Spindt Residence

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Spindt Residence

Firm

Ibarra Rosano Design Architects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Concept

SIZE

3000 sqft - 5000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

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, rare and slow growing, who keep watch over the land. The site of the Spindt Residence is speckled with saguaro making the already difficult build site particularly challenging.

After some time, we unlocked the secret of the site and devised a strategy where the house splits in two volumes to form a “canyon” of saguaro. The rust patina skin, which lines the canyon, is an echo of the iron oxide found in the site’s fieldstone. The saguaro are left untouched as we shape the house to the site and not the other way around.

Finding water in southern Arizona is like finding gold. Inspired by these hidden gems, a small pool finds an introspective home between the house’s masses. This secluded refuge is the pinnacle of the saguaro parade that flows between two nearby peaks.

In deliberate contrast with the intimacy of the canyon’s refuge, the south wall of the living room offers an impressive prospect of the Tucson Valley. This, introvert - extrovert duality is programmatically the ideal manifestation of the client on the site.