30 Dec Quiet Beauty

In his second senior year at Texas A&M, Bentley Tibbs went home to the Mississippi Delta to break the news that he’d decided to add a B.A. in architecture to his B.A. in history. His father didn’t say a word. “All he did was point up to the bookshelf,” Tibbs says. From there, the younger Tibbs pulled down book after book on architectural history, all of which had doodles and drawings from his childhood on page after page. Even though Bentley hadn’t remembered doing it, his father had never forgotten. “He knew I would find it,” Tibbs says of architecture.

The landscape was designed by Paper Kites Studio in Dallas to incorporate heritage trees, native grasses and perennial plantings.

Last year, Tibbs celebrated 25 years since opening his eponymous firm in Dallas, Texas. In that span, he has built more than 70 homes and remodeled an equal number. Though each project is a singular response to the desires of the client and the characteristics of the site, there is a through line for the architect: natural light and a limited palette of materials.

Expansive windows in the back of the structure allow light to flood the space and guide the experience of inhabiting the home. Photos: Robert Tsai

“I grew up seeing natural light as a structural material,” Tibbs says, recalling the way sunlight spilled through holes in the roofs of the abandoned agricultural buildings around Hushpuckena, Mississippi, the place he will always call home. Light for Tibbs is a building block and a source of beauty, a topic the architect is willing to explore on paper, in his designs, and in conversation. “Beauty is thoughtful and intentional,” he says. “It’s typically quiet, but always strong. It never recedes but it doesn’t mind being in the background.” And he adds, “In its presence, you know for some reason you are better and happier.”

The couple’s kitchen, adjacent to the family area, serves as both a functional space for two as well as a welcoming room for entertaining.

Today, his use of natural light and the ways he weaves the light through his selection of materials define his projects, three of which – including one that was designed in collaboration with another architect – were among the nine homes recently showcased in the 2025 AIA Dallas Tour of Homes. One of Tibbs’ most recent projects, known as Winsted and which played host to the tour’s opening night party, pairs stone, wood, metal, and terrazzo, all of it bathed in tree-filtered sunlight, to create an airy and spectacular urban ranch.

The Winsted project did not go to plan. This, in the end, turned out to be the best possible outcome.

Montana artist Theodore Waddell’s Shanna’s Angus has a place of pride in the dining room.

The homeowners had been living on their property for 33 years when they approached Tibbs, a longtime friend, about remodeling it. They had looked at buying another house or building elsewhere, but every time they drove up their driveway, they felt at home. “We already had what we were looking for: large trees, changes in topography, and a sense of rural living within the city limits,” says one of the homeowners. For her part, the other homeowner kept coming back to the lifelong dream of having a ranch. “In town” was the caveat.

Tibbs utilized materials like this bookmatched blue jade onyx slab because, like so many elements in the home, it serves as a moment of delight.

“Our first meetings with Bentley were focused on a third major renovation of the home we originally purchased in 1988. The bones of that house were [built] in 1960. After a couple of iterations, it became clear to us that it would be the same salad in the same bowl, rearranged,” says the homeowner. Tibbs was impressed with the couple’s willingness to refine their vision at every opportunity to get the house of their dreams. It was never about ego, he says of the couple’s commitment to excellence, but rather about finding the things that would make their lives better.

Paul Rossou’s Pocket Square is mixed-media on hand-sculpted acrylic. Photos: Charles Davis Smith

They set about tearing down the house — even hiring a reclamation company to repurpose as many of the materials as possible — and starting from the ground up, literally. There is a 10- to 12-foot drop in topography, which meant the new house would have to accommodate that. Tibbs designed a rambling home that weaves through the undulating earth and heritage trees with a collection of discrete glass and rough stone buildings that fit both the landscape and the owners’ specific needs. Outdoor living spaces too, with staircases, planters, and garden areas designed by Paper Kites Studio in Dallas, highlight the gradations of the land and cohere the home to its setting.

Interior designer Nancy Leib used soft materials to create inviting and cozy spaces throughout the light-filled home.

Archie, the couple’s long-haired Dachshund and Pippin, their Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound) delight in both the indoor and outdoor spaces designed for them.

In addition to wanting an urban ranch, the couple’s needs were specific: their three dogs—an Afghan hound, a Borzoi, and a miniature long-haired dachshund — must be at the heart of their home, just as they are the heart of the family. “Everything about them shaped the design of our home. We wanted them to have room to run and explore, but at the same time we wanted to be able to train and care for them in designated spaces,” she says of the pups who participate on the show circuit and K9 Nose Work. Her husband appreciates the usefulness of every space in the 7,600-square-foot residence which — in addition to the elegant residential spaces — includes a gym plus a grooming room, small kennel, a training room for the dogs, and four garage spaces with workshop space for DIY projects.

Another work by Paul Rousso hangs in the bedroom.

Like all his designs, Tibbs relied on a restrained palette of materials for the Winstead home. Rough Texas limestone, white oak, and a metal roof define the exterior, while terrazzo floors, stunning millwork and glass walls make the inside come alive with all the natural light. The home is across the street from a park, and not far from White Rock Lake, so Tibbs curated the views from the front of the house and opened the back entirely with walls of glass. Internally, there is a single axis that drives through the building with an outsized horse painting by Joe Andoe at one end and the dog facilities at the other. “The things they love most bookend the house,” explains Tibbs, “and everything in between is where life happens.”

The floors throughout the house are terrazzo, which stands up to dog traffic and always looks beautiful.

Tibbs used ever-changing light to pull people through this corridor, which serves as a gallery. Black-and-white photographs of the owners’ past beloved dogs were taken by photographer Deborah Samuel in 2004. The untitled horse painting is by Joe Andoe. Photos: Charles Davis Smith

That life — quiet and beautiful — is precisely what the couple wanted. “Bentley took my ranch dream to heart,” she says. “Even though we are in the hustle and bustle of Dallas, we feel tucked away in a place of ease and beauty, tailored to our functional needs.”