Fountain Hills - Design a la Carte

It was in 2005 when my creative juices were ignited and the frustrated architect inside me woke up to great adventures. I was asked to complete a pretty basic 2500 sq ft house with 2 acres of land in Arizona bordering a national park. The house was build right in the middle of the lot and looked a bit lost. What was missing, was an inviting front yard, a secluded backyard and a separate family room.

This property is located on a gentle hill, hence the supporting walls which you can see on these 3d architectural drawings.

The front yard with fountain

As you know AZ is pretty hot at times. What I wanted to achieve with the additions is a place of "welcome" and refreshment when approaching the entrance/front door in the middle of the house. There are trees and a small fountain and a pergola across the additional family room, dividing the front yard from the back yard.

I added a tower to make it more obvious to where the main entrance is located...

The pergola leading to the front door

Pretty amazing to see the finishing product like this. Technology is just so helpful to see how ideas can become reality... My friend Wayne Parker in Cape Town created them according to

my hand drawn designs.

a bird's eye view. The sun terrace

In order to use space to the fullest, my idea was to have a sun-upper or -downer meditation deck on top of the additional family room, which you can reach from the pool area. Up there the views were spectacular 360 degrees, and the space could be graced with desert pot plants and a comfortable sitting arrangement.

bird's eye into the private pool area

The wall at the end of the pool is a cascading waterfall, blocking the views from the neighbours. And right next to it you can see a chimney from the outside under cover fireplace area leading to the outside jacuzzi accessible from the master bedroom and the pool - all well set back from the views of the neighbours and protected against wild animal intrusion ;-)

The guest room backyard with fireplace

To complete this home, I added another patio adjacent to one of the 3 bedrooms with a separate entrance behind the house, in order to be able to give guests some privacy, or to welcome clients when used as an office. The little shed was meant to be for garden tools and air conditioners...

What a pity that I could not see the house in completion. But the designing and drawing was such an inspiring, fulfilling and uplifting process... I would do it over and over again! Studying desing was worth every penny...