A loft in the desert! A three-bedroom house turned into a meditation shrine. The structure consists of 12 arched wood glue-laminated beams. The north facade is covered with Arizona flagstone, in the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright, the southern with glass. The arched ceiling is framing the view of the sacred Sedona red rocks. The curved roof is covered with copper. The backdrop is undeniably stunning: the regal red rock formations and pinion and juniper forests of Sedona. Arizona. Natural beauty aside, however, the region presents an intriguing challenge for an indoor/outdoor house: for six months of the year, it can be hot enough for air-conditioning, while during the other six months heat is often necessary.

Owned and designed by an architect, the house responds to the sometimes hot, sometimes cold weather with a site orientation and floor plan that capture low-angle winter sunlight to warm the interiors and circulate cooling breezes through the rooms during the summer. Influenced by the Italian-born architects? seventeen years in New York City, where he remodeled a number of lofts, the loft-like house contains the main living spaces within a simple rectangle capped with a barrel vault roof. Inside, the soaring ceiling structure, supported by a series of glue-lam beams, gives the house what the architect describes as a ?shrine-like? feel. Indeed, this introspective quality was important to the architect, who moved to Sedona seeking quietude after hectic city life. He even created a special yoga room that opens onto the pool/Jacuzzi patio through sliding glass doors and overlooks the sweeping high-desert vista.

The architect wanted the house to integrate with the landscape, both in style and materiality. The building steps down into the site, forming a second level at the poolside of the property. He chose materials that are visually and texturally compatible with reds and greens of the desert, including copper roofing, which ages into a green patina, and Arizona flagstone, which is similar in color to the surrounding red rock.

The home?s indoor/outdoor connections are expressed in a variety of ways, most notably in large windows and sliding glass doors that join the interiors to the gardens and pool area. The master bedroom extends out onto a walled patio that is a private place to relax and experience the gardens and scenery. One of the home?s most impressive features is an operable louver system that gracefully meets the demands of the seasons: the louvers can be opened to permit sunlight into the house during the winter or closed to help cool the building during the summer. The outdoor spaces are inviting with an outdoors shower clad in brilliant blue tiles, a wedge-shaped negative-edge pool that seems to merge with the horizon and a Jacuzzi spa.