Dialog House by Architect Wendell Burnett in Phoenix, Arizona

Project: Dialog House
Architects: Wendell Burnett Architecture
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Area: 2,200 sq ft
Photos: Bill Timmerman

Dialog House by Wendell Burnett Architects

The Dialog House is an impressive modern home located in Phoenix, Arizona. It sits at the foot of Echo Mountain, surrounded by nature and facing south toward the South Mountains and Sierra Estrella mountain ranges. The design of this house was completed by Wendell Burnett Architecture, whose work you may have seen previously in the Desert Courtyard House project in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Two volumes of light—one warm, one cool—face the endless horizontal space and the desert sky. Inspired by John Van Dyke's reflections on phenomena of desert light, especially the 'colored air' and 'reflected light' in his 1901 book titled 'Desert: Further Studies of Natural Phenomena', the 2,200 sq ft Dialog House serves as a gestalt instrument to experience all ranges and specifics of this light, this 'place'—day by day, season by season, year by year.

At the base of Echo Mountain (surrounded by diverse 1950s–60s bungalows), the main living volume is raised above the working areas, guest rooms, and garage, maximally distant from the street on a radial shaft of coal stone walls stretching across the cardinal directions and encompassing the site. This well-shaded volume faces the South Mountains and Sierra Estrella ranges, visible far in Phoenix's valley above the urban landscape.

The exterior surfaces of the shaft walls and main volume absorb and reflect light just like 'desert lacquer', which covers Phoenix's volcanic geology, turning into a silvery-red, purple-brown-black throughout the day and becoming only a silhouette at night. Thus, 'life after work' is simultaneously supported by the apparent thickness and delicacy of light.

The street-facing interior is covered with white stucco, partially a terrace, partially cold water—a refuge from the city within the city where you see only the sky. Wind and water activate light that refracts on interior surfaces during the day and especially brightly at night, creating an animated foreground in the city and a distant horizon.

The project began many years ago, and Dialog House has an interesting history and was completed in April 2012.

– Wendell Burnett Architecture