Essence of the Desert House

Scottsdale, AZ, United States

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Essence of the Desert House

Scottsdale, AZ, United States

Firm

AU Design Studio

Type

Residential › Private House

YEAR

2008

The south-western desert makes vivid impressions in the mind. One that strongly remains, are the boulders and the shadows in the wilderness. During one of my hiking trips near Pinnacle Peak, Arizona, I noticed that these boulders create micro climates around themselves and life thrives in the shadow of these boulders. They act as heat sinks and as thermal masses. The Native Americans were aware of this phenomenon, often building homes in the shadows of such boulders. One can find many such examples in the Marble Canyon, Arizona. I am inspired by such
observations that help me create meaningful architecture, rooted in the
Sonoran desert.While designing, image of such boulders flooded my mind. Also, some of my travel sketches to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico inspired me. I took one such boulder in my mind’s hand and pressed it and it became a wall. This wall cast desirable shadow on the east where the family could thrive. As soon as I put this wall on the west side of the site the sun said, “You are turning your back towards me” and further added that, “the thought even crossed your mind to do so, is because of my very own existence”. I felt compelled to respond to this and notched the wall on top which brought the sky into the composition. Along with the sky, came the sun, in such a way that, on their anniversary it set in this notch celebrating the day with the entire universe. Osho, a spiritual leader, once said, ”You can hold the sky in your fist, provided the fist is open.” Poetically the notch became the open fist that holds the setting sun. Garage attached to this wall’s south end represents another boulder mass facing west. The house is separated from the garage by a two storey high chasm that runs north-south as the spine of the composition. This spine connects the main house to the detached guest house to the north through the patio.The setting sun in the notch became the end statement of their anniversary day, so the obvious question was what happens at sunrise on the same day and what about the moon, stars, planets and other celestial constellations? With the help of my student at Arizona State University, we decided to bring about this new dimension to the house. We chose location in their master bedroom where openings in the east wall received and composed the sun rise to shine through on their anniversary date, at precisely 7am in the morning for a minute. These openings are an abstraction of the front elevation windows of the house and get projected on the acid etched window in the double height volume of the kitchen. This kitchen wall is also aligned on the summer and winter solstices where the celebrated expansion joint or the crevice brings in diffused light through the slot window washing down the wall.

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amit upadhye

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Essence of the Desert House

Scottsdale, AZ, United States

Essence of the Desert House

Scottsdale, AZ, United States

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team