oak and cedar forests that have survived the harshest and driest summers as well as the most frigid cold fronts, have offered a scale, density, and uniquely Texan appearance to the landscape. Central Texas features like juniper, live oaks, burr oaks, crape myrtles, mountain laurels, and caliche soil, a hard sediment of calcium carbonate, silica, iron oxide, and mineral matter, are the prime characters due to their easily recognizable texture, grain, and color palette. From the vast rangelands of the panhandle and the wine vineyards of the hill country, to the endless timber forests of East Texas and serene gulf coastal prairies, the expanse of Texas serves up a materiality like no other state.