Desert architecture

A breezeway opens a dining area to the desert. DESIGN: John Chonka

This architect’s residence has become a case study for melding a home with its surroundings. Shown here: The tall, narrow panes draw in natural light without sacrificing privacy on a narrow lot. DESIGN: Wendell Burnette

Christian Blok (4)

Overhangs shelter several outdoor living spaces in this residence. DESIGN: Paul Weiner

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the first modern designers to make the surrounding landscape a full partner in the building process. The architect’s tour de force, Taliesin West, was designed to blend into the desert above Scottsdale in form and material. The collection of buildings, which is open to the public, was Wright’s winter home and studio from 1937 until his death in 1959.

The low, ground-hugging structures of native stone and concrete are sited to capture breezes and block summer sun from the south and west; they’re linked by patios, pathways, and pergolas. As Wright intended, the layout gently nudges visitors outdoors as they travel between living quarters, studio, dining room, and theater.

Wright continues to be the touchstone for many of today’s architects. In Tucson, Paul Weiner likes to connect rooms and sections with covered breezeways or shaded patios. At his own home, he’s blurred the line between indoors and out by furnishing patios as a living area, a dining room, and even a sleeping space.

Les Wallach, whose most visible public project is the restaurant complex for Tucson’s Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, outfits his desert homes with broad, overhanging roofs. “I try to have the roof area double the indoor floor area,” Wallach says. The formula works to establish shade next to the house, keeping hot summer sun off windows and walls.

Weiner, Wallach, and other desert architects use materials that stand up to the harsh climate and are energy efficient – adobe, rammed earth, cast earth, Integra blocks, and Rastra. Metal, rock, stone, and concrete are often used for architectural details. Weiner used scored, colored concrete for his home’s flooring, both indoors and out. Says architect Will Bruder: “A desert home needs to be built of tougher, textured materials, such as concrete and masonry, that anchor it to the landscape.”

Lessons for the home

START WITH SITING
Position a new home to take advantage of breezes and views and to block the sun’s rays. Keep the structure low, and cantilever the roof overhangs to cool the house and create shady outdoor areas.

CREATE TRANSITIONS
To merge indoors and outdoors, use covered breezeways or shaded patios to link rooms. Furnish patios as living spaces – even as dining and sleeping areas.

THINK NATURAL
Use energy-efficient building materials: adobe, cast earth, rammed earth, straw bale, Rastra.