Originally built in 1961 by Allied Builders, this midcentury modern home was about to suffer the fate of many similar houses in the Arcadia neighborhood of Scottsdale, Arizona, scraped and replaced with a “farmhouse”, when the homeowners decided to call national award-winning architecture firm The Ranch Mine to see if they could somehow save it while meeting the modern demands for their growing family.
“casiTa,” spelled with a capital T, derives its name from its ‘T’ shaped plan that features 2 symmetrical bedrooms that sandwich a kitchen/laundry/bathroom plumbing core adjacent to the open living space. The 974 square foot home lives much larger than its footprint thanks in part to a 750 pound, 12 foot wide pivot door that opens up the living area with a simple push to a patio covered by a cantilevered roof, adding an additional 255 square feet of living space. This large roof shades floor to ceiling glass on the South, North, and East elevations that further connect the interior to the landscape. The exterior features low maintenance materials such as board formed concrete, stucco, steel, and glass, with a stained plywood ceiling in a custom pattern. Built as a guest house on an urban lot in the desert climate of Phoenix, Arizona, “casiTa” was designed to be adapted to a variety of climates with small modifications such as an indoor fireplace or customized to be used as a cabin to take in views and all that nature has to offer.
An Airbnb dream, this modern duplex is located in the hip Garfield neighborhood near downtown Phoenix.
Designed by architect & developer William Erwin, AIA this unique property features two 1,100 SF (2) bed (2) bath units. Erwin A&D and the general contractor Beckett Construction partnered on the development delivering a product that is contemporary and cost conscious.
Situated in a historic district populated with bungalows, pyramid cottages, and a diverse mix of housing typologies, the architect collaborated with neighbors early in the design process. The goal was to create a building that sparked interest, respected scale, and positively contributed to the fabric of the neighborhood.
This site posed unique features and challenges including a natural desert wash with an abrupt edge and a significant drop in elevation, a corner lot condition which imposed larger setbacks as well as Hillside Zoning that imposes greater building envelope restrictions. The owner’s goal was to design a family home with mountain and valley views similar to that of a hillside location, but on a lot with minimal elevation.
Our response organizes the home in two levels with the main living spaces and master suite located on the second level affording spectacular mountain, valley, and city views, while bridging across a lower level composed of children’s and guest suites along with indoor and outdoor activity areas.
The Saguaro, a giant cactus that grows only in the Sonoran Desert, is an instantly recognizable figure of the American Southwest. Its incredibly distinctive form is easily identifiable, even shadowed in silhouette, and, for locals, the beauty of this majestic plant goes beyond its form. It is the inspiration of the design of the “Pleats” house by Phoenix based architecture firm The Ranch Mine, renowned for their modern courtyard houses that are ideal for urban, desert living. The story of this house starts over a decade ago and is a shining example of homeowners setting a long-term goal and having the patience and drive to achieve it.
Clinging to the side of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, a Spanish Colonial Revival style house has been transformed by architecture firm The Ranch Mine into the ‘Red Rocks’ residence, a dwelling that creates and elevates a variety of experiences with both the natural and man-made environment.
When the homeowners approached Claire and Cavin Costello of The Ranch Mine to redesign their mountainside home, they were frustrated by the thick columns that interrupted the views, the heavy clay tile roofs and dark beams, and the floor plan that focused more on a ceremonial entry than the indoor/outdoor lifestyle they craved. It was clear very quickly to the design duo that although the Spanish Colonial Revival style can be beautiful in the right situations, the style of this home was repressing the potential of the site, or more simply put, the house was style over substance.
Initially built by native dwellers 2000 years ago and rebuilt for modern society over a century ago are 181 miles of canals that bring water to the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona. These canals often go unnoticed, as the city has largely turned their back on these assets until recently. Canal House is a new home inspired by the forms of the missions in southern Arizona on a left over, irregularly shaped vacant lot along the Arizona Canal. The Ranch Mine designed the home to be a beacon, glimmering in the sun with its rusted, corrugated metal roof, drawing focus to the life giving resource slicing through the gridded city.
A bold yet minimal residence in Troon North contrasts against the organic softness of the desert floor and rising Pinnacle Peak Heights to the east. The geometric layout of the planters and sharp edges of block walls, accented with dark metal slots and apertures, stand against the backdrop of the mountain and desert brush. Entering the tall volume of the foyer not only connects one to the picturesque desert through a soaring two-story window, but also calls attention to bands of light intermittently cast through the walnut stair treads.
Drawing inspiration from famed artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s adobe houses and patio paintings, architecture firm The Ranch Mine has designed a modern courtyard home in the American desert southwest on the site of a former parking lot. “Weave” is a new house that stitches together modern conveniences with the southwestern vernacular in a historic district in the heart of uptown Phoenix, Arizona.
Sasaki’s addition to the student recreation center at the University of Arizona in Tucson cuts an impressive silhouette against the Sonoran Desert landscape. The 54,000-square-foot addition doubles the amount of space for cardio-fitness and strength conditioning and diversifies the center’s recreational program offerings. The structure is a genuine expression of the student body’s commitment to health, wellbeing, and sustainability—inspired and informed by the very people whom the center is intended to engage. Since opening in 2010, participation has increased 91%, general use of fitness equipment has increased 150%, wait times have been eliminated, membership has increased 10.5%, and 10 new programs have been initiated. The building is LEED® Platinum Certified—the first collegiate recreational facility to be designated as such.
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