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Six times at top for Tierra Concepts
ierra Concepts won its sixth “Grand Hacienda” award for one of its entries in the 2017 Haciendas — A Parade ofHomes tour. The three-bedroom house at 8 Picacho Peak Drive totals more than 4,700 heated square feet. There’s lots of big glass, including in a huge pocket-wall that opens to the portal. “The floor continues out, but the flooring is different in this house, mainly because we have that incredible limestone from Jerusalem on the inside,” said Keith Gorges, owner of Tierra Concepts with brothers Kurt and Eric Faust. “We had porphyry on the outside, a more OldWorld look that contrasts with the more refined look on the inside,” Eric Faust said.
The large kitchen and living-room areas are separated by a ceiling-height stone-veneered monolith, about 30 inches thick and 15 feet wide, that holds a long, horizontal slot fireplace. The builders think of the home’s architectural style as “contextual modern.” There are materials, including three-coat plaster walls and wood beams, that are part of the regional vernacular, but they are presented in a modern context. “We still do very traditional homes and we do much more modern homes than this Grand Hacienda winner,” Gorges said. “The thing we all share is an appreciation for what is done really well and is really interesting, and some context that relates to Northern New Mexico.”
Another touch is the guest suite that has a fireplace, a sitting area, and a separate water closet in the bathroom, “things that really up the scale of what you’re presenting to your guests,” Faust said.
“Something we try to do in all our homes is something new, something we haven’t tried before,” Gorges said. “In this one, we have the contrast of thematerials with a lot of texture and very shiny surfaces, like the stone wall and the lacquered wood cabinets by Ernest Thompson in the kitchen.” Faust added that they are “very interested in what is the future of Santa Fe Style. It was created more than a hundred years ago, but it is slowly morphing into something different. We are constantly thinking about what is the right way for it to go, including spec houses like this wherewe get to be a little more creative instead of what the client wants.” Best Craftsmanship The competition element of the annual Parade of Homes awards participating builders in seven categories in each of four price classes. Home magazine focuses on the awards for best craftsmanship, which are the most prized. Lightfoot Inc. won that prize for the $438,000-$650,000 class, for a remodeled house located at 1208 ½ Canyon Road. The residence, which boasts a patio view of Cristo Rey Church, also won a special award “for exceptional integration of old and new in a historic remodel.”
On the final Sunday of the tour, Lightfoot principal Scott Cherry said visitor traffic had been slow the day before— Indian Market Saturday— but on each of the other weekend days he welcomed perhaps 150 tourgoers. “This was essentially a gut remodel, except for all the exterior and interior adobe walls,” he said. “We reconfigured some interior walls and we did all new heating, plumbing, electrical, stucco, cabinets, a new roof, and room by room we either re-