Pay attention to the details in big ideas. That’s the lesson architect Cavin Costello returned to again and again as this house took form, carving its own personality into a central Phoenix neighborhood.

Costello met the owners, a husband and wife who are investors and philanthropists, almost a decade ago at an event focused on bringing big ideas to life. “We were working on a venture to legalize accessory dwelling units and create a prototype for Phoenix, and they were working on their philanthropic organization,” Costello remembers.

Separately, they were all drawn to the thrill of possibility—tailoring a project to specific needs but making them flexible enough for innovation. And when the owners asked Costello to partner on the family home they were building for their two teenage kids, that’s exactly the goal they shared.

“The clients were looking for an architect to be unique and engage them in the creative process,” he says. “We like to work on jobs in which the clients are able to put aside preconceived notions of a home and dive into who they are, what inspires them, and how they want to live.”

The owners envisioned a hub where they could share meals and play with their children and still have space to entertain guests of all ages. The husband is an avid cook and talented musician who wanted a music studio of his own, and the wife was once an interior designer who requested clean lines and ties to nature inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. To Costello and the couple, the solution was simple: They needed a great room. But the empty lot the family claimed didn’t make that plan so easy.

The neighborhood consists of low-slung homes on wide but shallow parcels, and roofs are restricted from being taller than 18 feet. The streets sit at the base of Camelback Mountain, which has a terracotta-colored slope worthy of the name, and those who are lucky can make the most of the view. The owners’ lot had the chance at a perfectly framed perch, Costello says, but it also had a concave property line that limited the depth at the middle of the lot to 20 feet.

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“The largest challenge in the design was the long, narrow lot with the short axis facing the view,” he explains. “You get a better view the further you are from the mountain because of the neighboring homes, so there was really only one spot to put the great room. This meant everything else in the house had to work around this limited area to preserve the view.”

In order to bring this big idea to fruition, Costello and his team had to consider out-of-the-box opportunities. They extended the rear and front of the home to capture these sights, and detached the music studio to capitalize on the back end of the lot. As for the great room, the team got familiar with the fine print in local zoning laws.

“We used lesser-known nuggets in the zoning code to extend the living space, and then tilted the roof up to the maximum height of 18 feet to grab views of the mountain and capture cooling breezes,” Costello says. “The roof creates a continuous link between the front porch, great room, and rear covered patio through three different pocketing glass doors. It became known as ‘Big Top,’ a nod to the idea that family life can often feel like a circus under one roof.”

Flooded by natural light from those three pocketing glass doors, which can change from transparent to opaque for privacy and energy control, every space is bright and peeks at the mountain. The owners and The Ranch Mine agreed that a darker interior palette would be an interesting contrast, so they picked out moodier shades for the finishes and furniture that would still feel inviting for a family. “We wanted to make sure that there wasn’t excessive glare, which can sometimes be the case with bright interiors in the desert,” he adds.

The four-bedroom project was completed earlier this year, and it stands as a testament to the architect and owners’ confidence in big ideas—especially ones that are unexpected. “The layout of new homes is often dictated by what could be called the three Ls: the law, the land, and the lifestyle of the owners,” Costello says. “A typical home could not be built on this property.”

More from The Ranch Mine:

This Arizona Home Takes Design Cues From the Mighty Saguaro

A Ceramicist’s Family Home Is Inspired by the Ancient Art of Pottery

This Minimalist, Solar-Powered Home Is a True Desert Oasis

Project Details:

Architect of Record: Cavin Costello, The Ranch Mine / @theranchmineofficial

Builder: Jason Smith, Identity Construction

Structural Engineer: Broderick Engineering, Jeff Barton

Landscape Design: Kim Kleski, Kleski & Associates

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