UF architecture grads featured in TV series as they build dream house

October 18, 2005

BOULDER, Colo. — A “dream house” built by two University of Florida architecture graduates is featured in a reality television series on Home & Garden Television, HGTV.

Brad Tomecek, 32, and Christopher Herr, 35, met in graduate school at UF, and are now the subjects of a 13-week reality show called “Dream House,” as they build a house for Herr and his wife Tina.

“To build this house is something we had planned since grad school at UF,” said Tomecek, who with Herr, owns the Studio H:T architecture firm in Boulder. “A friend found out HGTV wanted to do a series in Colorado, so we sent [HGTV] some imagery, and we were chosen.”

The house, which was completed earlier this year, is built in an unusual “box” design, to help accommodate the severe slope of the land, which has been in Herr’s family since it was purchased by his grandparents.

“The house is built with four boxes, and we built a retaining wall to surround it like a ribbon,” Tomecek said. “The design comes from modern sensibilities; we like projects that seem to know what they’re doing, keeping things simple and about function. This house has a theme of being grounded.”

Although the house is already built, the show will highlight the construction process, also focusing on the Herrs’ lives through that process.

“Dream House” airs Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on HGTV.