Embedded in the rugged lava cliffs of the Black Mountains, the site is simultaneously connected and removed; its mountain perch offering expansive vistas of the valley, elevated above the noise and momentum of the city below. It recalls the no-so-distant frontier spirit that shaped the western states – a sentiment that still echoes in the minds of the city’s inhabitants, reinforced by the thousands of acres of untouched desert wilderness that radiate from Las Vegas in every direction. Connected, yet removed. 

The home is a physical manifestation of this concept, this feeling. Recalling the vernacular of the valley’s early farming settlements, components of the compound are “pulled” apart and placed within the landscape, the distinct functions of the home spread across the site. The resulting in-between spaces emerge from liminality into focus as protected outdoor rooms, nestled within the surrounding environment. 

Space is defined and crafted with a series of rammed earth walls, emerging gracefully from the site, seemingly created of it.  The mass of this material - and the sense of enclosure - is offset with planes of floor to ceiling glass, visually connecting the disparate components of the home to one another, to the sweeping vistas below, and allowing the home’s interior volume to spill out into the lush landscape of natural meadow grass.