A minimalist Paradise Valley gem utilizes salvaged plants, a limited materials palette and out-of-the-box ideas to combine sustainability and style seamlessly.

A subdued lighting plan was conceived to mimic the effect of a natural moonlit glow around the site. This creates a contemporary intervention separated by a wild, native landscape that celebrates the harmony between art and ecology.

THE PROJECT

How can a Paradise Valley neighborhood lot be transformed into a desert oasis that feels worlds away from the distractions of everyday life? The answer to that question lay with some of Scottsdale’s top firms—The Green Room Landscape Architecture, The Ranch Mine and Boxwell Builders—who were tasked with turning a large site with a wash running through it and a lack of native plant material into a peaceful, biodiverse home for a couple craving privacy and a connection to nature.

As the home merges with the horizon, the surrounding landscape seamlessly blends into the native site, while the dark-bottomed pool serves as a mirror, blurring the distinction between earth and sky.

THE PRIORITIES

“The homeowners are in the industrial design space and love Apple and that sort of aesthetic,” says architect Cavin Costello, principal of The Ranch Mine. “They’re very minimalist, precise, tech-savvy and focused. But ultimately, they wanted a place to focus on life, limiting distractions from the outside world.” With busy schedules, the clients craved a space to focus on yoga, hiking, drawing, cooking and playing the piano. “They wanted a minimalist box,” Costello adds, noting a safe space to let their dogs out during the day—inaccessible to critters like rattlesnakes, mountain lions and coyotes—was a must. Making the property semi-off-grid—fully solar-powered and amenable for growing food—was also required.

Upon opening the front wood door, the central courtyard is revealed through an expansive window—like a piece of art.

Another goal was to integrate native plants and trees in a restrained palette, many of which were salvaged and hundreds of years old. “Bringing the Sonoran desert back into the property was a big conceptual driver for our work,” says Charlie Ray, principal director of design at The Green Room Landscape Architecture. Ray and his team—Zach Pekala and Matt Thomas—aimed to create a new, healthy ecosystem on the site that felt approachable yet restrained.

The great room features areas of walnut slats backed with acoustic felt to provide a fantastic sound quality for the homeowner, a skillful pianist.

THE PLAN

After clearing the site, Costello drew up plans for the new home—a low, rectangular box in the classic desert style—with an enclosed central courtyard to keep the couple’s dogs safe. Placing the property behind the wash at the back guaranteed privacy. Inside, materials were limited to stucco, wood, concrete and glass. “We tried to break it down to four materials to reduce distractions,” he says. “But we used them in a variety of ways. There’s a lot of thought put into the smallest details so that everything has multiple functions and uses, and it all coalesces in a very simple, streamlined living situation.”

The home’s interior acts as a gallery space enveloped by a lush garden experience.

Ray and his team planned to incorporate a large number of salvaged plants and trees to complement the architecture and reinvigorate the land with native flora. “The large-scale salvaged material was the key driver to make the house feel like it’s always been there,” says Thomas. They focused on surrounding the home with a tree canopy and also creating a courtyard garden filled with rare plants. “Dappled light is very important,” adds Ray. “As the sun changes throughout the day in the desert, you get patterns from the trees and the plant material. How they’re placed affects the relationship with the architecture.”

Acting as a canvas for highlighting the unique, sculptural forms of Sonoran Desert native plants, the home’s facade is continuously animated with an intricate series of shadow patterns. Rusted steel rattlesnake-proof fencing was required to keep the client’s foster dogs safe, while several keystone plant species restored the graded site to a native condition.

THE DETAILS

Inside, the simplicity of materials and expansive use of glass create harmony between the architecture and the landscape. Upon entering the home, viewers come face to face with a large window looking out to the courtyard filled with the client’s prized collection of plants. “Typically, in an average home, that wall would be solid with a piece of artwork on it, but these clients embrace the idea that nature is the art,” says Costello. In the courtyard, an old ironwood stump acts as a living sculpture. “It’s such a majestic tree. Just the stump was left, but it is still alive and growing,” says Ray, who notes that the space feels similar to a James Turrell Sky Space. “It feels so artful to look up at the sky, the plants and connect with nature in a different way.”

Located in a neighborhood zoned for horses, the house—which lacks west-facing windows at the front to protect from the harsh summer sun—was designed to sit low at 12.5 feet tall, keeping views of the mountains for its neighbors. Wood indentations in the elevation have recessed windows that stream indirect light inside.

Outside, the pool—placed perpendicularly to the house—blends beautifully with the architecture and landscape. “We love when pools don’t look like pools,” says Ray. “At certain times of day, this darker water acts as a mirror to the sky and directs your eyes to the mountains in the distance.” The client’s trip to Amangiri inspired a beautiful concrete bench on one end of the pool and other design aspects of the entire home.

THE OUTCOME

“It looks like we just placed this home in the middle of the desert, but the property was completely different when we started. It’s way more biodiverse and makes the house sing,” says Costello. “That’s the magic of what The Green Room does.” Seeing the plant’s patterns against the clean architecture is a highlight for Ray. “It’s living artwork,” he says. “That’s the magic right there.”

Pocketing glass doors on either side of the main living space funnel cool breezes through the house while providing a seamless indoor-outdoor flow, transforming the main living areas into a protected open-air space in seconds. The open-air atrium serves as a collection garden of rare specimen plant materials, contrasting the clean white walls. A floating cast-in-place concrete bench was sited to centrally align with the dimensions of the rear yard fire pit bench.

DESIGN DETAILS

TYPE
Single-family home

LOCATION
Paradise Valley

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
The Green Room Landscape Architecture
tgrla.com

ARCHITECTURE
The Ranch Mine
theranchmine.com

BUILDER
Boxwell Homes
boxwellhomes.com

RESOURCES

APPLE HOME KIT
Home automation
caidesigns.net

BAKER HESSELDENZ DESIGN
Custom walnut cabinetry throughout
bakerhesseldenz.com

COSENTINO
Dekton countertops
cosentino.com

KOHLER
Faucets and sinks
kohler.com

MIELE
Appliances
mieleusa.com

STEINWAY
Spirio R Model B piano
steinway.com

WESTERN WINDOW SYSTEMS
Windows and doors throughout
westernwindowsystems.com

PLANTS & TREES

TREES
Salvaged Ironwood, Salvaged Little Leaf Palo Verde, Mesquite Species

ACCENTS
Saguaros, Organ Pipe Cactus, Ocotillo, Agave Species, Yucca Species, Horsetail Reed, Dragon Tree, Aloe Species

SHRUBS
Globemallow, Creosote, Green Hopseed

GROUNDCOVER
Angelita Daisy, Blackfoot Daisy, Verbena, Penstemon, Bursage

GRASSES
Side Oats Grama