The good life: a vacation home is the ultimate dream

Custom Home, March, 2004 by Meghan Drueding

No matter how busy custom home clients get, they never stop dreaming of relaxing at the beach--or on the ski slope, on the golf course, or by the pool. "A second home is obviously discretionary spending, so it's subject to changes in the economy, says Walt Moloney of the National Association of Realtors. "But the underlying fundamental demand for vacation homes is there. Although 2001 saw a small dropoff in second home purchases from 1999, all anecdotal evidence says it's picked back up.

Part of that resurgence could be due to increased interest in owning real estate rather than venturing into the stock market. According to the NAR, the percentage of second home buyers purchasing as an investment rose from 20 percent in 1999 to 37 percent in 2002. People are also building second houses as gathering places for extended family of as eventual retirement residences. They're looking for homes they can use year-round, rather than just in one season. And they're taking their work with them when they go on vacation, using home offices to keep up with their hectic schedules. Take a look at the following pages for proof: The good life is alive and well.

Rock Solid

For a family from Germany, this striking, streamlined house in the Scottsdale, Ariz., community of Desert Mountain provides a year-round retreat. Since their main social circle is located several time zones from their vacation house, the emphasis falls less on entertaining than in many second homes. "The house is about reading, meditating, and thinking," says architect Bing Hu of H&S International. "It's really just for the couple and their son." * The owners envisioned a house that would last for generations, just like the mass of solid granite beneath their site. Hu's design for a cast-in-place, exposed concrete frame anchored with steel beams did the trick. Before pouring the concrete, though, builder Eric Linthicum had to blast through 20-foot slabs of rock to carve out the home's lower level. Other than that, the site remains undisturbed, down to its smooth granite boulders and blooming cacti. * The lot's sharp incline prohibited the concrete trucks from driving all the way up to the house. "If the trucks went any farther up the slope, they'd lose their loads because of the hill's steepness," says Linthicum. Instead, he and his crew parked 80 feet downhill and pumped concrete into onsite molds from there. The structural steel beams were unloaded at the same location and craned up to the building area. * Since months may pass between the owners' visits to Desert Mountain, the home had to require as little maintenance as possible. In addition to its concrete walls and floors, it features a zinc roof and some zinc wall panels, which will weather to a charcoal gray. The rocky point that crops up behind the house doesn't support much vegetation, so there are no leaves of other debris to fall onto the patios and roof. In addition to being low-maintenance the house satisfies the owners' desire for an energy-efficient residence. The 18-inch-thick walls retain cool night temperatures, even during the summer. "You can keep the doors open most of the time and don't need to turn on the air conditioning, especially in the winter," says Hu, Strategically placed roof overhangs and sunshades also help keep the house cool without using energy. * A cantilevered lap pool allows the owners to keep up with their exercise routine. Since mental health is just as important to them, the plan provides several outdoor spaces where they can enjoy the city, mountain, and desert views that initially attracted them to the site. "They asked for a seamless transition between interior and exterior," says Linthicum, "so the concrete floors continue out to the patios." The only difference lies in the concrete's finish: integrally colored and waxed inside, and sandblasted outside. Either way, the effect is one of sturdiness and Modernity--a simple look for a simple vacation lifestyle.--M.D.

Project Credits: Builder: Linthicum Custom Builders, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Architect: H&S International, Scottsdale; Living space: 3,267 square feet; Site size: 1 4 acres; Construction cost: Withheld; Photographer: Katsuhisa Kida. * Resources: Bathroom plumbing fittings/fixtures: Duravit, Circle 150, Hansgrohe, Circle 151, and Kroin, Circle 152; Cooktop/hood: Gaggenau, Circle 153; Exterior siding: Metalworks, Circle 154; Kitchen plumbing fittings/fixtures: Franke, Circle 155 and KWC, Circle 156; Oven: Dacor, Circle 157; Refrigerator: Sub Zero, Circle 158

Mountain Hideaway

Architect Tom Lenchek has a particular attachment to this 1,420-square-foot cabin he designed in Washington State's Methow Valley: It's his own house. He and his wife spend weekends there, driving 200 miles from their primary home in Seattle. And now that more than half his firm's jobs are east of the Cascade Mountains, he often turns the guest bedroom into an office by folding up its Murphy bed. "I'll work there for as much as a week at a time," he says. * The valley experiences extremes of heat and cold, and the house had to be able to function well in both. But that was just one of the obstacles facing builder Mark Rhinehart. "There's really nothing conventional about the house," he says. "All the framing interfaces with posts and beams or something else. You really had to think ahead about how everything fit together." A two-tiered concrete retaining wall was poured on site into rough-sawn 1x12 forms, and the floors consist of poured concrete as well. Other elements in the smorgasbord of materials are Trex decking; peeled logs for structural support; and acid-etched, corrugated metal roofs. "You add muratic acid to water and paint it onto the roof," he explains. "Otherwise, the metal can be too bright and reflective." * Rhinehart has noticed a few trends in the many second houses he's built locally--including Lenchek's. "Call-in systems to turn the heat on are popular, particularly in homes with radiant heat, which takes a little more time to warm up," he says. "People phone in and adjust their thermostats two days before they arrive." Natural vegetation is gaining on grass as the preferred ground cover, since it requires no mowing. Timed watering systems and drain-down plumbing valves are also commonplace. Energy-efficiency, of course, takes top priority in such a severe climate. At the cabin, a custom-designed stop keeps a heat-retaining blanket of snow on the roof during winter, supplementing polyurethane foam insulation. * Vacation homes tend to interact more with their environments than full-time residences do, and the cabin is no exception. In mild weather, 8-by-8-foot lift-glide doors open almost the entire south facade to a generously sized deck. Handy storage for skis, bikes, and other sports equipment is located in a detached garage. When the couple and their guests have had enough of the great outdoors, they can warm themselves in front of the living room's woodburning stove of hop in the upstairs sauna.--M.D.