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Best of Houzz 2018 | Design
Best of Houzz 2018 | Design
Are you using Houzz to find an architect? That's a great idea. We love Houzz! Our work has been featured there, and we were so excited to be awarded a "Best of Houzz 2018 Design" badge on our profile page!
A photo of the "Cocktail Courtyard" at our first completed residence at Silverleaf, which has been added to the image books of Houzz users nearly 750 times, was featured in a Houzz article last summer, and that exposure is what garnered all the "saves":
We're especially excited that we received this recognition in 2018, having launched the firm in 2013. While we're certainly not unique amongst luxury custom residential architects in the greater Phoenix area in garnering the badge, we are somewhat unique in that we achieved it in the fourth year of the firm.
In addition, we also hit the "1K Saves" benchmark in October of ...
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On the Fate of the Jokake Inn
On the Fate of the Jokake Inn
On October 4th 2017, the Phoenix City Council voted 7-2 to approve the Planned Use Development (PUD) for the further development of the Phoenician Resort. The approval will allow the previously entitled 321 "residential units" to be constructed, as well as an additional 37 "residential units", not previously entitled. I attended the hearing, and spoke in favor of the City moving to officially protect the Jokake Inn, as part of the agreement with the Owner that the PUD represents. Three other people stood up to speak on behalf of the Jokake Inn - a total of four people, in a city of four and a half million people.
While I don't expect that many people would be able to take the afternoon off from work to sit through a 2 hour City Council meeting, I'm surprised that none of the "official preservation people" in ...
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2017 Governor’s Heritage Preservation Honor Awards!
2017 Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Awards!
Our submittal is in - wish us luck! The Awards Luncheon is Friday, June 16th at the Hilton El Conquistador down in Oro Valley, so it's fingers crossed.
In other news, we've received our actual timeslot for our presentation at the conference - project owner John Pappas and I will be presenting at 9:50AM, in the prestigious "Presidio 2" conference room.
Note #1: Do you think they knew "presidio" means "jail" when they named the room? OK - it can also mean "military post" or "fortified garrison" - but those always had jails in them, so there you go!
Note #2: The photograph featured in the posting was discovered by John way down in the ASU online archives just a few weeks ago. While we wish we would have had it when we started the design, we're actually really pleased with how well our renovation matches this ...
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Spiral Presents At 2017 AZ Historic Preservation Conference!
Spiral Presents At 2017 AZ Historic Preservation Conference!
We're very excited about our upcoming presentation of our 1931 Paradise Valley adobe restoration project at the 15th Annual Arizona Historic Preservation Conference, which will be held in the Town of Oro Valley in Pima County, June 14th-16th, 2017. The presentation (for which we'll team up with owner John Pappas) is entitled "Case Study in Preservation: Robert T. Evans/Louise E. Glaus Residence", and will be a discussion of the house, its origins, history, and our architectural journey assisting John in his mission to bring the house back to its former glory, while adapting it to his own use, while ensuring it will endure for many years to come.
Spiral Architects is also pleased to be a "General Preservation Supporter" of this year's conference!
Note: For the curious, here are a few newspaper articles that ran locally while the house was for sale in 2008, ...
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