All steel, glass and concrete, the modular geometry of David and Eileen Hovey’s home unexpectedly unites with the desert’s free form.

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Horizontal planes reach out to the vegetation. Cantilevers, some as long as 42 feet, draw the eye from the house to the desert, from the desert to the house.

Glass walls and large windows dissolve the space between inside and outside, framing high-desert and mountain views, rock and cactus vignettes, and wide panoramas. Clerestories offer glimpses of vistas.

“No matter what space you’re in, you have this affinity to nature,” says David, an architect and developer, whose design/development/construction company, Optima, built Optima CamelView Village in Scottsdale and Optima Biltmore condos in Phoenix.

The home, called Sterling Ridge, sits on open desert in Desert Mountain, in northeast Scottsdale.
Inside, the 11,800-square-foot space shows off exposed steel beams and a contemporary interior. Yet the space invites you to relax and is comfortable for living, entertaining and even for their dog, Nala.

The home’s materials create the connection with nature. The soft terra-cotta color of the 12-inch-thick concrete walls blends with the landscape. The walls, made from sand taken from the property, resemble stone, with variations in shading and texture. The concrete can be light or dark, smooth or rough, with aggregate showing through.

The differences and imperfections only enhance the home, David says.

“I think concrete really fits the desert,” he says. “It allows you to do things you can’t do with brick or stone,” such as long, narrow panoramic windows.

Other organic materials offer texture and contrast, and serve as an interior landscape. Structural steel beams, painted in terra-cotta orange, offer a warm alternative to the coldness of gray steel. Cutout designs in the steel contrast with the material’s firmness. Polished brown concrete floors provide an inexpensive yet decorative alternative to marble or stone flooring. Elsewhere, planks of Brazilian walnut line floors and ceilings.

Color is key to the decor, with the artwork, furnishings and materials making confident statements. “I like bold colors,” says David, who divides his time between the Valley and Chicago, where his home is made of bright yellow steel.

He learned to love color while taking painting classes in college. At Sterling Ridge, in the entryway, a massive sculpture made by Frank Stella contrasts with the home’s angles.

In most homes, the media room feels like an enclosed box, with no windows and a dark decor. Not here. Instead, a collection of nine of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe prints, all in bright colors, span two walls, adding interest, along with a 28-foot, bright red leather sofa that forms a semicircle in front of the large-screen TV.

A series of 22 pieces, by Joan Miró, lend color and repetition to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. Floor-to-ceiling Miró paintings offer inspiration in David’s office, which is adjacent to the master bedroom. The Hoveys are serious art collectors – pieces by sculptors Donald Judd and Alexander Calder and pop artist Roy Lichtenstein can be found throughout the house.

Stair railings are painted grass green; the risers are teal blue. Outside, bright orange cushions adorn the chaise longues. Orange is David’s favorite color.

Nearly every room features furniture made by acclaimed woodworker George Nakashima, who died in 1990. The pieces, including tables and benches, are constructed of wood planks, usually tree trunks that have been cut lengthwise. Eileen’s office, which is set into the hillside, features a Nakashima desk.

In this home full of surprises, the master bedroom seems to float above the other rooms. A sliding wall, akin to a Japanese shoji screen, shields the bedroom from the office. A garden terrace, a rooftop structure featuring low-water-use plants and visible from the secondary bedrooms, helps cool the rooms below. The guest quarters feel secluded and special, with an entry a floor above the other rooms.

Outside, a 35-foot-long fire grate crosses the deck and sends up 8-inch flames to warm chilly winter nights spent looking at the stars or desert. In the backyard, a negative-edge pool wraps around.

A series of black boxes – actually solar panels sandwiched between glass plates – shade the deck. Generating 13,000 watts of solar energy, they repeat the building’s modular shape. “Most people look at the panels and don’t realize they’re solar panels,” David says. He incorporates solar energy in each project he designs and builds.

The house, completed three years ago, also served as a test site for several design aspects he used at CamelView, he says.

“That’s what the desert does to you,” he says. “It gets you to try natural materials . . . and inspires you to make your home one with the landscape.”
Source AZ Republic