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The front uses common materials to the neighborhood in a new modern way. A recessed front porch walls flare out as if to welcome the community

The DeBartolos wanted to keep the desert tradition of incorporating water near the entrance of the house as a sort of welcome mat, but they skipped the faux hacienda fountain found throughout Arizona in favor of twin sheets of four-by-eight-foot steel plates that water pours over. Making the unusual fountain from standard-sized materials, which will weather naturally over the years, kept the cost down, too.

After months of arduous design and construction, Marmol and Becket are thrilled to escape Los Angeles for their idyllic desert retreat.

For all its hard environmental work, one of the most immediate of the Blue Sky Home’s pleasures is how it sits so snugly in its desert surroundings.

Composed of primarily steel, this prefab home has sufficient outdoor space. Photo by: Daniel Hennessy