Architect C.P. Drewett of Scottsdale, the Phoenix builder, Rich Brock’s Bedrock Developers, and Scottsdale interior designer Claire Ownby, ASID, collaborated on this sleek Paradise Valley home and three in-spirit adjacent ones. The one-level four-bedroom Modern home is transparent, without clutter: Outside are the landmark Camelback and Mummy mountains, which the Chicago couple enjoy with friends and family through large glass windows and doors or outside on beautifully landscaped grounds. Contemporary lines and materials integrate with details such as knotted wide oak planking, alder woodwork, a distressed acacia dining room table and petrified wood blocks in the great room. Darrin Kauer, the project superintendent for Bedrock Developers, aptly said: “I enjoyed the feeling of discovery when entering each room.”

The Arcadia neighborhood in Phoenix may not quite be equal to the ancient Greeks’ vision of paradise on earth, but its quiet pedestrian-friendly streets, views of landmark Camelback Mountain and fine homes have made it one of the city’s highly valued communities. Completed in 2017 on a cul de sac lot, this Bungalow Cottage Transitional home includes a pool house and a traditional detached garage, adding another two bays to the two in the main garage. The team was exceptional: the family who envisioned it; Mark Candelaria, AIA, the Scottsdale architect; Santorini Homes, the builder and a neighbor of the homeowners; and Arcadia Design Studio, led by Kim Anderson, assisted by Elizabeth (Imbornoni) Hamill, for the interiors. “Everything was designed just the way we wanted,” one owner says. “I feel like we have lived here forever.”  

This magnificent has been completed in stellar Paradise Valley. With mountain views, the one-level will provide its new owners with spaces which exemplify the contemporary Southwest desert lifestyle. A commercial-size kitchen provides an expansive area for entertaining. Outside is an infinity-edge lap pool. Extensive hallways will showcase artworks. A large master suite is on one corridor and the family bedrooms and guest quarters on the other. The six-bay car garage has storage and work space for man-cave joy. On two acres, this 12,000-plus-square-feet home has space for even more bays, a she-shack, reading house or even a stand-alone casita.

Desert Mountain is superb High Sonoran Desert living in north Scottsdale. Its luxury homes surround six Jack Nicklaus-designed championship courses and superlative clubhouses. The retired New Jersey natives sited their 5,700-square-foot two-level home above the community's tough Chiricahua Tenth hole. Completed in 2016, the Desert Contemporary-style custom is the vision of Phoenix-based architectural designer Bryan Rains and was built by Scottsdale's Phil Nichols Custom Homes. Angelica Henry and Claire Ownby, both Scottsdale, provided interior design elements. “The Clark home,” notes Rains, “is a harmony of site and structure.”

The Rural Mediterranean-style villa comprises 6,924-square-foot on three levels, with a light-filled entertainment basement and an upper-level master suite. The two first-level bedrooms comfortably accommodate guests. Co-owner Lauren Rautbord is principal of Paul Lauren Design Consultants, a residential interior design firm which recently relocated from her native Chicago to Scottsdale. This and all of the available homes at The Village at Silverleaf are designed by Don Ziebell, president of Scottsdale’s Oz Architects Inc., and built by Rod Cullum, principal of Cullum Homes, also Scottsdale. Customized to fit their collectibles and treasures, the home synthesizes old and new, combining classic European design and repurposed materials with today’s open-space layout. “The end result is contemporary timelessness,” Rautbord says.

Celebrated Candelaria Design of Scottsdale provided the winglike design for this 15,353-squarefoot Mummy Mountain contemporary for a husband and wife; he’s a former airline CEO and aviation aficionado. “The owners knew what kind of style they wanted and came to us,” says Mark Candelaria, who assumed the project in 2007. “The entire design and build team was assembled early on, so it was a great collaboration with the owners, architect, interior designer and builder.” For the challenging hard-granite excavation and construction of this complicated home, the couple hired hillside builder, John Schultz, founder of Scottsdale-based Schultz Development. The well-known design firm of Wiseman and Gale, Scottsdale, provided the contemporary interiors. And Candelaria designed the bar to resemble a cockpit, which should get you flying.

Where’s the front door? Finding it is the first of many pleasures delivered by this Contemporary home at Mummy Mountain Norte in Paradise Valley. The 3,843-square-foot single-level includes three bedrooms and a one-bedroom casita. “When approaching the main entry, it feels connected to the home and integrated into the glazing system, not intended to stand out,” says Mike Wetzel, AIA, who designed the home with Vern Swaback, FAIA, co-founding partner of Swaback Partners, Scottsdale. The space the architects created is a dramatic dialogue of hillside and homesite. “There is a defined axial alignment that runs through the center of the pool, the center of the water feature and the center of multiple terraced stone-caged gabion retaining structures, all of which align to orient the homeowners and guests to a wonderful view of Mummy Mountain,” says Anthony J. Salcito Jr., president of the builder, Salcito Custom Homes LTD., Scottsdale. 

This male story sends many spacious messages. For one, more than Neanderthal man lives here. His contemporary caves can be stylish, trendy, laid back or in your face. One is a high-powered ten-bay car garage, with industrial black steel, multi-colored brick-style walls for a warehouse look, exposed ductwork and electrical pipe, ground, scored and polished concrete floors and vintage-look sconces. Another: an action-packed media room, minimalistic and monochromatic, next to a high-testosterone sport court and a man cave bar. Two others: a music nook that rocks, for a collection of guitars and his bevy of jamming musical buddies, and a flexible living room right on cue with a pool table and a wall reclaimed from a barn. And, last, rivalling any woman’s, is  a drop-dead-handsome closet, high in chic and couture and NIKEs for the pro-athlete owner.

Dramatically sited on an acre in Paradise Valley, this one-level custom looks south toward legendary Camelback Mountain, including its eternally devotional Praying Monk. The equally dramatic north entry is sited toward another landmark representational feature, Mummy Mountain. The four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom Desert Contemporary celebrates the open, indoor-outdoor lifestyle this couple has enjoyed in Arizona since childhood, while still ensuring their privacy and delivering views, views and views. The couple climbed the landmark mountain as youngsters, and still do, and the husband is an avid mountain biker. Scottsdale architect Mark Candelaria, AIA, assured them that after the 1960s existing home was leveled, the obstructive foliage removed and a new well-sited home built with ample windows, they’d be looking real good in retirement. Scottsdale's Claire Ownby and her adept team provided the crisp, elegant interior design.

The Symington family of Paradise Valley envisioned their home as a celebration of their passions, heirlooms and artworks and a life shared with family and friends: It is their “Trailhead.” Designed by Arizona’s Gerry Jones, a master of residential desert architecture, the 10,380-square-foot-liveable home was completed in June 2014 by Scottsdale’s La Casa Builders. The five-bedroom, eight-bathroom three-level comprises four main-floor ensuite bedrooms; a second-floor master bedroom and its Japanese-inspired bathroom; and a wine cellar in the spirit of Old Portugal. Above the Moroccan-themed pool house is an upper-level view patio with a seating area and a fire pit, offering views of Camelback Mountain, Mummy Mountain, the McDowells and the Superstitions. “This home is a model of elegance and superlative craftsmanship,” says former La Casa partner, Ron Steege. “Its coordination of architectural artistry and art is simply extraordinary.”

The owners were formerly devotees of traditional design, but they asked Scottsdale interior designer Raegan Ford for a more transitional/modern interior for their new Mediterranean-style single-family home in Paradise Valley. The result is a custom one-story, 8,593 square feet under roof, with garages, covered porches and patios on two acres: classic, light, modern, sophisticated and fresh. The five-bedroom main house has an adjacent guest house and a four-car extended-length/height garage. Inside are subtle greys and whites on the walls and custom alder cabinetry, against which standout lighting, soft abstract artwork and color pops provide drama and pizazz. 

The Glacier Club is an exclusive home and golf community north of Durango, Colo. This custom  there celebrates the area's history and topography: mining, steam trains, cowboys, the Animas River rapids, pristine lakes, Rocky Mountain peaks, pine and fir, golden eagles and elk. This is the refuge you want to be New Year's Eve, with food, fire and firewater and friends. You know, let it snow, let it snow . . . .

Light, and full of light: This Contemporary home in Desert Mountain, the luxury north Scottsdale golf community, expresses clarity of design, sensitive site integration for views and privacy as well as effective materials coordination. Completed in 2009 by Andy Byrnes, AIA, Construction Zone, Phoenix, and designed two years before by Ted Flato, FAIA, Lake|Flato, San Antonio, the one-level includes a master bedroom; two casita suites; a two-car garage; an open kitchen/family room; and an adjacent living/dining area. Says Flato: “Wherever we go as a firm, we connect a home with the climate and the weather, taking advantage of what an area has to offer. In the Arizona desert, sun and desert are always conspiring for your attention — and this home showcases their remarkable power.”

“A romantic reminiscence of old French farmhouses: cozy kitchens with family rooms close by. To the French Country plan, we’ve also added some modern twists,” says the residential designer of this 9,000-square-foot French Country-style house in Arcadia, Agnieszka ‘Agnes’ Jastrzebska, principal of Phoenix-based AJ|Design Studio. With northern views of Camelback Mountain, the two-level, and a partial basement, is on just under an acre near Scottsdale. Friends, family and business associates are always welcome. A 733-square-foot casita parallels the main house on the opposite side of the swimming pool and spa.“My husband wanted this to be a man cave,” says the wife, smiling, “but it just didn’t end up that way.”

A sky island, the 8,000-plus 8,000-plus square-foot Scottsdale Waterfront residence for long-time Valleyites, Judd and Billie Jo Herberger, celebrates the couple’s diverse passions: for Arizona, travel, for the arts and beauty. The couple’s Los Angeles-based interior designer, Bonnie Sachs, ASID, helped, and continues to unite the three individual units into one. Among the unique joys is a dining room with a ceiling evocative of the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. Not only do the Herbergers enjoy the building’s luxurious amenities, such as the rooftop pool and a first-floor club room, but they have found downtown Scottsdale convenient for restaurants, boutiques and events. “We love all the colors, textures, the art, beauty and creative energy that we are surrounded with every day,” Billie Jo says.

Designed on two acres as a family retreat at Martis Camp, the 2,177-acre luxury golf community near Lake Tahoe, California,  and Reno, Nevada, the 5,742-square-foot two-story includes five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms and an enclosed three-plus-car garage. “We wanted a place where CEOs and kids feel equally comfortable,” says the wife, who, with her husband and family, lives full time in San Francisco. Etta Cowdrey, Allied ASID, project manager and principal designer at Studio V, also Scottsdale, provided the interior design for this award-winning get-away. “They wanted something that would make them happy, something that made them smile, a place they could let their hair down and have a good-ol’-time,” says John E. Sather AIA, AICP,  a senior partner at Swaback Partners, the distinguished Scottsdale, Arizona, architectural firm.

After founding their company in 1904, Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls drove out their first car, the 40/50, in 1906. The seven-liter side-valve cars combined two three-cylinder units and could attain 60 mph. These and other early Rolls-Royces included only the rolling chassis and signature radiator; select coachbuilders provided the bodyworks. Later followed the Phantoms, Silver Wraiths, Silver Clouds, Silver Shadows, Silver Spirits, Corniche convertibles and the great Merlin 12 WWII airplane engines. “Rolls Royce continues to set the bar for prestige, quality and panache,” says Frank Aazami, Private Client Group, Russ Lyons|Sotheby’s, a Scottsdale Realtor® who established the group in 2007.

Arizona health club, entrepreneur, Tom Hatten, enjoys his 7,200-square-foot "Camelback Canyon" home on 1.9 acres along the west slope of the Valley landmark mountain. The two-level is an inspired rebuild, now with swirling rivers, four ponds, waterfalls, a tennis court and a nine-hole chipping gold course that plays around a resort-style negative-edge pool that has replaced the dated original. The spa has been raised to the upper-deck area. An extended patio cover was added outside the new 30 feet of floor-to-ceiling glass, which opens up the great room and bar to views west over the Valley. Now, he just opens up the hillsdie home to friends and family. And, it all works out just fine.

This Contemporary Paradise Valley estate was owned by former Arizona Cardinals star quarterback, Kurt Warner, a future National Football League Hall of Famer, and, before him, Sandy Alomar Jr., a member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Designed by Edward Chavez, the 11,300 square-foot showplace blends a modern style with a stylish entertaining layout, characterized inside and outside by engaging asymmetries, angles, curves and vari-shaped windows. At the base of Valley landmark, Mummy Mountain, the two-level home features four bedrooms, four garage bays and a theater. In the back is a 62-foot-long lap pool, a water feature, spa and separate casita. Touchdown!

Available now from Russ Lyons | Sotheby’s: Perfectly scaled yet dramatic, stately and grand but unostentatious, and landscaped and detailed to the highest standards of care and craftsmanship,this 11,603-square-foot gated estate rests high on a 1.6-acre site on the east side of landmark Camelback Mountain in Paradise Valley. From the upper level are city lights views east and vistas as far as Picketpost Mountain near Superior and from the Superstitions in Apache Junction to Red Mountain in Mesa to the McDowells in Scottsdale and adjacent Mummy Mountain. Just outside are cypress trees and fountains and a splashing waterway which leads to the heated pool and spa. . . .  

Scottsdale-based Calvis Wyant Luxury Homes recently completed four of the one-and two-story Park Place courtyard homes at Silverleaf, the 2,000-acre gated home community in north Scottsdale. Because of their success, the company is offering them in other premium Phoenix-area neighborhoods. The Park Place homes are 3,500 to 5,200 square feet, in a variety of architectural styles with exterior finishes including brick, stucco and stone. With their focus on optimizing the indoor/outdoor lifestyle of Arizona, the homes will work on lots from as little as 12,000 square feet up to a half acre or more. “We think that Park Place homes will work in many fine communities in the Phoenix area and for many needs: Empty-nesters, retirees, second- and vacation-home owners,” says Tony Calvis, who handles marketing and sales for the 27-year-old design-build firm. His business partner, Gary Wyant, AIA, designed the Park Place homes.

Intimacy and flexibility: This two-story and partial-basement Scottsdale estate home provides both with six large bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and extensive entertainment space. While large, it also incorporates the best current energy efficiencies: in insulation, low-e dual-pane windows and solar metric sensitivities such as extended overhangs. Led by Tony Sutton, principal and interior designer of Est Est in Scottsdale, the design/construction team ensured that the owners would enjoy the family retreat they requested. The favorite family gathering spot is the upstairs game room, inspired by an Alaskan lodge they frequent. The space includes reclaimed barn wood from for the wall paneling and a commissioned painting, appropriately,“Grandpa’s Barn.”

The owners call their desert mountainside home “Hacienda del Sueño” (“Dream Home”), but the moniker could also be “Home of Spring” — “Hacienda de Primavera.” Built by Scottsdale’s La Casa Builders, the 7,248-square-foot Modern Hacienda eloquently expresses the owners’ vision, flexing for a multi-faceted lifestyle that finds them as much outside as in — particularly in spring, when the desert effloresces before it sizzles. The three-bedroom one-story, plus single-bedroom semi-attached casita, is meticulously sited in north Phoenix on a one-acre triangular lot, delivering imposing southside views of Camelback Mountain. The owners, for sure, joy in their home: “It makes it easy to have sweet dreams,” the wife says.

At Bob and Pat Bondurant’s Paradise Valley home, holidays are always a gift. The custom home of the legendary driver and founder of the world-famous Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and his wife Pat welcomes family, friends and racing associates with tinsel and gingerbread, garlands, glittering wreaths, food and festivity. The traditional 16-foot twinkling tree in the living room recalls when close family friend, Elvis Presley, toting a gingerbread house for the family, stopped by Pat’s Memphis home in 1959. In flight next to the candy-laden tree are eight full-scale reindeer, suspended from the tall ceiling, led by bright-shiny-nosed Rudolph. Come on in for goodies and seasonal joys. Red racing gloves are optional.

Two hands reach out, conversing as if signing or by shadow silhouettes — the left directed horizontally, the right vertically: Completed in April 2012 in north Phoenix by architect Wendell Burnette, AIA, and builder Andy Byrnes, AIA, Construction Zone, the 2,700-square-foot Dialogue House synthesizes two volumes, serving unique lifestyle needs and celebrating different light. The two spaces — the 1,400-square-foot elevated living areas looking out toward the foothills and city lights and, in contrast, a walled pool area looking upward — capture, respectively, warm earth light and the cool blue light of the desert sky. Says Burnette: “A celebration of light, a desert home should highlight connections, extensions and continuations.”

Built for entertaining, this 7,500-square-foot Contemporary, on East Sundance Trail in the Sunrise Village of luxury north Scottsdale golf community, Desert Mountain, adjoins the seventh green of the community’s Renegade Golf Course — one of six courses at DM. Designed by Magee Custom Homes, Scottsdale, the custom one-story features five bedrooms and five and a half baths; an 1,100-square-foot casita; a temperature-controlled three-car garage; high-ceilinged “art collection” hallways; a luxuriously tiled infinity-edge pool and spa; multiple water elements; entry-approach fire feature; and sunset; city lights, golf course and mountain views.

Susan Hersker, ASID, is one of the Scottsdale-area’s finest interior designers. With associate Elaine Ryckman, Allied ASID, she recently completed this dual-master home in a north Scottsdale golf community for the retirement-focused owners. Featuring a large open living area with automated pocketing doors to outdoor areas for mingling and entertaining, the home combines complementary textures: stacked-stone walls, honed-stone floors, polished-stone countertops, metals such as patinaed steel and copper, art glass, exotic woods and opulent fabrics such as silk, mohair and calfskin. These, combined with the warm wood colors and neutral-colored floor, dramatically backdrop the furniture, which blends shades of beige, taupe, eggplant, expresso and ivory.

Five pool challenges and five successful lifestyle additions: Master pool designers and builders, Hydroscapes, owned by Scottsdale’s Roger Soares II and Sheri Soares show how custom pools and spas require design time and materials details that templated ones do not. Premium builders will first visit a home before designing begins. They’ll take soil samples and suggest the best locations for the pool and spa as well as waterfalls, weirs and fountains. They’ll also establish scale for the entire project, including existing or planned structures such as cabanas and casitas. Your stylistic likes and dislikes, the uses your pool will be expected to fulfill — diving, lapping, volleyball, swim-up bar, even for aesthetics and ambience — and the colors, textures and materials you prefer: All are essential components for your new build or renovation.

Three years ago, Janet Brooks, ASID, remodeled this 6,500-square-foot home in the premiere Scottsdale golf community of Troon North. The Contemporary two-level had good structure and flow, says the Scottsdale interior designer, but she changed elements such as glazing, flooring, millwork, color, lighting, artwork and custom furnishings to add warmth, texture and pizzaz. In particular, she notes the meticulous craftsmanship of Linear Fine Woodworking of Phoenix, which incorporated rare woods such as Macassar ebony into the home.

La Casa Builders, Scottsdale, (Ron Steege and Tim Larson, principals) designed and built this diamond-shape-themed home and casita for a DC Ranch family of five requesting contemporary style rooted in nature and tradition. Avoiding overembellishment, self-indulgence and clutter, “Dobrados Diamantes” is inspired by the hand-crafting and natural-materials principles of the 19th/early-20th-century Arts and Crafts movement, whose exemplars include William Morris, Rennie Mackintosh, Gustav Stickley, Louis Tiffany,Frank Lloyd Wright and brothers Charles Sumner and Henry Greene. Elizabeth Rosensteel, Phoenix, completed the interior design.

This young family, with three boys, uses all 13,128 square feet of their Southwest-Mediterranean-style DC Ranch in north Scottsdale. Incorporating the spirit of the parents' Midwest backgrounds, the golf-course-lot home by Scottsdale-based La Casa Builders includes five bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a five-car garage and a detached casita, all of which the couple generously opens for friends and family. “We wanted the amenities of a master-planned community and the fabric of a traditional community,” one owner says. “We wanted a home where the children can ride their bikes down the street and go to school with the same children they play football with.”

Two years ago, Rondi Kilen’s clients asked her to retain the Contemporary flair of their eight-year-old three-level but add warmth and panache, so the Scottsdale interior designer welcomed one of Scottsdale’s outstanding hillside golf course communities, Estancia, inside. Rondi softened the space and added color. So, as the original exterior is desert-toned stacked-stone walls and a copper roof, matching stone replaced the fireplace drywall, and the original off-white walls and ceiling are now desert taupe, and, in the master bath, new sage green walls reiterate a color from the new bathroom stone and bring the desert inside. Great rounds, Rondi!

A Sterling performance at Desert Mountain in north Scottsdale: David and Eileen Hovey’s 11,500-square-foot home in the Sterling Ridge village of the 8,000-acre golf course community embraces the desert and celebrates the sun and transparency. Fusing 21st-century designs and contemporary materials and artworks, their three-level, five-bedroom home affirms Hovey’s position as an innovative desert architect, continually rechallenged by the terrain of the High Sonoran. A Chicago native, Hovey, FAIA, is the architect/developer of two of the finest Valley condominium communities: the Optima Biltmore Towers in Phoenix and the spectacular Optima Camelview Village in downtown Scottsdale. This is the way to build a luxury desert home.

In the village of Sunset Canyon at the Desert Mountain golf community in north Scottsdale, this 5,500-square-foot two-story is cut between challenging natural drainage ways into the base of the landmark 3,219-foot Apache Peak. Completed in early 2011 by RS Homes of Scottsdale, the elegant home, designed by Brissette Architects, also Scottsdale, embraces desert colors and materials in a robust play of rectangles and circles. In particular, the sunlit art studio “is a palette for sun, shadows and artistry, architect Ron Brissette says — offering day- and moonlight and constantly changing mountain views. Geometry meets art in the foothills.

Since its Hamburg debut in 1977, Engel & Völkers has offered storefront boutique services for buyers and sellers of residential and commercial properties and yachts. The company operates globally with 4,200-plus real estate advisors in 513 residential brokerages and 44 commercial offices in 37 countries, serving both private and institutional clients. Most recently, Engel & Völkers opened a brokerage in the Dominican Republic and Los Cabos, Mexico, and in Scottsdale, Arizona, with partner Sandra Wilken, who offers extensive local marketing experience. Make room, London and New York: Scottsdale is moving in.

Scottsdale architect Nick Tsontakis, AIA, reaffirms Frank Lloyd Wright’s dictum to build of the hill, not on it, with this 4,724-square-foot Contemporary hilltop home, inscribed 80 feet above the community into the west slope of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and looking south to city lights. Completed in 2002, the three-bedroom two-level is a rebuild of a 2,000-square-foot home from 1976, just prior to the Preserve ordinance. For views, the nondescript home was shoehorned onto a tight lot, using much of the acre site. But Tsontakis innovated, creating space for the house and the new three-car garage, sensitively excavating the slope to double the footprint, cantilevering the pool and home over the hillside and re-using site granite for structural and site walls.

This bachelor's man cave is his entire Paradise Valley, Ariz., custom home, designed by Scottsdale architect Nick Tsontakis. Outside, he and his buddies enjoy a custom basketball court, a grottoed swimming area with a bar you can backstroke or breaststoke to and a heated spa. Inside are hi-def screens to watch all of the games simultaneously and a pool table as well as another bar. Think some friends might like to stop by and enjoy some shots, inside and out, and poolside?

A Scottsdale team of La Casa Builders, led by principals Ron Steege and Tim Larson, interior designer Janelle K. Schick, ASID, and architect Gustad Irani, AIA, completed this crisply designed and luxuriously finished 7,810-square-foot five-bedroom, plus stand-alone casita, in Paradise Valley. From design through materials, the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright, who made Taliesin West in today's Scottsdale his winter home, is celebrated: inspired massing, multi-angular design, stainless steel accents and light maximization. John Rattenbury, one of Wright’s apprentices, recommended Irani and La Casa for the work because of the high level of craftsmanship required to complete a home incorporating elements of the Wright style.

This dramatically columned, copper-accented home, finished in 2010, is 5,300 square feet livable and 7,900 square feet, including patios. The design/construction team includes Susan Hersker, ASID, and Elaine Ryckman, Allied ASID. The shape and styling of the north Scottsdale one-story organically responds, inside and out, to its site, which is bisected by an arroyo and features views over the golf course to the city beyond. The arroyo theme flows through the interior of the house. The main area floor is concrete, with stone pebbles inset in random stream patterns. In the living room, the custom rug repeats the canyon/stream motif, as does the custom coffee table designed to represent a canyon or arroyo. Even some walls resemble canyon dwellings.

A masterful conjunction of art and architecture, this 9,000-sq.-ft. contemporary home backs to a boulder desert preserve hill in Paradise Valley. Designed by Jon Bernhard, AIA, one of the Swaback Partners, the distinguished Scottsdale architecture firm, the home is on six-plus acres vegetated with native flora to celebrate the lush diversity of the native desert. Inside, Bernhard called for luxe details such as crotch mahogany tables with black granite bases; split-face and Mesa Stone CMU columns; Jara wood flooring with black granite inlay and flamed Oklahoma Pink granite flooring. Take your shoes off, and tip your hats, entering this outstanding home.

“Desert Wing” hovers over luxuriant High Sonoran topography on a one-acre golf course lot at world- famous Desert Mountain in north Scottsdale. Designed by Scottsdale architect Brent Kendle, the 8,300-square-foot-livable Desert Regional Contemporary features five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms on two levels, including a two-bedroom casita. The generously daylighted home provides superlative desert, golf, mountain and city lights views and incorporates materials such as rammed earth, concrete, copper, steel and Douglas fir ceilings as well as green strategies such as thermal mass walls, passive cooling, zoned high-efficiency mechanical systems, full-home automation and xeriscaping. First-class seats (and inflight movies) inside.

Insetting a Paradise Valley hillside once owned by Senator Barry Goldwater, this 8,700-square-foot Southwestern Contemporary includes a six-car garage and three bedrooms on its west side and the public areas and master bedroom suite grouped on the east. The prowlike porte-cochè welcomes guests with color-impregnated split-faced block and a copper standing-seam roof. The rear of the house features Camelback Mountain and city lights views south to the airport and beyond. The design team includes La Casa Builders Inc., Scottsdale, Carefree architect Gerry Jones and Scottsdale interior designer Bess Jones. Give this one Gold.

Built in 2008, this 7,500-square-foot Contemporary home overlooks a golf course fairway in north Scottsdale. The Scottsdale design/build team included interior designer Janet Brooks, architect Bing Hu and builder Platinum Homes. Outside, stacked-stone exterior walls contrast with contemporary details such as the radiused copper roof, balcony and pool and spa, whose sinuous lines also intensify the overall drama and rhythm. Inside, Brooks has celebrated the clients’ art glass and vibrantly mixed colors and textures such granites and limestone, rift-cut oak, Macassar ebony and walnut.

Estancia is one of finest golf communities in Arizona. This 7,500-square-foot two-level is on a hillside acre looking out to landmark 3,148-foot Pinnacle Peak in north Scottsdale. Designed by Craig Wickersham, AIA, the Italian Villa Vernacular-style custom — called ‘Aleshanee West’ by the owners — includes three bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a one-bedroom casita. Aleshanee represents the spirit of the home: A Native American dancer, full of spirit, dance, exuberance, she is represented throughout the home and outside. The Vermont natives and high-school sweethearts started visiting Arizona 10 years ago on vacation from cold Minnesota. “I love my house in the sun,” the wife says. Join us inside and see why the owners are glistening — and Aleshanee is dancing in the desert.