AIA Home Tour Last Entry

Ok, I imagine you guys are getting tired of looking at these houses. This is the last one. It was a pretty cool house, but I think the landscaping in the backyard put me off a bit. I would have done some things a lot differently.
It was mostly grey, cement block and glass, with some strategic use of bright color.
We had to take our shoes off in most of the houses. This was the entry way with scattered shoes.

This was the sail cloth covered walkway, out the back to the guest house. Notice the children's play equipment, way out in the back in the middle of the sun and rocks?

This bright orange sliding barn door covered the pantry.



This was a view across the kitchen to the bright green wall in the family room. The kitchen was double volume up to the second floor. All glass window into the back yard. Exposed concrete block and warm wooden cabinets. Cool light fixtures.

Nice water feature into the pool.

The stairs were interesting. I'm not sure, but I think they were bamboo.

The master suite had this small private balcony with billowing white curtains. Made me think of the middle east.

View from the upper balcony way down to the kitchen.






Bright yellow kitchen wall in guest house.

View of back of the house from guest house.

AIA Home of the Year: 6th House

This house won the AIA home of the year award. It is by Will Bruder and no inside photos were allowed. It was built on the side of a hill in Paradise Valley. It is mostly copper cladding and glass on the outside. There were a lot of natural looking stairs and paths around the house.

The owners had a guitar collection and he was a ceramic artist. So they ended up with some specially built guitar storage and a cool ceramic studio. They also had a really cool doggie door.

Lots of interesting uses of some basic materials. I really liked the vent covers over all the air ducts. They just looked like a wire mesh. It was pretty cool.

AIA Home Tour: Seventh House

I am going out of order now, but here is house number seven. There were some things about it that were nice, but it didn't come close to my top three. It had rain chains. Penny loves rain chains.

Nice bathroom fixtures and glass tiles. I like that. And Huge sliding glass doors that open completely to the back yard. Killer Paradise Valley Views.

A "playroom" with pool table, pinball machine and jukebox.

And a wine room (it wasn't in a cellar) complete with it's own stained glass window.

AIA Home Tour Third and Fourth House

I really didn't care much about the third house and only have a couple of photos here of it. Of course, If someone wanted to give it to me I would take it! It was in Fountain Hills on a golf course. And I did love the lap pool and the beautiful views from it! They had a lovely patio for entertaining. They had thick glass counter tops in the kitchen and master bath.

The photo in the master bath was blurry but you can see the glass countertop and the cool top with headrests at either end.

Now the fourth house was my very favorite. It was in North Scottsdale and reminded me, in part of Taliesin by Frank Lloyd Wright. Here is the approach to the house up the steep drive. The point and angles is much like Taliesin. The gentleman who lives here is an artist who makes all kinds of intricate wooden bowls. A lot of the house is designed to display and show off his wood work. They are amazing. The house is mostly a palette of wood, glass and stone and muted nattural colors. It's built up against the side of a mountain and the most of the exterior walls are glass. You feel like you are right outside. It's awesome! Beneath that point is the end of a negative edge lap pool, with views to forever.

Here is the view ove the pool and point right at the front door.

Here is the view from the living room, sitting area, inside of that point, over the pool. How cool is that?

This is the opposite of the great room/kitchen. All glass with shelves to show the woodwork, glass work etc. Notice the wood ceiling.

Some of these photos are blurry. I loved this corner window seat. An awesome place to read!

The lap pool from outside.

Lezlee and Penny on the tour with me.

Me

The view along the wall into the free standing wood/glass/stone kitchen.

blurry, breakfast nook

The wall that wraps around the back of the kitchen is all wood display shelves with a lot of the wooded bowls displayed.

Bathtub, next to window with view of side of the mountain. The mirror lets you view the city in the reflection.








In the stair way up to the his and her offices and balconies, are built in display shelves with lighting underneath.

Awesome sink in bathroom in back of wrap around kitchen. Built by owner! Look at the cork walls.

Cork walls and ceiling.

The entry stairs, outside, and inside stairs down to the studio, are built together matching, with glass separating inside and outside! Isn't the stone cool? The wall here, inside, is floor to ceiling display shelves. I have a photo from outside, but the reflection makes it a bit hard to see.

I'll do a couple more posts later in the week with the end of the tour!

AIA Home Tour Second House

So this house was also a remodel in north Scottsdale. This one made me think of a rather traditional hacienda. Very sheltered and protected from the sun and outside eyes, yet the people inside have beautiful outdoor living areas and are able to see out, while others can't see in. All the sun protection is very nice from the heat and all and probably helps with utility bills, but it was a little dark.
This is the entry and driveway. The blocks with decomposed granite in them to prevent the broad expanses of concrete and reflective heat. Nice water feature, there, water spilling out of the slit into the trough below. What you can't see very well in this photo, is that the front walls of the house are all covered with gabions, river rocks contained in wire. The walls behind them are glass. It 's a really neat effect from inside. You can see daylight in through the rocks. I wonder what it is like at night? But I am sure no one can really see in, the house is set back. And they wouldn't see much anyway.


More bathroom fixtures!! Teak is cool and so are the slats and glass sink.

And I love the zen windows by the tubs, that frame perfect little views for the bather.

This is the protected interior courtyard. The house had a deep porch that completely wrapped around the inside, with places to sit and relax. You can see the pool across the grass.

The master suite was a detached wing connected by a covered breezeway. They also had the gabion stone walls, with zen windows here and there.

This was an awesome idea. At the end of the bedroom wing, of the main house was the dog/Laundry room. It was informally appointed, but had about a 12 foot ceiling. There was art and dog paintings, crates for three dogs and it gave onto a good sized private grassy side yard for the dogs. Kept the dogs contained in only one part of the house. The laundry was here too.

This was in the office part of the master suite. Outside tucked into this glass box was a little white sand, zen garden. Inside, the light reflected off of the white sand and really lit up the whole room. I never thought of lighting a room with reflection off of white sand! On top of the little shelf were "found" heart shaped rocks. Cindy collects heart shaped rocks. Here's another idea for display Cindy!

The tub was in the center of the bathroom area in the master suite. Zen window and sky light above in the 12 foot canted ceiling.

Another interesting sink. There were his and her sinks and vanities on opposite sides of the centerd tub. And the drawer pulls were leather tabs.

This is the island in the kitchen. I'm not sure, but I think this trough sink is for when folks are all working together around the island. The tall pot filler faucet can swivel around either way.

So this is the dining area. See the gabion rocks behind the glass wall? Cool, huh? The light fixture is neat too. I have a better photo soon.

So this was my favorite thing! A glass sink over a gabion! Now it's awesome looking, and works in a guest bathroom where you don't have to store stuff. I was also wondering what happens if you have to work on the plumbing!

Another shot from on top.

Closer photos of the light fixture over the dining table.

Glass and metal front door.