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::FEATURE ARTICLES:: Santa Fe Special Fine homes don’t just drop out of the sky full-blown. They have to be meticulously designed, planned, and executed to become not just a work of wood, concrete, stone, and plaster, but a living environment that evolves into a special “world” for those who will reside in them. Tierra Concepts, Inc. has created one such home of note in the Las Campanas area of Santa Fe. Built on a very human scale in a fairly traditional Santa Fe adobe style (although not made of adobe), it has been carefully, and artfully, tucked into the surrounding junipers of the high desert. The challenge was to site the home on its modest-size lot in such a way that it would maximize, even dramatize, the site’s spectacular views of the Jemez Mountains while diminishing distracting views of other homes in the area. To do that, a parking area was created on the east side of the home. That job generated enough dirt to elevate the floor area of the west side of the house, making the most of the stunning Jemez views. Some signs still betray the newness of the home’s construction, yet there is very much a feeling of true integration into the land that will only be enhanced as time goes on. Thoughtful siting is just the first of the creative strengths these award-winning designer/builders bring to a project. Brothers Kurt and Eric Faust and longtime friend and partner Keith Gorges, with their fine design staff and craftsmen, blend varied and creative design components together with quality construction to give even a home of modest scale high visual impact. Here, to create an immediate sense of intimacy and privacy, the gated entry opens into a walled courtyard, which in spring and summer provides a vibrant palette of color from plants and seasonal flowers. The visual impact of the home itself begins as soon as you open the front door. A linear, rather formal foyer is a prelude to the grander scale of the high-ceilinged great room beyond with its clerestory windows. The change of heights, coupled with expansive windows that take advantage of long, lovely views toward the Jemez, adds a sense of grandeur without overdoing it. As Kurt Faust explains, “We try to avoid the hotel lobby syndrome of grandeur for grandeur’s sake. Of course,” he kids, “if someone wants a hotel lobby, we’ll build them one.” What people seem to want, Kurt Faust notes, are open living/dining rooms, or “great” rooms as they have come to be called. “People don’t want really formal dining rooms, but rooms that are more open and casual,” he explains. “Open, that is, in terms of communication to the rest of the house, but not so much that the dirty dishes in the kitchen show when you’re having a dinner party.” In this particular home, a cozy sitting room/dining area with a fireplace adjoins the western end of the open kitchen for daily family enjoyment.
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Old-time craftsmanship is on display throughout this house by Tierra Concepts, from the hand-carved wood detailing to impeccable wall and floor finishes. The dark wood floor shown in the dining room departs fetchingly from more typical Santa Fe style.
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