Founded in 2001 by Architect and Principal Darren Petrucci, Architecture – Infrastructure – Research, Inc. is an architecture and urban design firm focused on translating advanced research methods and sustainable practices into elegant design solutions that respond to each client’s particular needs and desires. The firm sees the complex contemporary environmental context of each site as an opportunity for investigation and unique solutions. Trained as both an architect and urban designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Darren is a Professor in The Design School at Arizona State University, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global institute of Sustainability, as well as an affiliate faculty in The School of the Future of Innovation in Society. This unique background and expertise in architecture, urban design, the science of sustainability, technology, and materials informs the design practice of A-I-R, Inc. producing cutting-edge, intelligent, and beautiful designs for its clients. A-I-R, Inc. seeks intelligent and enlightened forward-thinking clients who are interested in a collaborative environment that focuses on design solutions that engage individual sites, specific client programs, and environmental conditions.
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.
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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5102 N. CENTRAL AVENUE, SUITE 5
PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85012 USA
T. 602 395 1091 F. 602 395 0839
Transformation of an existing 3,400 sq/ft. patio home. 4 black basalt stone apertures are strategically inserted into the existing shell in the following locations: entry, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Each aperture frames the landscape, shields the sun, and extends the interior program into the landscape.
Founded in 2001 by Architect and Principal Darren Petrucci, Architecture – Infrastructure – Research, Inc. is an architecture and urban design firm focused on translating advanced research methods and sustainable practices into elegant design solutions that respond to each client’s particular needs and desires. The firm sees the complex contemporary environmental context of each site as an opportunity for investigation and unique solutions. Trained as both an architect and urban designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Darren is a Professor in The Design School at Arizona State University, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global institute of Sustainability, as well as an affiliate faculty in The School of the Future of Innovation in Society. This unique background and expertise in architecture, urban design, the science of sustainability, technology, and materials informs the design practice of A-I-R, Inc. producing cutting-edge, intelligent, and beautiful designs for its clients. A-I-R, Inc. seeks intelligent and enlightened forward-thinking clients who are interested in a collaborative environment that focuses on design solutions that engage individual sites, specific client programs, and environmental conditions.
The Ghost Wash House is located along the lower hillside on the north side of Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona. The site is flanked by two desert washes that move storm water from the top of this urban mountain into the valley below. Two long, thin tumbled brick bars run parallel to the east and west natural washes framing a third topographic condition or “Ghost Wash” that runs down the center of the site. The east bar protects this architectural wash from the low desert sun that streams across the mountain in the morning. This bar houses the public ‘support’ programs of the house: garages, kitchen, office, and family dining room. The west bar shields the occupants from the intense hot low west sun as it sets in the valley. It houses the private programs of the home: bedrooms, family room, and recreation space. The living and dining room make up the interior of long sequence of courtyards, gardens, and play areas that unfold along the Ghost Wash from the south entry to the north pool house. This linear amenity is punctuated by a massive floating roof that provides the infrastructure of storm water collection and solar power to the 8,500 sq.ft. house and landscape. As the primary organizing device for the house this central amenity infrastructure takes its cues from the nature of the Sonoran Desert. Similar to the nurse tree that shields a young cactus from the extreme heat and sun, the large roof protects the primary living spaces of the house (kitchen, dining room, living room, and family room). Its shade, power, and water both physically and symbolically nurture the life of the house. In much the same way that desert washes provide a habitat and an ecosystem that facilitates desert life and connectivity, the Ghost Wash protects, connects, and facilitates the indoor and outdoor life of the residence. The Ghost Wash House is not a house in the desert, but a house of the desert.
Founded in 2001 by Architect and Principal Darren Petrucci, Architecture – Infrastructure – Research, Inc. is an architecture and urban design firm focused on translating advanced research methods and sustainable practices into elegant design solutions that respond to each client’s particular needs and desires. The firm sees the complex contemporary environmental context of each site as an opportunity for investigation and unique solutions. Trained as both an architect and urban designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Darren is a Professor in The Design School at Arizona State University, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global institute of Sustainability, as well as an affiliate faculty in The School of the Future of Innovation in Society. This unique background and expertise in architecture, urban design, the science of sustainability, technology, and materials informs the design practice of A-I-R, Inc. producing cutting-edge, intelligent, and beautiful designs for its clients. A-I-R, Inc. seeks intelligent and enlightened forward-thinking clients who are interested in a collaborative environment that focuses on design solutions that engage individual sites, specific client programs, and environmental conditions.
The Andaz Scottsdale Resort and Spa is a renovation of an existing resort, built in 1989, set within a 25-acre desert oasis in Paradise Valley overlooking Camelback Mountain. The renovated resort was designed as a “desert modern” retreat, inspired by midcentury modern architecture. The 201 guestrooms and suites, an increase of 31 keys, were configured in clusters of casita-inspired bungalows, including two new Presidential suites.
The Guest House is the central element of the resort, serving as a social gathering place for guests and locals. The architectural design includes floor-to-ceiling glass walls to highlight the unique and inviting indoor Weft & Warp Art Bar + Kitchen restaurant and lounge spaces. The exterior’s expansive patio spaces encourage guests to sit and socialize around movable furniture and multiple fire elements.
The meeting and events building features 10,000 SF of indoor space and 36,000 SF of flexible outdoor space to accommodate large and small gatherings. The main pool, lined with private cabanas, links to the Turquoise Pool Bar. The building that houses the Palo Verde Spa & Apothecary is connected to the resort’s second pool, while the third pool is located in the secluded Retreat area.
Delawie is a leading sustainable and high-performance architecture, interior design and planning firm headquartered in San Diego, California. Since 1961, Delawie has made a lasting impact on Southern California’s built environments with designs that complement skylines, activate learning environments, transform communities, create corporate identities, and advance the functionality of civic and government facilities.
Situated in a nondescript subdivision on Tucson’s eastside, the Courtyards House is a desert minimalist reinvention of residential suburban inhabitation.
Conceived as a series of interlocking interior and exterior volumes, the living spaces of the home contain, or are contained by six individual courtyards. Spatial boundaries are defined, yet fluid, with light, views and access flowing from one part of the home to the next. Each courtyard is distinctly xeriscaped with southern Arizona specimens, providing moments of focus and release – foreground and middle ground lend themselves to background and the distant mountain views beyond.
The courtyards, and the boundaries they define, also serve a programmatic role: to “zone” the house for the clients’ eleven rescue cats. Feline accommodation extends to the design of cabinetry, which incorporates a variety of hiding and play spaces.
The Courtyards House also serves as a gallery for the clients’ collection of paintings and photographs by Tucson artists. In many cases, the colors and compositions of the individual art pieces are complimented by the adjacent xeriscapes, or through the home’s architectural play of light-and-shadow. The white interior and exterior walls act as a canvas for registering temporal atmospheres – the subtleties and contrasts imbued by the desert sky throughout the day and night.
HK Associates Inc is an award winning architecture firm made up of husband and wife team Kathy Hancox and Michael Kothke.
Before forming HK Associates, Michael and Kathy followed largely independent but parallel career paths, with each making substantial contributions to internationally recognized architecture firms in both Canada and the United States: Patkau Architects, Peter Cardew Architects, Acton Johnson Ostry, Lundberg Design and Leddy Maytum Stacy.
An opportunity to work together with Rick Joy brought them to Tucson, AZ in 2003 where they fell in love with the desert, later establishing HK Associates.
HK believes in the power of thoughtful design to enrich life, and views every project as an opportunity to create something meaningful.
Driven by simplicity and honesty in design, the studio’s approach is client and site specific, striving to create spaces and structures that are timeless and enduring, relevant and contextual. Good design is inherently sustainable.
As Ocotillos march across a private drive that descends a ridge following a natural wash, this project’s form emerges amidst towering Saguaros and geological outcroppings as the depth and complexity of the desert floor is revealed.
Constructed from soil excavated from the site, the house is a mass of concrete and rammed earth walls that meet the sky without termination. The battered walls envelop and protect conditioned spaces that surround a central courtyard.
During the daytime, the courtyard is defined by a continuous ribbon of glass, the desert floor and sky. At night, the glass dissolves and the steel plate ceiling of the interior spaces merges with the dark sky.
The roof is clad in weathered steel and, when seen from above, recedes into the landscape as a deep shadow. Experience of place is prioritized by means of the project’s configuration and materiality allowing for a primordial understanding of the desert landscape.
Wendell Burnette Architects is an internationally recognized architectural practice based in Phoenix, Arizona. Our portfolio of work includes a wide range of private and public projects. The specific focus of the practice is concerned with space and light, context and place, and with the environment and landscapes in which we live. The architecture of the firm responds to the specifics of site and client needs, is resourceful in regards to budget, takes a pro-active approach to the craft of building, and strives to create spaces that engage people. The recent public and private commissions of the studio evidence our desire to be an active member of the communities in which we work and the physical shaping of those places regardless of locale.
