Location: Cave Creek, Arizona, USA
Area: 290 m2
Architects: Wendell Burnette Architects
Photography © Bill Timmerman
This small humble house sited on a south-facing desert slope extends a prominent flow of pinkish-red schist-shale into a simple elevated plinth that parallels the contours of the site, which run east-west. Hovering above the plinth is a large shade canopy that embodies the necessary sustenance for this shelter as a home. The thickened canopy will harvest the majority of the energy and some of the water needed for a carbon neutral house, as well as housing all mechanicals. The expansive canopy is supported by a dispersed core of peripheral mass elements that minimize overall glass percentages while framing focused views for a range of indoor / outdoor living programs north, south, east, and west. The west end of the land-based plinth is inhabited as a thick cave, while the main level of the plinth is open in all directions and, at times, has no discernible distinctions between inside and outside.
Wendell Burnette Architects
All images courtesy of Wendell Burnette Architects | © Bill Timmerman
Wendell Burnette Architects
Educated in the practice of architecture through 34 years of direct experience spanning a wide range of public and private work, Mr. Burnette’s self-taught curriculum includes a three-year period at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Burnette’s eleven-year association with the studio of William Bruder culminated in a six-year design collaboration on the New Phoenix Central Library as co-designer, project architect, and field architect. He founded the studio of Wendell Burnette Architects in 1996. He is also a Professor of Practice at The Design School at Arizona State University where he has been teaching since 2000. more
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