5 Modern Dream Homes in the Great American West

Featured photo: Daniel Joseph Chenin

In the arid landscapes of the American West, sunsets cast a golden hue over vast deserts and sleek modern desert homes illuminating a steep contrast in both lighting and design.

Nestled amidst the still beauty and rugged terrain, these avant-garde abodes redefine opulence by harmonizing defined designs with the untamed spirit of the wild, wild West.

Dive into the allure of desert living with these featured projects.

1. Dialogue House

Wendell Burnette Architects / Phoenix, Arizona

Composed of two volumes of heavy masonry, the Dialogue House is almost sculptural, nestled in the desert hills.

Photo: Studio Atherton

Designed to observe the diurnal and seasonal changes of the desert light, this residence is organized around three sculpted rooms — a bedroom on either end and a living room in the middle. Each space opens in a different cardinal direction, and in turn each experiences light depending on the time of day or season of the year.

3. Stone Court Villa

Architect: Marwan Al-Sayed, Inc. / Paradise Valley, AZ

A ten acre desert site that contains two desert washes.
Massive walls inscribed in the earth. From above, snake like and calligraphic in form blurring boundaries between outside and inside, courtyards and rooms, container and contained. Walls are introduced, repetitively and deliberately, compressed and then elongated as the space or view dictates.