a slice of heaven

by Jessa Cast
photographs by Amadeus Leitner

at the base of the Sandia Mountains, one couple builds a stunning home with dramatic natural surroundings

In 2015, Kirk and Jamie Giesbrandt moved to Albuquerque from Florida, falling headlong in love with the desert climate and towering mountains. Right away they undertook the search for a house, first touring existing homes — to no avail — and then pursuing a lot on which to build.

Before long, a lot at the rocky, desertscape base of the Sandia Mountains grabbed their hearts, and they purchased it. Seated snugly against the border of protected forest land, the sightline up the mountain could never be impeded by another home. The lot had dauntingly steep topography, replete with boulders and cacti, but that didn’t deter the Giesbrandts. A sheer mountain lot suited them just fine.

“It’s funny,” says Kirk, “everyone told us we’d want to live in the North Valley because of the green trees and grass. When we were kids in Florida, we were mowing that grass! We didn’t want any grass at all. And Florida is flat, so you never get views like this.”

Seated snugly against the border of protected forest land, the sightline up the mountain could never be impeded by another home.

Their next task was to source an architect and a builder who could resist the desire to simply flatten the lot for ease of construction. Though difficult to build on, Kirk and Jamie felt the sharp grades held character worth preserving. Through acquaintances, they met architect Mark Hagedorn, who agreed with their vision, so they enlisted him to design a home for them and their two young daughters. They chose contractor Paul Kenderdine of PWKI, LLC, to partner with them for design and construction.

Hagedorn and Kenderdine both carry impressive curricula vitae. Kenderdine mentored under famed architect George Pearl, has spent more than 30 years working with celebrated architects like Jon Anderson and Antoine Predock and is well known for his own fresh, modern design. Hagedorn trained under architect John H. Howe, Frank Lloyd Wright’s chief draftsman for 30 years. This would be a home with a rare abundance of prestigious, teacher-to-apprentice and self-taught craftsmanship behind its design and construction.

The Giesbrandts felt flexible about the home’s stylings, with only a couple of specific requests. “I wanted cantilevered decks,” says Kirk, and Jamie wished for a soaking bathtub with a big window. More generally, “we wanted it to be modern, but livable,” she says. “We didn’t want any wasted space or a room we never went in.”

“The site is one of the most dramatic in Albuquerque and called for a dramatic, yet sensitive, solution.” — Mark Hagedorn

Hagedorn drew a plan and the trio massaged it, making subtle changes to details and finishes until they’d concocted a dreamy fusion that both preserves and emphasizes the stepped landscape on which it’s built. “The site is one of the most dramatic in Albuquerque and called for a dramatic, yet sensitive, solution,” says Hagedorn. “There was very little buildable area on the lot and the siting of the house utilized the natural terrain in its inspirational layout.” Indeed, Kenderdine’s team toiled laboriously on the site, amid buried boulders and stubborn, decomposed granite. Their efforts paid off with a gorgeous finished product.

In 4,800 expertly crafted square feet rests a threetiered, split-level home with open living areas, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a kids’ playroom, a gym and guest quarters, all awash in unparalleled outlooks to the east and west. The residence conveys a clear nod to Frank Lloyd Wright’s spirit, with long, low-slung lines and repeating banks of windows. “Mark’s massing is strong, he’s got great horizontal lines,” says Kenderdine of Hagedorn’s work. “The massing feels very Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Close in, one can appreciate bespoke nuances in every detail: hidden lighting, cantilevered kitchen shelves and the visually textural granite slab over the living room fireplace. Where the ceilings soar, soffits apportion the verticals to maintain a human scale. Stucco and concrete finishes carry through from the outside to the inside. A particularly elegant touch, the focal point of the main entry is how the outside edge of the wood grain of the staircase flows directionally with the stairs, like a waterfall. Even the glass beneath the handrail is precision-cut to hug the rise and run of each step, for both safety and a flawless finish. No feature was overlooked. “Detail is what we do, because it matters,” says Kenderdine. “We spend a lot of time on that kind of work.”

The residence conveys a clear nod to Frank Lloyd Wright’s spirit, with long, low-slung lines and repeating banks of windows.

Kirk got his cantilevered decks — one on the lower level with a swim spa, and one on the upper level, perfect for stargazing. Jamie got her soaking tub with a picture window framing a serene view. Opposite the tub is a steam shower, bedecked entirely in black tile, with a window that looks through the house and straight across the whole of Albuquerque to Mount Taylor, a truly unusual element.

Rift-sawn white oak floors upstairs and concrete floors downstairs accentuate the modernity and livability of the home, pretty and durable enough for children and a dog. With a separate entrance and a Murphy bed, the guest room is both welcoming for visitors and a great flex space for play or yoga. “It’s functional, we use it all year long, not just when we have guests over,” says Jamie.

As for tall trees and green grass? They don’t miss them. Over morning coffee, they watch wildlife traverse terrain mere feet outside the window. Their older daughter has taken to naming the wild animals that frequent by (“Bob the Lynx”) and even the boulders they visit on regular trail walks — there’s “Sunset Rock” and “See Forever Rock,” among others. With national forest land as the playground just steps outside their back door, the Giesbrandt family has created their own slice of heaven.

resources
Architect
Mark Hagerdorn

Builder/Contractor
PWKI, LLC
pwki.com

Interior Designer
Mostly Home/Carole Newsom

Appliances
Viking, WinSupply

Bathroom Tub, Sinks, Fixtures
WinSupply

Cabinets & Closets
Paramount Custom Cabinets

Concrete Floors
PWKI, LLC

Countertops (Quartzite), Granite Slab Above Fireplace, Kitchen & Bathroom Tile
Sunwest Granite

Fireplace
PWKI, LLC

Interior Doors
Pat’s Doors

Indoor & Outdoor Furnishings, Home Decor & Art
Mostly Home

Landscaping
PWKI, LLC

Outdoor kitchen/BBQ area
PWKI, LLC
WinSupply

Spa
Carefree Spas

Windows, Exterior Doors & Sliding Doors
Kawneer, Dwights Glass
(fabrication & installation)

Wood Flooring
Select Floors