Our Blog: The "why" behind the "what", and what we think is really important . . .

Robert T. Evans Paradise Valley Luxury Custom Residence Adobe Historic Preservation Spiral Architects Gene Kniaz Desert Landscape

2017 Governor’s Heritage Preservation Honor Awards!

2017 Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Awards! Our submittal is in - wish us luck! The Awards Luncheon is Friday, June 16th at the Hilton El Conquistador down in Oro Valley, so it's fingers crossed. In other news, we've received our actual timeslot for our presentation at the conference - project owner John Pappas and I will be presenting at 9:50AM, in the prestigious "Presidio 2" conference room. Note #1: Do you think they knew "presidio" means "jail" when they named the room? OK - it can also mean "military post" or "fortified garrison" - but those always had jails in them, so there you go! Note #2: The photograph featured in the posting was discovered by John way down in the ASU online archives just a few weeks ago. While we wish we would have had it when we started the design, we're actually really pleased with how well our renovation matches this ... Read more
Bennie Gonzales Robert T. Evans Paradise Valley Remodeling Historic Preservation

Our 1931 Adobe Gets Ready For Its Second Debut

Our 1931 Adobe Gets Ready For Its Second Debut We've been working with our owner, John Pappas, on our project's submittal to the 2017 Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Awards, and it's been a great opportunity to look back on the project, recall what we've been through collectively to achieve John's goals, and also look forward in terms of how we can tell and teach people about it, and share what we view as the amazing story (stories?) behind a beautiful project. As part of the Awards submittal process, we had to create a short project narrative to describe the project, and "make the case" as to why the project should receive a Governor's Award. We've been working on the narrative this week, and thought it would be nice to share it here, where we can indulge in a fuller history and description than on our "portfolio page" for the project: The 6330 E. McDonald Residence (Louise ... Read more

Spiral Presents At 2017 AZ Historic Preservation Conference!

Spiral Presents At 2017 AZ Historic Preservation Conference! We're very excited about our upcoming presentation of our 1931 Paradise Valley adobe restoration project at the 15th Annual Arizona Historic Preservation Conference, which will be held in the Town of Oro Valley in Pima County, June 14th-16th, 2017. The presentation (for which we'll team up with owner John Pappas) is entitled "Case Study in Preservation: Robert T. Evans/Louise E. Glaus Residence", and will be a discussion of the house, its origins, history, and our architectural journey assisting John in his mission to bring the house back to its former glory, while adapting it to his own use, while ensuring it will endure for many years to come. Spiral Architects is also pleased to be a "General Preservation Supporter" of this year's conference! Note: For the curious, here are a few newspaper articles that ran locally while the house was for sale in 2008, ... Read more