A+P project "Montelucia" featured in Benjamin Moore - Nuance

volume 3 number 1

Delivering the Essence of Color & Design

Paradise Found EXOTIC OASIS Color is in the House! vol. 3 no.1

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Photo by James L. Christy

paradise found Photography by James L. Christy and Jeff Zaruba

Guests to the Montelucia Resort and Spa truly “decompress� once they reach their ultimate destination. Discover how these Scottsdale, Ariz., architects use sequence and color to create a mood of solitude and introspection.

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When you’re on location in a place called Paradise Valley with a view of Arizona’s picturesque Camelback Mountain, you don’t need much more motivation to create a magical and transformative atmosphere. That, indeed, was the direction for the Scottsdale firm of Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors when approached to design the Montelucia Resort and Spa.

Photo by James L. Christy

The resort’s arching entryways, splashing fountains and floral walkways are reminiscent of the white-washed villages and sun-drenched hills of Spain’s Andalusia region. The developer “fell in love” with this region, “so we embraced that notion and talked about it from a desert response,” says Mark Philp, founding partner and the director of design at Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors. “That’s even how this whole color palette evolved,” says Philp. “Spanish villages were not all white or all beige; they were very color thematic.”

Consequently, the paint palette is “heavily saturated” and “intentionally eclectic,” says Liz Damore, director of interior design at the firm. The team looked to Benjamin Moore & Co. for many of the color selections – especially at the resort’s Joya Spa – which range from intense reds and golds to a deep sapphire blue. They also relied on Benjamin Moore’s Aura® paint to deliver maximum coverage for these saturated selections.

A strategic color sequence transports spa guests from the spacious lobby with its dramatic spiral staircase to the actual spa. In the individual rooms, screens and draperies are used to diffuse some of the natural light “so that the view does not become the important thing but just the contribution of the light,” says Liz Damore.

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Photo by Jeff Zaruba

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Photo by James L. Christy

Photo by James L. Christy

Philp adds that the firm takes a “holistic approach” to color.

“When we get on a site, especially a new build, those sites really talk to us about what the colors should be. The earth, the landscape, the plant material … all of those things inform the color palette,” he says. “Then we ask ourselves, ‘Do we want to work with it or contrast it?’ and that starts to talk to us pretty quickly.” And, he admits, “the Benjamin Moore® fan decks go out with us early in the process!”

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At the Montelucia Resort, a custommixed Benjamin Moore color and indirect lighting combine to create a magical retreat in the Camelback Suite’s master bath.

Photo by James L. Christy

A Calming Color Sequence At Joya Spa, guests must follow an extended pathway to the front door, continue up and around a spiral staircase, and then pass through a long corridor before they reach the actual spa.

“The interesting thing is that the color and the architecture really work together along this pathway,” says Damore. “As you get closer and closer to the spa, the colors become more saturated and darker.”

She explains that guests are coming from a bright space outside, then into an entry purposefully void of much color and then, “as the sequence continues,” she says, “the color really picks up.” Following is a dome saturated in peach hues with a lot of iridescent elements and then a corridor painted in a deep red. “We found that as clients get closer to the spa, it gets quieter. They stop talking. They’re thinking. It’s mysterious,” Damore adds.

In fact, that is the intention. Adds Philp: “We talk a lot about sequence in our design.” While this is a key philosophy in all his design plans, it transfers particularly well at Joya Spa. “By the time you reach your destination,” he says, “internally it has quieted you. It has decompressed you. It has prepared you for what you’re about to experience.”

Photo by Jeff Zaruba

Visit Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors at www.allenphilp.com.

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Photo by Jeff Zaruba

Benjamin Moore Colors at Montelucia and Joya Spa Down Pour Blue 2063-20 Old Gold 167 Gentle Cream OC-96 Tucson Red 1300 Sussex Green HC-109 Antique White OC-83 Cork 2153-40 Frappe AF-85 Safari AF-335 Amulet AF-365

Visit Montelucia Resort and Spa at www.montelucia.com.

A HUE® Award Winner Allen + Philp Architects/Interiors received Benjamin Moore’s 2010 HUE® Award for Contract Exteriors. The Scottsdale, Ariz., practice focuses primarily on hospitality and urban mixed-use developments where color and its use are an integral part of the language, process and personality of every project.

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