Innovative Design Quarterly 317

UNIQUE APPLICATIONS IN ARCHITECTURE & LIGHT

ISSUE 317 • 2017

ForrestPerkins inserts a new hotel into an iconic mid-century office tower in Dallas

6 Westin Dallas Downtown 16 Minnesota State Capitol 28 Desert Highlands Rapid Reuse

Capitol Redux

Desert Desiderata

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6 Westin Dallas Downtown Photography by Mark Silverman

15 Design Workshop 16 Minnesota State Capitol

Photography by Cathy Kilma Courtesy of MN Dept of Administration

26 Product Showcase

28 Desert Highlands

Photography by Š2012 Dino Tonn Photography, Inc.

Innovative Design Quarterly Magazine, Issue Volume 317, is published quarterly by Gow Industries, Inc., PO Box 160, Elkton, SD 57026.

Editor: Camille LeFevre Postmaster: Send address changes to Innovative Design Quarterly Magazine, PO Box 160, Elkton, SD 57026 Subscription Inquiries: There is no charge for subscriptions to qualified requesters in the United States. All other annual domestic subscriptions will be charged $29 for standard delivery or $65 for air delivery. All subscriptions outside the U.S. are $65. For subscriptions, inquiries or address changes contact info@innovativedesignquarterly.com.

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Copyright Š 2017 Innovative Design Quarterly Magazine. All rights reserved. Nothing in publication may be copied or reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. All material is compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but published without responsibility for errors or omissions. Innovative Design Quarterly and Gow Industries Inc, assume no responsibilities for unsolicited manuscripts or photos. Printed in the USA.

TA B L E O F

CONTENTS Westin Dallas Downtown

Minnesota State Capitol

Desert Highlands

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Rapid Reuse ForrestPerkins inserts a new hotel into an iconic mid-century office tower in Dallas, ensuring the building’s relevance for years to come

Among the many buildings Gordon Bunshaft designed as a partner with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill—including Lever House in New York (1952), the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University (1963), the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas (1971) and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (1974)—the master architect’s One Main Place in downtown Dallas is no less iconic or historic.

Completed in 1968 and designed as an office tower, the 1.1-million-square-foot building rises 445 feet into the city’s skyline and connects underground with the Dallas pedestrian tunnel system. A keystone in the city’s plans for urban renewal, One Main Place occupies only a third of its 2.4-acre site: Two additional buildings were proposed (but not built) on the “superblock” (a popular mid-20th century planning concept inspired by modernist ideas in architecture and urban planning).

To the east and west of the building, recessed plazas were designed for tenant use. The tower’s first owner-occupant was Equitable Life Insurance Company.

A decade into the 21st-century, One Main Place began losing tenants. By the time the New Orleans-based KFK Group decided to purchase the tower, it was virtually empty. So Elie Khoury, KFK’s founder and CEO, asked his architect whether One Main (as it was renamed) could be adaptively renovated to include a hotel. The answer was a resounding yes.

Westin Dallas Downtown ForrestPerkins (a design studio of Perkins Eastman) Lawrence Adams, Architect & Principal Photography by Mark Silverman

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New spaces inserted into the historic building include the hotel lobby (top), the lobby bar and restaurant (middle), and the guest rooms.

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“We discovered the hotel market in downtown Dallas was strong and undersupplied,” explains Lawrence Adams, architect and principal in charge, ForrestPerkins, Dallas (ForrestPerkins is a distinct design studio of Perkins Eastman). Moreover, Westin Hotels & Resorts was interested—and the company is no stranger to the often-challenging processes of inserting its signature rooms, restaurants and amenities into existing landmark structures.

(Case in point: The Westin Minneapolis, which occupies the historic Farmers & Mechanics Bank in that city). Finally, with One Main recently added to the National Register of Historic Places, historic tax credits were available to offset the costs of design and construction.

Adams and Khoury divided the building into sections, to maximize its mixed-use potential.

NOLA Brasserie (designed by Colletta Conner, associate principal of ForrestPerkins) and various retail stores occupy the ground level. So does a lobby for the offices, which are located in the center portion of the building. The restaurant and the offices have their own designated entrances. For the hotel, Adams designed a glass-and-steel porte cochère that stands in front of, but is detached from, the historic concrete building.

Inside One Main, Bunshaft’s molded-stainless-steel escalator carries guests, visitors and tenants to the second floor, formerly the home of Texas Bank and Loan. Here, where the ceilings are 24 feet high to accommodate Bunshaft’s dramatic window openings, Adams and his team put the public spaces: the hotel lobby, a bar and lounge, a restaurant and a ballroom.

The hotel occupies the 10 upper floors of the 32-story structure and includes 326 guest rooms (including 98 suites that are 725 square feet each), a 3,000-square-foot Presidential Suite, a top-floor swimming pool, meeting space and ballrooms. The design team began the building’s upper-level transformation into a hotel by studying the building itself, in particular Bunshaft’s architectural style.

“The style of Bunshaft’s architecture for clients on the East Coast was quite Miesian—lots of steel and glass,” Adams explains. “So when he came to Texas, he shifted his design style more toward brutalism, with its inset windows and exposed concrete armature. One Main, in other words, is an example of that departure in Bunshaft’s design work. There’s also a slight flare at the base of the building that’s almost undetectable, but very elegant. These details helped us establish the historic aspects of the building and influenced the design of our project.”

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In the Pecan Ballroom, the neutral colors ‘let the sky speak as art’.”

– Courtney Callahan, Interior Designer

In the top floor is the Pecan Ballroom, where dramatic curtains cascade alongside tall windows, and garlands of sparkling transparent beads drape in gentle curves beneath the ceiling coffers.

The first challenge on floors 23 to 31 was converting the office tower’s 29,000-square-foot floor plates and exterior column grid, which was 10 feet on center, to a spacing that would accommodate Westin’s guest rooms. “So we took three bays at 30 feet and divided them into two, and with a series of offset walls were able to make 15-foot-center rooms that are very close to the Westin standard,” Adams says.

The design team also embraced the deep and narrow floor plates to create 98 Junior Suites that are 50 feet long. “The dimensions allowed us to have a sleeping area and substantial living room next to the window, as well as a big bathroom with separate shower, tub and dressing room,” he adds. “After a guest has stayed in one of these suites, they request them again. They’re very popular.”

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On the 32nd floor, the design team and structural engineers installed an indoor swimming pool with spectacular views of downtown Dallas. In addition to reinforcing the structure three floors below, a series of trusses tied to existing columns supports the pool. Also on the top floor is the Pecan Ballroom, where dramatic curtains cascade alongside tall windows, and garlands of sparkling transparent beads drape in gentle curves beneath the ceiling coffers.

The carpet pattern was inspired by spalted pecan (wood from trees in central Texas that are nonproducing, have fallen during storms or were cut during construction) in variegated shades of cocoa and cream. The neutral colors, says Courtney Callahan, interior designer and project manager, ForrestPerkins, “let the sky speak as art.�

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LED lights were used throughout the project, “wherever possible and appropriate,” Adams says. “In addition, our interior design group really focused on lighting for ambience and to highlight the building’s signature features.” On the first and second floors, in the public spaces, the building’s natural aggregate columns were exposed, cleaned and downlit “to bring up their texture and sparkle,” Adams says.

In the Bluebonnet Ballroom, a ribbon-like chandelier constructed from thousands of acrylic rods affixed to a spiral armature undulates across the ceiling. “The chandelier reflects the twists and turns of the Texas wind blowing,” says Callahan, and when fully stretched out measures 350 feet in length. The bright colors in the carpet and throughout the second floor were inspired by Texas wildflowers, including bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush.

The library’s midcentury furnishings and slatted walnut additions add a sculptural quality to the room that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of “Mad Men,” while the bar’s cantilevered ceiling adds a sense of intimacy to the high-ceilinged lobby (inset).

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“For the owner to qualify for historic tax credits through the National Park Service, we weren’t allowed to attach anything structural to the building,” Adams says. So in addition to the hotel’s stand-alone entrance outside the building, the team designed cantilevered screens and beams to demarcate spaces in the large, open lounge, library and bar areas.

The bar’s cantilevered ceiling, for example, “helps mitigate the vastness of the space, gives the bar a sense of intimacy and brings the scale down to a human level,” Adams says.

Similarly, in the library, the walnut trellis structure and bookcases “do the same thing, and you can see through to the building’s original ceiling,” Adams says. Designed to resemble sleek and simple mid-century furnishings, the slatted walnut additions add a sculptural quality to the room that wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of “Mad Men.”

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Throughout the hotel, Adams and his team designed screens that bring natural patterns into the spaces while providing a translucent sense of enclosure.

In the lobby lounge, canopies, partitions and bookcases constructed out of dark, rich walnut enclose nooks for conversing, reading or working.

Throughout these spaces, the team designed decorative screens with a filigree of “biophilic” imagery. “In the style of the interiors, Westin encourages a biophilic approach, in order to bring natural patterns into the design of the space,” Adams explains. In the lobby lounge and the bar, the screens resemble spider webs or the veining in plants as seen through a microscope. Behind the front desk are photographic enlargements of leaf structures. Outside, in one of the sunken plazas, the team designed a 5,000-square-foot glass pavilion surrounded by lush plantings to serve as an event center.

To ensure the project captured historic tax credits, the team worked at a rapid pace. “The hotel had to be ‘in commerce,’ meaning open and selling rooms by the end of 2015,” Adams says. “We managed to get it done in 16 months!” To all concerned, the project is a tremendous success. “The synergy between the historic mid-century office tower and the new, 21st-century modern hotel is working beautifully,” he says. Moreover, an iconic mid-century office building has been repositioned into a vibrant mixed-used property—making Bunshaft’s architecture relevant and useful for decades to come. n – CLF

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DESIGN

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Capitol Redux HGA Architects and Engineers led the Minnesota State Capitol Restoration, returning the building to Cass Gilbert’s 1905 vision while updating it with 21st-century systems

A failing roof, a leaking dome, and major damage to decorative paint and more than 50 hand-painted murals throughout the interior. Major cracks in the plaster ceilings and walls.

Skylights covered with ductwork. Antiquated mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems added onto over the years. A crumbling marble exterior with water-damaged plazas and buckling stairways.

By 2013, after a decade of proposals to repair and protect the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul—constructed in 1905 and designed by architect Cass Gilbert in a Neo-Italian Renaissance style—the Minnesota State Capitol Restoration Project was underway. The $309-million restoration, renovation and repair initiative, led by HGA Architects and Engineers, Minneapolis, began just in time, as the Capitol had reached a critical deterioration point.

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Minnesota State Capitol Restoration

HGA Architects and Engineers Debra Young, Project Manager, Kimberly J. Sandbulte, Project Architect, HGA Photography by Cathy Kilma Courtesy of MN Dept of Administration

In various places on the Capitol’s marble exterior, “we could quite literally pull off damaged stone with our hands,” says Debra Young, project manager, HGA, citing just one of several life safety issues. Another was moving air intake openings to improve indoor air quality. Another was repairing granite walkways around the exterior of the building that had heaved through decades of freeze-and-thaw cycles.

Throughout the years, infrastructure systems installed in 1905 had been added to, retrofitted or renovated in a piecemeal fashion, resulting in a “glut of unused equipment in the walls, overhead and in the basement,” adds Kimberly J. Sandbulte, senior associate and project architect, HGA. Only one-third of the building was protected by a sprinkler system; lighting was inadequate. In areas throughout the Capitol, particularly in the dome, whole murals peeled away from the walls before restoration could begin.

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To address the extensive amount of work required to restore the Capitol, the HGA design team, along with 17 specialty consultants, the State of Minnesota’s Department of Administration (the project owner), MOCA Systems (the program manager), JE Dunn Construction and its trade partners, and the Minnesota State Capitol Preservation Commission decided on three governing goals for the project.

First was improving functionality, to ensure the Capitol effectively serves government functions for the next 100 years. The second was securing an open and public building by upgrading life-safety initiatives, improving accessibility, and providing secure mechanical systems and infrastructure. The third was to preserve and restore the architectural integrity of the historic landmark, as well as essential design elements related to interior details and exterior stone.

The kicker? In large part, the extensive work that was required to complete the restoration is invisible. “The highest compliment anyone could pay the design and construction team is, ‘What did you really do’?” Young says. “The complexity of effort that went into what you don’t see was astounding—effort that made the building safer, more secure and more accessible, while preserving the building’s historic characteristics and ensuring it looks just as it did in 1905. That’s the real story.”

Around the Capitol’s exterior, scaffolding was erected for the design team, subcontractors and craftspeople to work safely and comfortably. HGA used sounding hammers to determine the integrity of each stone. Where necessary, the white Georgia marble was replaced; or a portion of a stone was removed, then replaced with a new piece carefully fabricated offsite and handcarved onsite to fit.

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The highest compliment anyone could pay the design and construction team is, ‘What did you really do’? The complexity of effort that went into what you don’t see was astounding.”

– Debra Young, Project Manager, HGA

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Where necessary, the Capitol’s white Georgia marble was replaced; or a portion of the stone was removed, then replaced with a new hand-carved piece.

Areas in which the marble had deteriorated or “sugared” were redressed, and all of the stone was repointed and cleaned. During these processes, HGA created a database documenting the location and status of each stone, so the State of Minnesota can better maintain the marble exterior in the long term. An estimated 26,000 exterior marble repairs were completed.

Also on the exterior, the Capitol received a new roof. Aluminum window sashes were replaced with energy-efficient windows and historically accurate wood sashes. The hardware on historic French doors was repaired and restored, and the glass replaced with doubleglazing. Because water had damaged the four granite plazas and stairways surrounding the building, the stone was removed, waterproofing installed and the granite replaced.

Inside the Capitol, a major challenge was finding ways to insert new mechanical components into ceilings and walls decorated with historically significant murals and decorative paintwork: The design team—in collaboration with multiple contractors and subcontractors—decided to remove all of the existing mechanicals and start from scratch with new energy-efficient, cost-effective and low-maintenance systems.

“How do you put a sprinkler system in walls and ceilings with decorative paint? How do you get piping up there and activate it? Or put ADA push buttons in stone walls?” Young posits. “Getting power and systems into the building—the stone masonry arches, the clay tile walls—without disturbing its historic character, required a deep level of multidisciplinary coordination.”

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The design team began by identifying three historic zones to determine where infrastructure could be safely inserted with minimal disturbance. Zone One was public areas and corridors with historic stone, artwork and ornate decorative painting—the highest level of preservation, to remain undisturbed. Zone Two designated areas with historic character, where some preservation action was needed. Zone Three included areas previously remodeled, such as the office corridors, with little evidence of historic or characterdefining features.

Zone Three, then, “provided us with opportunities for inserting large HVAC mechanical shafts and ductwork,� says Sandbulte.

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The design team identified three historic zones to determine areas in which restoration work was needed.

Zone One, the highest level of preservation, was public areas, meeting rooms and corridors with historic stone, artwork and decorative painting.

“We actually used Gilbert’s original schematics for mechanicals to inform our decisions.”

Air-handling units were placed in the north side of the basement (which had originally been designed as a crawl space, and converted over time into storage and offices). This placement allowed former mechanical openings to be converted into windows, which now provide daylight into a new office zone on the basement’s south side. Foundations were deepened so ductwork mains could pass under the floor. The new floor was paved with tile, and the central space redesigned for public meetings and display areas.

Using BIM modeling and laser scanning, the team carefully coordinated and inserted ductwork, wiring and plumbing in walls and ceilings—primarily in the walls and above the curved ceilings of the office corridors. Approximately 750,000 pounds of new ductwork were installed in the Capitol.

The sprinkler system now provides 100 percent coverage (as opposed to 25 percent).

Energy-efficient, long-lasting LEDs are used in 99 percent of the light fixtures. Also in the office areas, carpet was removed, revealing original mosaic tile floors. Of the Capitol’s 30 skylights, 10 had been covered and were restored. “A big part of the skylight restoration was coordinating our mechanical systems in the ceilings so they wouldn’t need to run across the glass and above a false ceiling anymore,” Sandbulte says.

Working with code officials, the design team treated the building as an atrium, “as it all opens up to the rotunda,” Sandbulte explains. That decision allowed the team to innovate life-safety technologies, including a smoke-evacuation system that uses new grill panels in the second and third floor ceilings to draw smoke out through the roof. The design team also extended and connected five non-contiguous stairways and added one new staircase.

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The restoration of the Capitol was a five-year process that included initiatives ranging from LED lighting to mural preservation.

Inside the dome, a 250,000-pound scaffolding system was erected for workers restoring the damaged stone, plaster, windows, decorative paint and historic murals. The work was painstaking, but necessary. Two conservators worked for eight weeks on one mural, “Contemplative Spirit of the East.� The design team collaborated with the Minnesota Historical Society, which owns the artwork, murals and 800-some Gilbertdesigned furniture pieces in the Capitol, on these restoration efforts.

Because the Capitol was the first building in the state to have electrical lighting, the design team saved as many historic fixtures as possible, which were rewired and refurbished to accommodate LED bulbs. In areas where the historic fixtures were gone, replicas were fabricated using Gilbert’s sketches or the original fixtures. The design team also created four automated lighting-control programs for use in the Capitol: A daytime mode;a historically accurate scheme for State Capitol tours; a nighttime mode that uses minimal energy; and special light levels to be turned on during the six hours of cleaning the Capitol receives every day.

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The extensive restoration process included cleaning of lighting and murals in the famous rotunda, and restoring meeting rooms to their original splendor.

“During the course of the five years we’ve worked on the Capitol,” Young says, “every day brought a new experience. It’s the kind of project that, until you open a wall or uncover an area in the roof, you don’t know exactly where it will take you. But our team arrived every day knowing that and sat down to figure out the best way forward with flexibility, ingenuity, innovation, creativity and collaboration. We all take tremendous pride in the honor of having worked on this historic building.” n – CLF

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CONCEALITE

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Enter Concealite’s FA Conceal-Alarm series of products. They designed a fixture that hides devices behind a flush door that is easily installed in walls or ceilings. Appliances stay concealed until activated. Additionally, the doors are easily customizable to match interiors. Concealite will provide the products in decorative finishes such as paint, metal, paper, or wood laminate to help blend the door into new or existing finishes.

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Desert Highlands

Swaback Partners, Phoenix, Arizona Mike Wetzel, Architect & Project Manager, Swaback Partners Photography by Š2012 Dino Tonn Photography, Inc.

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Desert Desiderata

Swaback Partners renovates an iconic golf clubhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona, to marry indoor and outdoor spaces to the natural landscape and down-valley views

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In the 1980s, Desert Highlands made history as the first private residential community built around a golf course and country club. The development, located in Scottsdale, Arizona, reportedly became the prototype for similar projects across the country, which are now commonplace. Moreover, Desert Highlands and its adobe-style clubhouse were designed to nestle up against Pinnacle Peak, in between several spectacular granite outcroppings in the Sonoran Desert.

Fittingly, the development team’s mantra was: “Above all, protect the site.” More than 1,000 saguaro cactus and other varieties of cacti, some 600 palo verde trees, and other plants were gently uprooted, boxed and saved on-site for future transplantation.

To fulfill the parameters of Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act, a water-reclamation system was incorporated into the site to provide water for amenities, the residences and the golf course.

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Our goal was to figure out how play off of and enhance the rich history the clubhouse already has, while creating new and invigorating features that would elevate the club’s stature.”

– Mike Wetzel, Architect & Project Manager, Swaback Partners

The rustic yet elegant 32,400-square-foot clubhouse was considered the third best in the world, following closely on the heels of clubhouses at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland and Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey. Still, by the early 2000s, the clubhouse was ready for an update. While the structure was in good shape overall, the building was desperately in need of storage space and amenities that would attract a new generation of members and guests.

“Our goal was to figure out how play off of and enhance the rich history the clubhouse already has, while creating new and invigorating features that would elevate the club’s stature,” says Mike Wetzel, architect and project manager, Swaback Partners, Phoenix, Arizona. “We also needed to utilize valuable existing space to its fullest potential, and open up the dining experience to marry indoor and outdoor spaces while capitalizing on downvalley views to Phoenix.”

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Without disturbing the adobe-style architecture and its residential feel, the design team created new outdoor gathering spaces and pathways. The foyer inside the club’s large bronze entrance doors now has a kiva-style fireplace and comfy homelike furnishings. Outside, a new walkway winds along the exterior of the building—beneath a canopy of new trees and artfully arranged pots of native plants—to an enlarged restaurant and al fresco bar with indoor and outdoor seating.

Inside the clubhouse, the design team combined multiple rooms into one large dining area. The bar in the open dining area has large bi-fold windows that open onto one of the site’s stunning rock formations—what’s known as Clubhouse Rock—and views of Phoenix. Handhewn Douglas fir logs below a latilla ceiling of peeled wood poles were inserted; the design feature appears in several locations throughout the renovated clubhouse.

Separating the bar from the rest of the dining area is a low, curved wall with niches for art objects—which are deftly lit with recessed can lights—and with banco seating into which are nestled tables for two. “We played up the curved walls to draw members into these spaces with mystery, surprise and elegance,” Wetzel says.

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To maximize the clubhouse’s existing terraces, while opening up the dining area to the outdoors and views of the rock formations, the design team introduced firepits, outdoor seating and a new bar area, as well as large bi-fold windows between the indoor and outdoor dining spaces.

Existing wrought-iron chandeliers were kept over the tables and new dimmable lighting systems were installed. “The recessed can lights are intended to highlight art on the walls and in the niches,” Wetzel says. The design team oriented the enlarged dining space to bring in plentiful natural light while avoiding direct sunlight, provided diners with 180-degree views, and opened up the space to the outdoors and a layered series of terraces that step down on the site.

“There was a lot of exploration early on to determine how to maximize the existing terraces, in order to create open flow between the indoor and outdoor spaces, and capitalize on the views,” Wetzel says. The design team’s strategies included introducing a new fire pit and seating outside the main dining area’s large bi-folding glass doors, and turning a guardrail on the terrace below into a long linear fire pit.

Further down, the design team added a full-service outdoor bar crafted from hand-hewn log columns and with a ceiling of logs and latilla. The lower bar is surrounded by banco and soft seating, so members can enjoy a coffee, snack or evening drink while gathered around one of the fire pits.

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In all, 11 new gas-fire features were added to the layered patios. In the pool area, the design team introduced new planters and retractable umbrellas for shade. A new two-story, 2,000-square-foot storage building was tucked away on the site, while storage inside the clubhouse was transformed into a stunning, 1,890-bottle wine-tasting room with a large handcarved mesquite door decorated with seeded art glass.

Also inside the clubhouse, the designers opened up the golf shop to improve circulation, enhance views and increase merchandise sales. Adjacent offices were relocated to expand the display area in the golf shop. One of the former private dining spaces was turned into the library. In turn, the former library became the primary bar area, with a carved mesquite bar and indoor and outdoor seating.

“Another goal of our remodeling work was to create a cohesive design that maintains the clubhouse’s original architectural style, while carefully reconfiguring existing spaces and adjusting the terraces to meet the client’s program and budget,” Wetzel says. “This clubhouse has a uniquely residential atmosphere that we enhanced with color, material and texture. We’re happy to say the clubhouse still appears to be born of the mountains surrounding it and features a naturally elegant style that evokes comfort and ease.” n – CLF

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New layered terraces provide expansive down-valley views to Phoenix and plentiful shelter from the sun with table canopies and latilla ceiling over the new outdoor bar.

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