I am sitting here in my office looking at the snow on the Santa Catalina Mountains. Yes,... it does snow in southern Arizona, anyway it got me to thinking. Since I first visited Tucson in 1980, those mountains have been inspirational to me. From the craggy peaks of Pusch Ridge to the majestic dome of Mt. Lemmon to the sandy bottomed Pima Canyon, the Catalina's have always offered suggestions of form, color, shadow, negative space, view angles and orientation. These mountains embrace Tucson, watch over her and give the designer an unparalleled backdrop. The Catalina's are a big part of what makes Tucson feel like home to me, they are comforting and challenging at the same time.
Those mountains make it easy to create and unparalleled drama in the design of a home. With the use of glass we can let the mountains become the walls of the home, the art, the inspiration. But we can also use contrast to frame those same views and make the interior environment of the home that much stronger of an element. We can use heavy visually impermeable walls on the south to disguise the views, a feature that creates surprise and drama.
As a designer I have always used cues from the natural environment to build upon, in Tucson there are a limitless supply natural cues.
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