Moltz Landscape

Tucson, AZ, United States

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Moltz Landscape

Tucson, AZ, United States

Firm

YEAR

2009

On the east side of the house mature trees
volunteered in complete randomness. So an ordering system was needed to give
logic to their presence and harvest their shade. Also, the land sloped awkwardly at the house, washing mud
onto a brick patio outside the entry door. Therefore our intervention had to also correct this problem.
To cue a visitor toward the front door, which was
not at all in the front but on the side, a bold marker was obligatory, but not
so bold as to overpower the house.
A double-cantilevered, site-cast concrete wall is
the visitor's first experience. The path begins beneath this gateless gate,
which invites guests through a new masonry patio wall. This concrete block
patio wall is like a stratified formation that plays horizontally against the
sloping earth.
Once through this understated wall, the design
unfolds to reveal a framework of hovering horizontal planes rendered in colored
concrete. The stacked concrete slabs create planters, benches and outdoor
space, which cantilever quietly above the desert floor. The owners experience is that of sailing
on a stationary lawn chair, cool drink in hand, into the desert’s horizon.
The material palette is restrained: cast
concrete, concrete block, glass tile and native plants. The concrete does most of the spatial
work but does so in the background as a simple stage for life. Our solution was to simplify and
amplify the energy of the space that was already there.