Cloud Catcher | Secrest Architecture

The Cloud Catcher Residence is a unique 5,000 s.f. custom designed home in Marana, Arizona, at the base of the Tortolita Mountains. The house sits softly into its 2 acre site with wonderful mountain and city views. The house is a site specific design sculpted to its own unique location and its own individual spirit of place. The design takes full advantage of the the site’s attributes and solar orientation, responding to lower distant city views toward the south as well as beautiful views upward into the mountains toward the north. The roof line of the house responds to both views and the solar path. Towards the north, the roof rises to allow views into the mountains and sky above, and to capture northern light. The deep cantilevered roof towards the south protects the glass from direct sunlight throughout the summer. Private and public functions are separated by an indigenous stone wall that starts at the guest parking area and extends up and through the house, creating an entry sequence and terminating into the hillside, anchoring the house into its landscape. The house embraces the desert lifestyle, taking advantage of the warm climate, and the opportunity for indoor-outdoor living and connectivity with the desert. Retracting doors along the north can fully open letting the terrace and the interior of the house flow together, breaking the conventional opaque boundary between interior and exterior. Cloud Catcher draws from the traditional ranch house of the southwest. Indigenous stone, adobe masonry walls, Douglas fir wood detailing and rusted patina roof are sculpted into a timeless modern expression.