FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A Louisiana home that marries time-honored cooling strategies with sleek contemporary form has won national honors for Michael Hughes and Selma Catovic Hughes, both recent additions to the UA School of Architecture faculty.

The residence they designed for Rick and Susan Moreland of Baton Rouge, La., is one of four selected nationally to receive the 2006-07 Faculty Design Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The Moreland residence also won a 2006 Design Award from the Colorado chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

“Green walls” provide privacy for the courtyard.

A majestic pecan tree creates a play of light and shadow in the master bedroom.

The Moreland residence, designed by Michael Hughes and Selma Catovic Hughes.

Located in an upscale neighborhood of traditional cottages and bungalows, where vestigial porches bear mute witness to pre-air-conditioned sociability, the Moreland residence embraces southern Louisiana’s steamy climate with a series of outdoor rooms and gardens “aimed at reclaiming languid traditions,” the architects wrote.

The home draws on the linear plan of the traditional shotgun house, moving from a shaded vestibule and outdoor dining room to a double-height living/dining area flanked by a courtyard to the south and a shade garden to the north. Green spaces animate the second story as well, which features an expansive, roof-shaded balcony and a wall of windows in the master bedroom that frame a majestic pecan tree.

Though the 2,250-square-foot home has the look and feel of custom luxury, it was built for just $130 a square foot. The architects splurged on Brazilian ipe wood screening, which activates the facade of the house with rich color and texture, but otherwise stayed with inexpensive, low-maintenance materials such as galvanized metal and polished concrete.

“We used pragmatic materials and focused our efforts on expanding the scale of spaces, creating higher ceilings and larger volumes,” Hughes said. “Instead of choosing tile that cost $10 per square foot, we use simple, inexpensive, but elegant tiles and use the majority of the available budget to enhance overall proportions and quality of the space.”

The clients, for their part, are enjoying the outdoors in a new way thanks to the thoughtful design of their home.

“The house glows quietly in different shades and patterns as the light changes and the shadows of the trees move,” said Rick Moreland, an English professor at Louisiana State University. “In every room your eye is drawn out toward a bigger world outside ­— and it's a different bigger world outside each room.”

Michael Hughes is an assistant professor at the School of Architecture. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University. He taught at Cornell University, the University of New Mexico, the Catholic University of America, Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado before coming to the University of Arkansas last fall. Hughes worked with Richard Meier and Frank Gehry before starting his own design practice.

In addition to teaching first-year students at the School of Architecture, where she is an adjunct assistant professor, Selma Catovic Hughes practices architecture with husband Michael Hughes in their firm CatovicHughes Design and works as a design consultant with Hamilton Snowber Architects in Washington, D.C. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture degree from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado, where she was designated the outstanding graduate of the class of 2005. She previously taught at the University of Colorado in Denver.

Michael Hughes won the Colorado AIA Young Architects Design Award in 2004 and the ACSA Collaborative Practice Award in 2006 for the Joy House Project, which involved 12 graduate students from University of Colorado-Denver in the design and construction of a new courtyard, play areas and social spaces at a shelter for victims of domestic violence in downtown Denver. He is exploring opportunities for design-build projects here in northwest Arkansas.

“We are very pleased to welcome new faculty who are committed to good design, hands-on learning and community outreach,” said Jeff Shannon, dean of the School of Architecture.