With Respect for Nature

With Respect For Nature Home designing with the land in mind Photography by Peter Bloomer

Some of the most exciting houses in Arizona are in Carefree, just north of Phoenix. But they can seldom be seen from the highway because, generally, they wear the color of the land and appear as part of a harmonious landscape composition. They are unique, too, because they reflect the personality of the life contained within their walls, personalities who want homes built without destroying in the doing one major plant, one boulder, or the contour of the land.

They also possess the taste and the means to demand that quality things be both functional and beautiful-something extraordinary, like their rare and individual settings.

The inhabitants of these homes are not representative of the broadest base of American homeowners. Instead, "... do not seek to dominate nature with what you build but rather cooperate with it to achieve a harmony similar to that of natural creations."

They are a group with a strong love for the land, particularly the remote, rocky, steep, almost unreachable places, ranging in elevation and character from desert foothill to hidden hillside to upper canyon. There, motivated by a desire for privacy and a love of serenity in a kind of "peaceful kingdom," they live in an organic interrelationship with people, rocks, plants, and Nature's creatures. There is nothing really new, deep, or superacademic about appreciating the beauty and benefits of organic integrity. In Arizona the concept began with Frank Lloyd Wright, who, from his studio at Taliesin West, in the desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains, transformed his dreams and theories into worldwide monuments of logic and reality.

One of the designers carrying on the Wright concept in Arizona today is designerbuilder Gerry Jones, whose name and fame have become synonymous with “something extraordinary” in home building. Jones, who builds only three to four homes a year, has been designing and building dwellings in special places - rocks, mountains, and desert foothills - for 30 years.

In the building of more than 200 houses in Arizona, he has satisfied some strange but important clients' personality needs -without destroying the beauty and natural composition of the environment or the ecological balance peculiar to the terrain.

One of his projects includes tunnels between rooms for a cat who never leaves the house. The tunnels lead to a special “kitty litter facility.” Another client included a huge boulder as part of his interior living plan complete with a clump of wild desert flora which has survived in one of its crevices. Naturally, it is watered only when it actually rains, just as it was in its original outside space.

For another client, Jones designed and oriented the roof pattern so that one edge was no more than 18 inches from the adjoining mountainside, with the opposite edge over a mass of rocks and boulders. Why? It seems the client was familiar with the area and knew that a pack of coyotes used a certain path in their nightly prowls. The crown of the roof line was approximately where the coyote trail had been established.

You'd better believe it - the coyotes now jump from the mountain to the rooftop, traverse the crown line, and leap down from roof to rock to boulder and disappear into the night.

Jones has such an acute sensitivity to the natural view line that wherever possible he shapes window frame base sills to follow the outlines of the vistas they frame. It's a small detail, maybe, but perfectly in keeping with his 10 point plan for building homes into Nature's background.

Out. In the master bedroom the outcropping comes through the wall from the library and continues into the bath. (Above, right) This home, shown also on page 33, has a decomposed granite face which was sifted from material on the site to assure an exact color match.

This Clearwater Hills residence has a strong geometric form with three major levels. The pool and patio are on a sheer-sided promontory overlooking the entire valley. From their living room, right, the owners have an unobstructed view of Phoenix at night.

China is where Jones' philosophy has its roots. He spent over six years tramping the area with the Marines during WWII and the Korean conflict. There he learned to understand and appreciate the attitude relating to nature and architecture. Summed up: “...do not seek to dominate nature with what you build but rather cooperate with it to achieve a harmony similar to that of natural creations.” Our possession of precious desert land is a temporary one at best, Jones tells prospective clients. “In return for this right we have the responsibility for passing the land on to others in no less a state of beauty than we found it. The land and many of the structures we place upon it will remain long after we are gone.” Author's note: Gerry Jones' method of orienting houses is explained in an illustrated pamphlet “Must We Destroy.” For a copy, write: Gerry Jones Design and Construction, Inc., P.O. Box 1255, Carefree, AZ 85377. And for an overview of the benefits and advantages of the good life in Arizona, read the March, 1981, issue of AHM, which includes a special feature on “Housing and Environment,” by Jana Bommersbach. It tells substantially more about the contributing impact of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Foundation on such contemporary architects and designers as Paolo Soleri, Bennie Gonzales, and Gerry Jones, all of whom work their miracles - not as ends in themselves-but as mediums of expression.