Archinect - News

Arizona's state water supply loophole is causing a gold rush for multifamily construction

2023-11-14T12:31:00-05:00

Local leaders near Phoenix are placing limits on where new homes can be built, with the goal of protecting long-term access to water. But there's a significant loophole. [...] Policymakers may try again, and the governor has set up a task force on the issue. Ferris says the strength of Arizona's water law is that it links building decisions with water decisions. No other Western state requires cities to look a hundred years into the future.

Permitting of new subdivision construction has been curtailed in the Phoenix area over water scarcity, though a loophole over multifamily construction has led to a recent boom there as developers are still free to open state taps when needed in search of a requisite 100-year groundwater supply.

Small cities like Casa Grande and Buckeye are making the news as prolific cases, with around 3,000 and 6,500 new units permitted in each in the last two years alone. The official statewide need stands at 200,000 overall. Lawmakers are now trying to put a halt to the build-to-rent exemption in the face of a population influx and despite developer’s lobbying.

Arizona to limit construction in the Phoenix area as groundwater supply shrinks

2023-06-03T09:17:00-04:00

Arizona has determined that there is not enough groundwater for all of the housing construction that has already been approved in the Phoenix area, and will stop developers from building some new subdivisions, a sign of looming trouble in the West and other places where overuse, drought and climate change are straining water supplies.

This decision, announced last Thursday, means that Arizona will no longer provide developers in some areas of the Phoenix region new permits to construct homes that rely on groundwater. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, sources half of its water supply from groundwater. The announcement will not impact developments that have already been approved. However, the state will be looking towards new water conservation measures and alternative sources to provide the water needed for these projects. The decision will likely have a significant effect on Arizona’s real estate market, especially in Phoenix, which has become the fastest growing metropolitan region in the country, due to the impact on housing affordability.

Now, developers looking to build will have to prove that they can ensure water supply for 100 years using water from a source that is not local groundwater. This move is another example of how the impacts of climate change continue to grow in prominence. In addition t...

Five campus projects by sustainability champions Studio Ma: Your Next Employer?

2023-03-27T14:01:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Relativity Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Phoenix, Arizona this week where we meet Studio Ma.

Founded by Christiana Moss, Christopher Alt, and Dan Hoffman in 2003, the studio has developed a portfolio driven by principles of bioclimatic regenerative design, social equity, and public engagement. The firm’s attention to bioclimatic design has previously been seen in our editorial through their sustainable townhouse complex in Arizona and their receipt of a 2021 AIA Small Project Award for their Xero Studio.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions across their Phoenix office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five educational campus projects by Studio Ma that demonstrate their design ethos.

Princeton University Lakeside Graduate Housing

Opened in 2015, the Lakeside Grad...

New featured job opportunities for architects & designers in Phoenix

2023-02-16T09:00:00-05:00

This week's curated employment highlight from Archinect Jobs features a number of attractive architectural openings for job seekers in Arizona's state capital. Firms in Phoenix and Scottsdale are currently looking for Project Architects, BIM Specialists, Interior Designers, and Graphic Designers, among other roles.

To study up on specific job titles from the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. Also, follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, interviewing skills, and increase your overall chances of getting that next job.

Richärd Kennedy Architects seeks a Project Architect, BIM Coordinator, Proposal Graphic Designer, and Interior Designer - Architecture
"Richärd Kennedy Architects is an award-winning studio-based firm that focuses on positively impacting people's lives through the craft of architecture. [...] Skills and Qualifications: 5+ years of experience; Professionally accredited degree in Architecture or equivalent ...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design lists for $9 million in Arizona

2023-02-08T19:16:00-05:00

The private home considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s final residential design has hit the market in Arizona for $8.95 million, according to the Robb Report and several local real estate listings.

The 3,095-square-foot Norman Lykes House, also known as the "Circular Sun House," was first designed by Wright shortly prior to his death in April 1959 and eventually completed by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury nine years later.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

It stands on a 1.3-acre plot overlooking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in Palm Canyon and had previously been sold at an auction for $1.7 million in 2019 before being re-listed in September of 2020 for just under $8 million.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

Rattenbury’s 1994 renovation reduced the home’s capacity to three bedrooms from the original five. Its circular design was credited by Wright to the surrounding landscape.

Image courtesy Deanna Peters/HomeSmart

The home includes original furnishings made by Wright...

12 featured architecture & design jobs in Phoenix

2022-05-06T15:06:00-04:00

Looking for the latest architectural career opportunities in Phoenix? Design services are in high demand in Arizona's state capital, now the fifth-most populous city in the United States, as the number of listings in the region on Archinect Jobs shows. For this week's curated job picks, we have selected some exciting architectural and design positions at firms in the greater Phoenix area, including Scottsdale.

To look up specific job titles from the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. Also, follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, interviewing skills, and increase your overall chances of getting that next job.

Richärd Kennedy Architects seeks an Architect, Designer, and Construction Administrator
"What makes working at Richärd Kennedy Architects so special? We believe that architecture impacts communities where we live and across the world. [...] Our designs are notable because they reflect client aspirations and embody...

Spiral-shaped David and Gladys Wright House finally sells

2020-08-20T15:23:00-04:00

Even among Frank Lloyd Wright’s scores of iconic properties, this sweeping spiral house still stands out. The Arizona home, which the celebrated architect built for his son David in the 1950s, just sold for $7.25 million. The deal wraps up a two-year effort to sell the estate, which originally listed for $12.95 million in 2018 before a price cut last year brought the tag down to a buck shy of $10 million.

The David and Gladys Wright House saga previously on Archinect.

Watch the video below for a fascinating tour of the Phoenix estate.

Previously on Archinect: David and Gladys Wright House back on the market. Image via davidwrighthouse.org.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Norman Lykes House, his last residential design, finally sells for $1.7m

2019-10-17T13:58:00-04:00

An Arizona house that was the last home designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright before his death sold on Wednesday for nearly $1.7m. Out of nearly 20 bids at a public auction for the Norman Lykes House, the winning bid came from a man who lives out of state, Heritage Auctions told the Associated Press.

Commissioned by Norman and Aimee Lykes, this Phoenix home known as the "Circular Sun House," was Frank Lloyd Wright's last residential design before his death in April 1959. The structure was completed nearly ten years later by Taliesin architect John Rattenbury.

Image: Heritage Auctions

In case you missed out on the chance to purchase the Lykes House, another Wright-designed property in Phoenix, the 1952 David and Gladys Wright House, is still on the market. Current listing price, according to The Guardian: nearly $10 million.

Phoenix votes to continue expanding light rail network

2019-08-28T13:00:00-04:00

Voters in Phoenix have soundly rejected a proposal that would have halted the expansion of the city’s light rail system—a proposition that had the backing of dark money linked to the notorious anti-transit Koch brothers.

The rejected initiative would have terminated "all construction, development, extension, and expansion of” light rail lines in the city in order to redirect funds appropriated for transit expansion to more auto-centric infrastructure.

The result represents a set back for the dark money-fueled groups that have mobilized in opposition to local and state-level transit expansion efforts across the country.

Exploiting the complicated politics of transit expansion

2019-08-08T19:29:00-04:00

Proposition 105, a measure backed by a group called Building a Better Phoenix, would halt all future light rail expansions, directing already-earmarked tax dollars toward “other transportation improvements”—mostly road construction. Like a number of efforts to kill urban-rail plans around the U.S., the initiative to stop Phoenix’s transit development has ties to Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group funded by David H. Koch and Charles Koch.

CityLab's Laura Bliss delves into the multi-faceted and contentious back-and-forth effort to build new light rail infrastructure in Phoenix, Arizona, where issues of urban equity, dark political money, and changing transportation needs have rankled residents of all stripes.

David and Gladys Wright House back on the market

2018-09-11T14:17:00-04:00

Phoenix, Arizona–based developer Zach Rawling bought a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed house for $2.3 million in 2012, when its previous owner wanted to demolish the landmark. In 2017, Rawlings donated the David and Gladys Wright House to the Taliesin West School of Architecture, but in June of this year, Rawlings and Aaron Betsky, the architecture school dean, announced in a joint statement that the donation was being revoked due to fundraising concerns.

Image via davidwrighthouse.org.

In their joint statement, Aaron Betsky and Zach Rawling wrote:

The relationship between the School and the House is formally manifested in the David Wright House Collaborative Fund, a supporting organization of the Arizona Community Foundation. The principal focus of the David Wright House Collaborative Fund was to develop a vehicle to raise the $7 million endowment on which the pledge of the House for the benefit of the School was conditioned. Over the past year, we have learned that the fundraising timetables of both parties do not lend themselves to a joint campaign. With the School in its fledgling years, the prevailing thought was that the divergent donor interests would effectively divide its support base rather than enhance it. Uncertainty regarding future capital improvements at the House and the long-term cultural development of the site in Phoenix increased this concern. For this reason, by mutual agreement and out of mutual respect, the Scho...

Water woes are creeping up on Phoenix, America's fifth-largest city

2018-03-22T16:01:00-04:00

Phoenix and its surrounding area is known as the Valley of the Sun, and downtown Phoenix – which in 2017 overtook Philadelphia as America’s fifth-largest city – is easily walkable, with restaurants, bars and an evening buzz. But it is a modern shrine to towering concrete, and gives way to endless sprawl that stretches up to 35 miles away to places like Anthem. The area is still growing – and is dangerously overstretched, experts warn.

With cities in the Desert West, like Las Vegas and Phoenix, rapidly growing in size and population, water is becoming an evermore hot commodity; all while the source of that water, primarily the Colorado River, is becoming increasingly unreliable due to climate change.

"And yet despite the federal Bureau of Reclamation reporting in 2012 that droughts of five or more years would happen every decade over the next 50 years," writes Joanna Walters for The Guardian's Overstretched Cities series, "greater Phoenix has not declared any water restrictions. Nor has the state government decided its official drought contingency proposal."

Bill Gates buys 25,000 acres in Arizona to build a smart city

2017-11-13T13:53:00-05:00

Belmont Partners, an investment firm run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has bought 25,000 acres in Arizona to create a planned community reports KPNX. The large plot of land was bought for $80 million and is 45 minutes from Phoenix, within Maricopa County, in an area called the West Valley.

Plans for the new city, which will be appropriately named Belmont, include 80,000 residential units, 3,800 acres for office, commercial and retail space and 470 acres for public schools. According to a press release put out by the firm, they plan to build "a forward-thinking community with a communication and infrastructure spine that embraces cutting-edge technology, designed around high-speed digital networks, data centers, new manufacturing technologies and distribution models, autonomous vehicles and autonomous logistics hubs."

A Spiralling Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix has been donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture

2017-06-12T12:21:00-04:00

Last week marked what would have been Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday. Celebrating the occasion, Zach Rawling and his family donated his Wright-designed home in Phoenix to a foundation under the auspices of the Arizona Community Foundation to benefit the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

The house, designed for the architect’s son, was saved from demolition by Rawling and, with its distinctive spiraling ramp, is seen as a precursor to the Guggenheim Museum in New York, according to Aaron Betsky, dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

The donation “will allow us to use that great legacy to be a living laboratory in which we will figure out how to use what Frank Lloyd Wright taught us about living in the desert Southwest, to make the life in this desert and in this community even better in the future,” said Betsky.

Rawling bought the property back in 2012 for $2.4M in order to save it from demolition. While he wanted to restore the building and turn it into ...

Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, experienced the largest population growth in 2016

2017-03-24T17:44:00-04:00

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maricopa County in Arizona had the highest annual population growth in 2016. Home to the city of Phoenix, the county gained 81,360 people, or 222 people per day. More than half were people who moved to the county from another area, while 25,428 were from natural increase (births over deaths). 10,188 people came from abroad.

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, Cook County, where Chicago is located, saw the largest decrease in population with a net loss of 21,324 people. Wayne County, home to Detroit, saw 7,696 people leave, while Baltimore had a decrease of 6,738 people.

Check out more demographic data here.

Phoenix may become a lot more green

2016-08-02T13:31:00-04:00

According to the Los Angeles Times, the sunny city of Phoenix, Arizona might become a little cooler, as the city develops a plan to give 25% of the city a tree canopy by 2030. Currently, the city has about half as much shade.

The city plans to use a mix of steel 'trees', native plants like mesquite and palo brea, and non-natives that have proved tough enough to weather the grueling heat. Already known for its high temperatures, Phoenix is trying to prepare for even hotter temperatures as global warming heats the planet up.

The plan is intended to do more than just make for more pleasant strolls. "Aesthetically, it’s quite pleasing," notes forestry supervisor, Richard Atkins. "It can bring commerce to any business that had it out front because, you know, people are drawn to nice vegetation and shade."

For more news from the hot and dry American Southwest, check out these links:

To pour concrete in mid-summer Phoenix, wait until the moon comes out

2016-06-29T12:59:00-04:00

A team of construction workers is pouring concrete onto the frame of a structure that will eventually become a wastewater treatment plant. It's 1 a.m. on a clear night in the suburbs of Phoenix. The temperature is still in the high 80s. But that's way down from the area's recent record high temperatures, up to 118 degrees. [...] "We try to pour and place and finish concrete when it's below 90 degrees," says Daniel Ward, the construction company's project director.

Frank Lloyd Wright house causes controversy in wealthy Phoenix neighborhood

2015-04-10T13:07:00-04:00

New plans for the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Arcadia has neighbors riled up. Owners of the 1952 house want to turn it into more than just a home, but those living in the wealthy neighborhood aren't too happy about it. [...] said the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house is "an example of what I consider to be an architecture embodiment of Arizona exceptionalism." However, this landmark home now finds itself in the middle of controversy.

Can Phoenix un-suburbanize?

2014-01-20T13:01:00-05:00

There’s a movement afoot to bring new money into urban areas all over the country, and surprisingly, Phoenix, is part of that movement. The city has long been famous for its suburban sprawl. But now, plans are moving ahead to link high-rise downtown with a neighboring Latino barrio that wealthy developers have mostly ignored for the better part of 100 years. Not a shovel of dirt has moved, though neighbors already have expectations and fears.

Can a City Really 'End' Homelessness?

2013-12-27T14:29:00-05:00

Last week, the city of Phoenix made a startling announcement. The Arizona capital had previously identified 222 chronically homeless veterans living in the city, more than half of them veterans of the Vietnam War. [...] Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said last week that every last one of them now had a roof overhead. The city has effectively ended chronic veteran homelessness, according to the mayor [...]. Phoenix did this – prioritizing housing first, then wrapping other services around it.

Architecture start-up's software models steel skeletons of any surface

2013-12-05T20:15:00-05:00

Using digital fabrication and some clever tricks we're able to manufacture beautiful, low cost structures which easily bolt together. You design for it like it's a big imaginary 3D printer then you and your friends get together and bolt your house together! [...] It works like a techno version of a barn raising.

Architecture start-up Arcology Now wants to provide an alternative to 3D printing building technologies, focusing on reliable materials and elbow grease. The Phoenix, Arizona group has developed a digital fabrication software that generates a framework for any 3D surface out of steel tubes and bolts. For example, if you scanned an igloo, the software would model something like one of those geodesic dome playground structures. The software also produces manufacturing and building instructions, that is then coded directly onto the individual steel bars during manufacturing.

The entire structure is then built in modules, so many people can work in parallel following the instructions on the physical materials. Arcology Now's eventual plan is to produce entire communities in this way, and is working on methods to insulate and install power distribution systems.

David Wright House Saved - Preservation Success

2012-12-20T17:25:00-05:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy has facilitated the purchase of the David and Gladys Wright House in Phoenix, Arizona, through an LLC owned by an anonymous benefactor. The transaction closed on December 20 for an undisclosed price. The property will be transferred to an Arizona not-for-profit organization responsible for the restoration, maintenance and operation of the David Wright House.

BIG Designs Sexy Observation Tower for Phoenix

2012-12-19T17:19:00-05:00

News just broke that BIG has been commissioned to design a sleek 420 ft tall mixed-use observation tower for Phoenix, Arizona. Quite possibly the city's new symbol?

Buyer drops bid to purchase David and Gladys Wright House

2012-11-13T17:23:00-05:00

“While the prospective buyer strongly supports efforts to preserve the David and Gladys Wright house, he has concluded that for personal and business reasons, this is not an opportunity he will pursue at this time. He has every confidence that a preservation minded buyer will be found, and that the house will be preserved," representatives of the prospective buyer told Joffe.

Frank Lloyd Wright's David House: Sold & Saved

2012-11-06T11:36:00-05:00

The current owners have reached an agreement to sell the early 1950s home to a buyer who wants to preserve and restore it, real-estate broker Robert Joffe said Wednesday. The property is being sold for the listing price of nearly $2.4 million to a buyer who wishes to remain anonymous

Wright Masterwork Is Seen in a New Light: A Fight for Its Life

2012-10-03T11:34:00-04:00

It’s hard to say which is more startling. That a developer in Phoenix could threaten...to knock down a 1952 house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Or that the house has until now slipped under the radar, escaping the attention of most architectural historians...a spiral home for his son David.

Save the David and Gladys Wright House

2012-08-22T16:56:00-04:00

A remarkable Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix is under threat of demolition. Wright designed the house for his son David and it is unique among all his residential designs. Your support is needed to urge the City of Phoenix to approve historic preservation designation for the house thereby extending its temporary protection from demolition.

Via Kevin W. in the Forum

Where “hot” is not employed lightly

2012-08-07T19:44:00-04:00

“I always thought that shorts were inappropriate for a federal courthouse,” Ms. Leal said. “But it’s either wearing it, or melting away.”

Fernanda Santos recently conducted an informal post-occupancy study for the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects. Located in Phoenix, Arizona the project opened in 2000 and employs "a process known as adiabatic cooling to regulate the temperature" in it's giant-glassed in atrium. Whether, talking to the security guards stationed therein, or visitors (lawyers, plaintiffs etc) Ms. Santos writes that while it is "a marvel of modern architecture. Much of it is also very HOT."