Pyrope House: Essay

Project complete! Wall of text after the jump.

Pyrope House / 25 April 2012 / By Tiffany Jehle

Pyrope House is a two level residential home comprised of two buildings joined together by a breezeway. It is intended for a single occupant or for a couple. The Sedona area of Arizona is the ideal location for this design. I chose this location because of its beauty, its climate, and its personal relevance. The purpose of the home is to be a part of its environment. The large windows, outdoor dining, patio, deck, and gardens are meant to keep the focus outside of the home, in the beautiful natural landscape of Sedona.

I designed Pyrope House with the intent to be eco-friendly. The bulk of the structure is concrete, which is a green building material. It is mostly comprised of limestone, an abundant material. It can also be made from waste material such as fly ash, which is produced by power plants and other factories. Concrete also soaks up and retains heat, which regulates the home’s temperature without ecologically harmful air conditioning or heating. Another feature, the breezeway, channels wind through the home and brings in fresh air and a cooling breeze. This further decreases the need for artificial cooling. Additionally, most of the surface of the four walls bordering the breezeway and deck opens to maximize air circulation.

            A garden is the first to greet visitors to Pyrope house. A trail through the vegetation leads onto the large patio that runs through the breezeway and curls around to the front of the right tower, where it functions as an outdoor dining room. The entrances of the home are the many glass doors that line the breezeway. I started with a traditional doorway on one side of the house, but that added emphasis on one tower over the other, which I wanted to minimize. In addition, I enjoy the ambiguousness and freedom of having eight doorways to choose from. The left side of the home is the living tower. It is composed of the bedroom and living room. The living room, located on the first floor, is home to two expansive windows, one of which looks out over the garden, a couch, several chairs, a television, and seven bookshelves. It is a place for relaxation. Across the breezeway on the first floor of the right tower is the kitchen and bathroom. These rooms are unelaborate and more utilitarian than the rest of the home. A stairway in the kitchen leads to the second floor. At the top of the right tower is an large studio space, with large windows on each wall to let in bright, natural light. Four doors like the ones on the first floor lead out to the deck, which has room for seating and a view of the surrounding landscape. The bedroom is behind another set of glass doors. This room contains a full bed and closet space. As the most private room in the house, it requires the longest walk to reach. Though smaller than the one below, another large window provides a garden view.  

Many of the house’s features take advantage of Sedona, Arizona’s comfortable climate, where average temperatures at the site range from highs of 96 degrees and lows above freezing. For example, a patio takes the place of the dining room. This has a double advantage to an indoor dining area. It frees up space inside for other features, and increases dining space. In my vision for the home, it is used for entertaining groups of friends, which requires more space than was available inside. Abundant sunlight makes for great growing conditions for a garden. The garden contains edible plants, including sweet potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and lemon trees. These edible plants grow well in this environment, and will supplement food transported to the area, adding to the ecofriendly nature of the home. They also increase the aesthetic appeal of the home and are just tastier than store bought fruits and vegetables. Outside the garden, native, low water consuming plants add life to the landscape. Smooth agave, brush dalea, and canyon penstemon are great candidates, and they complement the color scheme. Utilization of the environment is an important aspect of this design.

The complementary color scheme of the design is reds and greens. These colors are derived from the landscape of Sedona’s mountains and valleys, the reds being the rocks and the greens being the vegetation. The psychological effects of these colors also complement the desired feel of the home. The reds give the home warmth and energy, while the green brings comfort and invokes memories of nature and life. Green also promotes comfort. For the split complementary scheme, I chose green, orange and violet. Orange works well because it is a happy, vibrant color, and adds energy like red. I chose to use a small amount of violet, as a counterpoint to the vibrancy of the other colors, and because it is a personal favorite. Violet also encourages creativity.

I designed Pyrope House for myself. I love reading and collecting books, and the multiple, large bookcases would be a fantastic thing to have. Additionally, I have always wanted an space set aside strictly for drawing and painting, hence the art studio. As should be evident, I enjoy being outdoors as well, and I have always wanted a garden. I chose the location because I fell in love with Sedona on a spring break trip there with friends. The mountains were beautiful, and the surprisingly abundant desert life amazed me. The greatest challenge I face in creating this project is that designing a house was completely new to me, and I had to learn how to complete each step as I went. Using Google SketchUp was especially frustrating, but the end product made the headache worth it. Pyrope House turned out better than I imagined.