Client Brief:
After years of living in a home that no longer met their needs, the young family wanted to design a new home that maximized views of Camelback Mountain while providing flexible spaces for socializing, privacy, and family life. The clients also emphasized the importance of engaging in the creative process and wanted a home that reflected their unique personalities and lifestyle, with a strong focus on outdoor living, cooking, and gathering with friends and family.
Location:
The site, located at the base of Camelback Mountain, presented both opportunities and challenges. While the lot offered mountain views, its concave property line narrowed the building depth to just 20 feet in the middle. This constraint required a creative approach to the layout, ensuring that the home captured the views and breezes while maintaining functionality and flow.
Design Solution:
The "Big Top" design responds to the site’s constraints by utilizing a large, cantilevered roof that tilts up towards Camelback Mountain, framing views and creating a continuous connection between the front porch, great room, and rear patio. Pocketing glass doors open these spaces, allowing for seamless indoor-outdoor living. The roof became known as "Big Top," symbolizing the dynamic and sometimes chaotic nature of family life under one roof. The home’s layout prioritizes views of the mountain from multiple vantage points, with the front porch capturing the "camel head" portion of the mountain, and the stained wood ceiling in the great room tilting upwards to take in the rest of the mountain. The rear covered patio offers another angle of the view, providing outdoor living space with the same spectacular backdrop. Advanced Gauzy nanotechnology in the glass doors allows them to shift from transparent to opaque for privacy and energy control. Fire features serve as a connecting element across the outdoor spaces, with a steel fire pit on the front patio, a fireplace on the rear patio that doubles as a cooking feature, and a fire pit at the far end of the property, adjacent to the primary suite’s private sanctuary. Cooking plays a central role in the family’s lifestyle, and the Bulthaup kitchen is designed to connect with the outdoor kitchen via a modern take on a Dutch door. Both kitchens are positioned near the indoor and outdoor dining areas, allowing for easy access and a seamless flow between cooking, dining, and enjoying the mountain views. A music studio, detached from the main house, provides a creative space for playing and recording music, with a hidden rooftop deck offering views of the valley. The primary suite, located at the far end of the home, is designed for tranquility and privacy, featuring a luxurious en suite bathroom with a naturally lit indoor shower that opens to an outdoor shower, screened from neighbors with a custom steel slatted wall.
Result:
"Big Top" addresses the family’s need for a home that supports their active, social lifestyle while offering spaces for retreat and privacy. With features like fire elements, an indoor/outdoor kitchen, and a detached music studio, the home is both functional and reflective of the family’s love for cooking, creativity, and spending time with loved ones.
