DEJAH

This New York family of four requested a northern New Mexican style home for their 12 ½-acre property west of Santa Fe, with commanding views of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. They desired a casual, relaxed yet disciplined design that would be compatible with the clean lines of their more modern furnishings. Also part of their program was the desire to have airy, gracious rooms and wide hallways that intermingled with outdoor spaces blurring the distinction between interior and exterior.
 
The traditional forms of local, vernacular architecture – adobe bricks, columns, beams and “latillas” which are normally made from earth and wood – were updated in a contemporary manner with a palette of clam shell white stucco and plaster, a matte zinc metal roof, simple concrete floors, white washed wood, stainless steel appliances and gun-metal steel doors and windows. The interior courtyard “portal” also receives this modernized reinterpretation by being constructed of metal columns, beams and latillas.
What would have traditionally been an adobe structure is a home with walls made from blocks called E-Crete, an aerated autoclaved concrete product made from recycled materials. This, plus other “Green” building practices, makes for an environmentally sound home.
 
The overall effect is one that respects the local architectural tradition while at the same time enhances the contemporary lifestyle of a modern family.

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