Floor To Ceiling Windows Transform This Modern Home in Phoenix

“By elongating the home and designing a split-level home, all spaces were able to connect the landscape with downtown city views to the south and mountain views to the north,” Trahan says.

From the outside, the modern Phoenix home appears to be one story, but a lower level is tucked away from the public eye thanks to the property’s sloping stature. Trahan says renovations revolved around the views. “It was an existing home on the lot that did not capture the beauty of Phoenix’s Camelback Mountain, which sat just to the north, so in the design process, we realized that the house should come down, and we focused the design around the views,” he says.

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To that end, Trahan placed the pool in the front of the home – an aquatic centerpiece for an entry courtyard that includes rock and succulent gardens and a ribbon of windows over a sitting area. “I think the favorite part of the house for us is the entry courtyard sequence because normally people don’t use the front yard as a living space,” Trahan says. “I think by putting the pool in the front yard, we really created a different space from what you would normally find in the front of a house.”

Trahan wanted the modern Phoenix home to open to the front yard pool, so he utilized a 90-degree open-corner configuration of multi-slide doors between the kitchen and living rooms, as well as the outdoor area.

“By locating the swimming pool in the entry courtyard, we wanted to open the house to this design element,” Trahan explains. “A rain garden separates the modern home from the pool, bringing both water and landscaping into the physical space of the house interior.”

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In addition to creating a seamless transition from the interior to the exterior, the moving walls of glass expand space in the home and provide a beneficial connection to nature. “Large expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass always increase the psychological square footage,” Trahan says.

Desert plants and Palo Verde trees around the property augment the mountains in a picturesque Phoenix setting; this inspired Trahan to bring those features indoors. “Western Window Systems creates a connection with nature, which has a physiological effect on the home’s occupants,” Trahan says. “With Western Windows Systems, we completely blurred the boundary between exterior and interior.”