本格的なツーソン体験：野生動物の間でキャニオンに囲まれた泥アドビカシータ

Even now nearly 14 years later I still remember the first time we saw the canyon like it was yesterday. It was completely by accident. One Saturday I happened to be working as a real estate agent showing a friend homes in the area. Wanting Rhonda to get to know his family better, for the 1st time in 12 years I brought her along on an appointment with me.

In an attempt to take a short cut to the next house we tried to go through the canyon. As soon as I saw the for sale sign, we stopped so I could get out. The place was completely captivating unlike any other I'd ever seen in Tucson after living here for 40 years and seeing more than a 1000 homes in my 12 year career.

After seeing so many homes it was surprising that only 5 homes or so were truly memorable. This was something that I continued to wonder about throughout my time as an agent. What made those few homes so charming?

We were fortunate to win the property from a competing buyer. Since then we've come to regard ourselves as custodians of this valuable resource including the plants and wildlife it is home to.

In 2008 during an annual family retreat when we gather together to celebrate the past year and share our visions for the coming year, one of our goals was to build a home that our family could use to carry on our tradition.

For 10 years we had been collecting ideas for our dream home largely from multi million dollar homes throughout Arizona that we wanted to somehow incorporate into our more modest budget.

During project planning once again I returned to the question of the source of indefinable charm that only 5 homes in a thousand possess. A builder friend recommended the work of architect Christopher Alexander who studied some of the most loved buildings throughout time in an effort to capture that special quality that makes these structures so appealing.

Alexander ultimately came to describe this quality as wholeness. Wholeness guided the design of the Firelight Casita with the intent of establishing a strong connection between people, places, and nature. Ageless design elements that span the history of humanity create a sense of belonging of the home to it's surroundings.

According to Alexander there are 151 patterns that form a timeless way of building. So far we've been able to incorporate 112 of them. Hints of the pattern language are included with your welcome email. During your stay see how many you can identify.