Project Description
The native people of our region believe the saguaro are the embodiment of their ancestors, which is easy to believe since each plant seems to possess a unique physical personality. They are the patient giants of the desert, globally rare and slow growing, who keep watch over this land. The site of the Spindt Residence is speckled with saguaro, making the already difficult build site particularly challenging. Eventually, we unlocked the secret of the site and devised a strategy of splitting the house in two volumes to form a “canyon” around the existing saguaro. The rusty canyon walls of the canyon, echo the iron oxide found in the fieldstone. The saguaro are left untouched as we shape the house to the site and not the other way around. A small introspective pool finds its home between the house’s masses. Located along the axis between the nearby peaks, the space is inspired by the joy of finding water on a desert hike. In deliberate contrast with the intimate refuge of the canyon, the living room offers expansive prospect of the Tucson Valley nearby landscape. This introvert/extrovert duality is the personification of our client on this site.