5339 E SAN MIGUEL Avenue

Cliffback, which received the 2020 AIA top honor award for the Western Mountain Region, is nestled into the red rocks of Camelback Mountain, with expansive panes of glass reflecting the landscape and the patina of its steel skin melding into the cliffs that define this Sonoran desert site. The parti is simple: a cleft in the landscape left behind by an existing scar fits the structure and reveals the pool and upper outdoor living. The house is a shed form rising up to the steep slope of the mountain to the south and capturing the horizon of the northern valley views beyond. The mountain is held back by varying thicknesses of vertical stone clad masonry retaining walls while the building is articulated entirely in hot rolled steel. The exterior of the building is a rhythm of exposed structural columns and custom corrugated cladding mirroring the furrows of the cacti lining the entryway. The steel-clad base of the home blends with the landscape by day and disappears in the evening leaving the glass upper level as a glowing piece of the mountain. The exterior walls fold into the building, leading you up an oak and steel stair to the living spaces above. The interior is a study of materials and their connections. Steel detailing defines the planes of oak, terrazzo, plaster, and stone finishes. Much like the structure and its relationship to its site, it is the crafting of the intersection and connection of these materials that define this architecture. Each space takes advantage of its mountain views. Custom outboard steel and glass sliding walls open to bring the rock outcroppings into the experience. The house becomes one with its landscape leaving only the question of time. It is as if it was always there, connected and part of its mountain site.