Location: Tuscon, AZ
Designer: Conservatory Craftsmen
Architect: Craft-Design-Build
Category: Greenhouse Conservatory
This incredible Luxury Look design took us to the desert of Arizona. This type of conservatory space is a first for us: an oasis room. Who doesn’t want their own environmentally controlled oasis?! The objective for this design was to create a space that would house a tropical garden and ponds in the middle of the desert. This space looks like a real oasis because the surrounding topography is integrated into the room design – it looks like it’s coming from the earth!
Functionality for this space requires a full automation package to ensure success. We completed a solar study to determine the best orientation of the greenhouse. The roof design on this project combined the strengths of a low profile while achieving the correct sun angle. Additionally, we needed to keep the ceiling at an appropriate roof slope to allow retractable roof blinds to work well. In the desert, sunny days mean the retractable roof blinds need to function properly in order to minimize the solar heat gain in the room. At the same time, there are vertical north-facing blinds that allow enough light into the room when the blinds are closed to still ensure good plant growth inside. And the windows also open to allow fresh air ventilation.
As with most projects, we had to work within the parameters of city codes and restrictions. We were given a maximum height to which we were allowed to build. That meant we needed to create a new version of the design to accommodate code restrictions. Sometimes a redesign gives us an opportunity to come up with an even better concept and that was the case with the oasis room.
For those glass/greenhouse geeks out there, the glass used for this project is laminated safety glass and has three coats of LowE, making it the most efficient glass on the planet.
If that wasn’t enough, we think the coolest part of this design can be seen in the aesthetic of the roof looking like waves – waves in the desert. So here we have a desert oasis contained under glass, that is topped by a roofline that resembles waves in the ocean. This oasis room design will be an exciting one to look at amid the sand while it provides such a lovely space to enjoy.
