Practicing ArchitectureAwards

2010 AIA Housing Award Recipient

Category 3: Multifamily Living

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Notes of Interest

Within its own bounds, the project is a self-sustaining, vibrant mixed-use urban neighborhood. Small commercial functions – live/work lofts and ground floor retail spaces – are mixed among the residential units, contributing a shared energy to the public spaces.

Outdoor rooms, shaped and shaded by the enclosing buildings, are the organizing framework for the project. The experience of walking from home to shopping and beyond is not only protected from the intense desert elements, but enriched by a varied sequence of exterior spaces. Circulation is organized within a traditional urban grid, culminating at the heart of the site in a circular court shared by cars, pedestrians and outdoor dining. This deliberate blending of disparate activities fosters spontaneity and a rich public life.

Design response to the desert climate relies on the judicious use of thermal mass, deep overhangs, a high-performance thermal envelope, and naturally weathering, locally manufactured materials. Native, drought-tolerant landscaping is provided throughout the development. A “cool tower” passively cools a public courtyard with a simple, wind-driven technology borrowed from Middle-Eastern desert vernacular, and provides prospect and visual focus for the project.

The project has been certified by Scottsdale’s Green Building Program for Multifamily Dwellings.