Location: Arizona, United States Year of construction: /997 Architect: William Bruder Photography: Bill Timmerman
William P. Bruder has once again found a way of dealing with the difficulties of placing a new construction within an existing landscape. The awesome desert stretching out in front of the Byrne Residence is one of the main aspects of this project that manages to reconcile wide open spaces with generous amounts of private space.
The natural unevenness of the plot is overcome by constructing the house on two levels. The entrance, for both people and cars, is on the first floor. The succession of walls takes us all the way around the building: first from outside to inside, and then, at the other end of the house, to another open space.
The corridors and passageways are concentrated against the walls. Most of the
rooms, on the other hand, open onto the desert landscape. On the main floor this applies to the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the large terrace, and the double bedroom with its own bathroom, dressing-room, and terrace.
The ground floor also faces south-east.
However, unlike the first floor, its north-east face is set into the ground.
In contrast with the dominant presence of the walls, the materials used on the exterior – such as copper or galvanized metal – change color to reflect the surrounding countryside.
In short, with an outstanding effort to adapt to a quite exceptional environment, William P. Bruder has created a house successfully balancing his personal language with clear sculptural connotations.
The construction does not clash with this desert setting. Built on a slope, its situation on the upper part of the plot lends the house enjoyable views.
One of the most difficult preexisting factors to be overcome was the site on which the house is built: the Arizona desert. To adapt to this, Bruder establishes a parallelism between the construction and the rocky walls of the canyons.
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The materials used on the exterior change color to reflect the surrounding countryside. The cladding, in copper or galvanized metal, is in chromatic harmony with the land. |
Right-band page: None of the transition areas such as corridors, entrance, and staircases, is closed in. They retain a direct relationship with the exterior.
The interior contains a range of different areas, some of which are extrovert, full of light, and closely associated with the exterior. Others are darker and more intimate areas designated for the more private rooms.
The house is positioned on the upper part of the plot. The way in which the structural walls are built to follow the curves of the changes allows all the rooms to enjoy splendid panoramic views.