Desert Outpost Residence
Paradise Valley, Arizona
A house of mud and shadow
Dwelling
Logan Residence
Living in and within art
Location
Scottsdale, Arizona
Size
4,600 sq ft
Expertise
Dwelling
Delivery Method
Design-Build
Project Team
Four galleries gather at the foothills of Pinnacle Peak to house one of the finest private collections of contemporary art in the world. What differentiates this private museum from any other is that between these galleries is the private residence of the Logans, their home a plinth to live among their art. Each bathed in different forms of diffused light, the galleries stitch into the hillside to frame the spaces of their daily lives.
“I want a place for my art collection – then I want to live there.”
– Kent Logan
An orthogonal footprint mediates the topography to gently touch the site and preserve the landscape’s natural state. The steel fences, concrete masses, and copper cladding naturally weather in the elements, taking on the desert patina of the surrounding site and blending deeper into the hillside over time. Entering the home recalls the autumn hues of Aspen leaves at the Logan’s summer residence in Vail, Colorado, as a canopy of golden brass shades the entry alcove.
Inside, an array of deep parabolic shafts structure the roof and evenly distribute the abundant desert sunlight throughout the first gallery. Suspended art panels and adjustable lights mount to the concrete grid between the shafts to accommodate the growing collection.
A second gallery is perceived as a glowing cube set into the earth, with light transmitted through the fritted exterior glass, reflecting off a concealed white volume above the gallery to radiate through the translucent fabric ceiling and illuminating the artwork.
Jutting to the south, the third gallery contrasts the second: a solid box with only a hint of daylight through small voids of the iris pattern etched into the cast-in-place concrete walls. From the exterior, the eye motif identifies the spaces in the house that contain only artwork.
The final gallery — a hallway that bridges the public living spaces with the private bedrooms — elongates to accommodate a 30-foot-long painting by the artist Takashi Murakami. A clerestory supplies soft northern light, bouncing off the light shelf and ceiling to cascade into the corridor. At the western terminus of this gallery sit the kitchen and living spaces, with a dining table passing through the threshold of the glass wall that thinly delineates the exterior. Beneath another canopy of twinkling brass leaves, the podium of the pool and terrace extend west, the setting sun another work to behold.
“This private residence/ museum, the achievement of renowned Phoenix-based modernist architects Jones Studio, Inc., is a classic example of the firm’s admirable attention to detail, deep knowledge of the delicate Sonoran Desert ecosystem, and keen desire to create intelligent architecture that stands the test of time.”
Bradley Wheeler,
Design Diffusion News
