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Rising Sun wins Green Architecture Award from the Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards

Rising Sun has received a 2024 Green Good Design Award. The Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards’ goal is to recognize outstanding individuals, companies, organizations, governments, and institutions all over the world – together with their products, services, programs, ideas, and concepts that have forwarded exceptional thinking and inspired greater progress toward a healthier and more sustainable universe.

Learn more from Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards site.

Optima Paradise Valley wins Green Architecture Award from the Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards

Optima Paradise Valley has received a 2024 Green Good Design Award. The Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards’ goal is to recognize outstanding individuals, companies, organizations, governments, and institutions all over the world – together with their products, services, programs, ideas, and concepts that have forwarded exceptional thinking and inspired greater progress toward a healthier and more sustainable universe.

Learn more from Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Awards site.

Masters of the Southwest: A Father-Son Duo is Redefining Sustainable Desert Living

On a sunny winter day, residents of Optima Kierland are pursuing their morning rituals—walking the dog, working out in the fitness room, running on a track around the rooftop pool, powering up a Zoom call in the lounge, heading to the underground garage for the commute to work. But the 1,000-unit condo and rental complex, spread across five towers, is not your typical brown-box-and-a-balcony multifamily project so prevalent around the Valley. Instead, it is a sustainable, architectural tour-de-force, balancing concrete and glass, shade and sunlight, voids and cubic forms, all cooled with lush plantings that defy boundaries between outside and in.

The project is one of the latest achievements by father-and-son architects David Hovey Sr. and David Hovey Jr., who, along with other family members, run Optima, headquartered in Scottsdale and Chicago. Known for their edgy, architecturally striking designs of multifamily complexes and innovative construction techniques and materials, the Hoveys—and their company—have found the secret sauce to success. Optima is a soup-to-nuts company that develops, designs, builds and manages projects, overseeing everything from site selection to specifying kitchen sink faucets.

“I’ve been a fan of the Hoveys’ architecture for a long time,” says architect Anthony Floyd, who heads Scottsdale’s green building program and has worked with the Hoveys on sustainability strategies for several of their projects. “They’ve changed how we view multifamily housing here. What they create is unlike what we’ve seen in Arizona—or even the world.”

The history of this modernist dynasty began with Hovey Sr. Born in New Zealand to a Kiwi mother and a U.S. Marine father, he moved with his family to Chicago when he was 15 years old. “Chicago is the foremost city in the world for modern architecture,” Hovey Sr. says. “Being there sparked my interest in architecture.”

Hovey Sr. enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Technology, where Mies van der Rohe had served as dean and shaped the school’s modernist bent. “Mies was no longer at IIT when I studied there,” he remembers, “but some of us went to his house one night and didn’t leave until 4 a.m. He lived in an old brick apartment—not one of his designs—because he didn’t want to be constantly accosted by clients.”

During college, Hovey Sr. worked as an assistant to the curator of contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago, igniting his love of modern art and inspiring his later work in metal sculpture. His first job out of school was with a small firm, but, wanting to experience a larger office, Hovey Sr. signed on with noted Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, working there for four years during the 1970s.  

“My son and I are contemporary architects. We are interested in the design, materials and technologies of the 21st century. We’re not interested in allusions to the past.”

David Hovey Sr., FAIA, architect

But there was always an itch to do his own thing. “My IIT professor, Arthur Takeuchi, always said that an architect was the low man on the totem pole when it came to projects,” Hovey Sr. recalls. “He said the best outcome was to be not only the designer but also the developer and client.”

Heeding those words, Hovey Sr. launched Optima in suburban Chicago in 1978, along with his wife, Eileen Sheehan Hovey, who handled the real estate component of their projects. Before long, they were specializing in design-driven multifamily complexes around the city and, later, joined by their children, Tara Hovey, who handles financial strategies for the company, and David Jr., who earned his master’s in architecture at his father’s alma mater and now serves as CEO.

Frequent winter visitors to Scottsdale, the family opened a second Optima office in the desert in the early 2000s, sensing a market that was open to innovative modernist housing. By then, Hovey Jr. was helping push forward Optima’s shape-shifting experimentations with design, materials and construction methods. “When I was working as a construction superintendent on our job sites,” says Hovey Jr., “I observed inefficiencies between architecture and construction that could be improved by prefabrication.”

Though they became known for apartments and condos, the father and son have long experimented with techniques and approaches by building single-family spec homes, completing several over the years in North Scottsdale. “We had to find a new language for architecture here in Arizona,” Hovey Sr. says. “Studying Frank Lloyd Wright’s shelters, we learned to design optimum structures in the desert, ones that celebrated the indoor-outdoor relationship and incorporated sustainable features, such as solar power and passive cooling. We took what we learned from these spec homes and translated that into our multifamily work.”

After completing their first Arizona project, the Biltmore Optima, the Hoveys wanted to include landscaped roofs and terraces for the next site, Optima Camelview. Hovey Jr. worked with ASU to study desert plants in terrace- and rooflike beds at a site in Glendale. “We looked at about 150 kinds of plants and trees,” Hovey Jr. notes. “We learned which survived in extreme sun or shaded spots and which didn’t.”

Optima Camelview, a condominium project, won accolades and awards for its—literal—green design of lushly landscaped terraces, as well as other sustainable strategies, such as shaded glass walls, underground parking and public open space. Optima Sonoran Village, rental apartments in downtown Scottsdale, followed, expanding on the design theme, as did the recently completed Optima Kierland. Under construction now is Optima McDowell Mountain, which will be a six-tower development of rental apartments and condos, mixing in street-level retail and even more amenities and green elements, such as rainwater harvesting, than the previous projects. 

As the Hoveys moved forward with projects, they developed relationships with core groups of craftspeople, such as Jerry Barnier, founder of Suntec Concrete. “We started working together about 15 years ago,” says Barnier, “and we found that the Hoveys are very receptive to pushing the design forward efficiently. They understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to construction. They push everyone to do their best work.”

Despite recent pushback about high-density development in some parts of the Valley, the Hoveys are secure in their place in the desert’s urban landscape. “Having density and height on a site allows us to create open space that’s accessible to the public—and not just our building residents,” Hovey Sr. points out. “It also gives us room to have setbacks that are landscaped. Our McDowell Mountain project is planned around a central park open to everyone.”

Always looking for future possibilities, the father and son prefer to concentrate on one or two projects at a time. “Each development we do is a progression, a journey of how we envision people living in the 21st century.”

Optima Sonoran Village in downtown Scottsdale has five residential towers set around landscaped courtyards with views of Camelback Mountain. Each apartment has plant-fringed balconies that add to the greenscape.
A stint working at The Art Institute of Chicago sparked David Hovey Sr.’s love of contemporary art and his own work as a sculptor, including “Kiwi,” which graces an Optima project in Chicago.
Optima Kierland Center, the Hoveys’ most recent project, is a series of condo and  apartment dwellings offering luxe amenities, including cooling landscaping, rooftop pools and running tracks, a golf simulator and a dog “spa” for washing pooches.
In the heart of the Camelback Corridor, Biltmore Towers was the Hoveys’ first foray into the Arizona multifamily market and featured unique design elements, such as recessed balconies, red trellises and orange sunscreens.
Optima Verdana in suburban Chicago includes retail offerings at street level and apartments above.
The Camelview Village condo development put Optima on the local design radar, with innovations such as landscaped balconies and open space, as well as an edgy, modernist design. According to architect and Scottsdale’s green building head, Anthony Floyd, both David Hovey Sr. and David Hovey Jr. lived in units on site. “That’s what I call proof of concept,” says Floyd. “They could see what worked—and what didn’t.”
In downtown Chicago, Optima Signature and Chicago Center includes 42- and 57-story towers, with forms, details and colors inspired by Russian painter Kazimir Malevich and American artist Donald Judd.
Also in Chicago, the Lakeview project features indoor open space as a response to the climate.
“Curves and Voids,” a sculpture by David Hovey Sr., graces the gardens at Sonoran Village.

“Our single-family homes are experimental. They are our ‘Case Study’ projects from which we take ideas and apply them to our multifamily work.”

—David Hovey Sr., architect and Optima founder

Read more on Phoenix Home + Garden

Arizona Courtyard House / Optima DCHGlobal Featured in ArchDaily

Arizona Courtyard House is a pavilion constructed with a system of standardized Corten steel structural components. The home demonstrates the flexibility of this sustainable building system to create a house of linear volumes, arranged to define a courtyard, with the main house to the south and east, a fitness center and lap pool to the north, and mountain views to the west.

It’s set on a plinth of concrete that rises 16” above the terrain, used to redirect stormwater around the house. The house is an open plan, based on a 7’ x 7’ modular system with columns spaced at 21’ on center. The two-way structural framing system allows for extensive cantilevers.

Corten steel was selected for its sustainable characteristics, and aesthetics, as its weathering is complementary to desert colors. The structural components are open to view, creating a contrast to the highly polished concrete floor throughout the house. The grid of beams overhead defines the ceiling and flows beyond the glass enclosure to create outdoor rooms in the courtyard, blurring the distinction between inside and out. Perforated, Corten roof panels allow filtered daylight from the sun to reach the courtyard below.

The exterior enclosure of the house is glass, with perforated sunscreens and press-formed louvers layered in front of the glass where shade or privacy is needed. This creates a sense of daylight in all interior spaces and a rich texture of shades and shadows on the exterior.

Visit Optima DCHGlobal for more information

Read the full feature on ArchDaily

9 Sustainability Stars Making Waves in Arizona

From architecture to agriculture to wildlife preservation, these Valley residents are proving that caring for the environment can be a part of our everyday lives.

David Hovey Jr.

President, chief operating officer and principal architect, Optima
David Hovey Jr.’s passion for sustainability runs in the family. “My parents started doing green roofs back in the 1980s,” the architect says, referring to Eileen and David Hovey Sr., who founded Optima in 1978. Hovey, who joined the firm right after earning his masters degree in architecture, says sustainability is a driving force at Optima. “It’s a design approach that keeps the people and the environment at the forefront,” he says. The company’s latest project, Scottsdale’s Optima McDowell Mountain Village, will be the first residential development in the Southwest to be built under the International Green Construction and International Energy Conservation codes, and will have the nation’s largest private rainwater harvesting system. And, in keeping with the firm’s mission, it will make heavy use of biophilic design. “Biophilic is a trendy term right now, but it’s simply about connection to nature,” Hovey says. “So, green roofs, floor-to-ceiling glass, terraces, our signature vertical landscaping—those are all biophilic design.”

A modular prefabricated—meaning manufactured in an off-site factory—home by architects David Hovey Jr., AIA, and David Hovey Sr., FAIA, rests lightly on the land. With limited onsite construction, it was possible to maintain more than 90% of the boulders and vegetation. The system used to build this dwelling is sustainable up to the LEED Platinum level and can be built quickly and efficiently in any location, climate or terrain.

 

Read more on Phoenix Home + Garden

Visit Optima McDowell Mountain Village for more details

Optima Paradise Valley final multimillion-dollar modular home available

Located in the heart of Arizona’s most affluent town of Paradise Valley, luxury living and modular design meet at the remaining multimillion-dollar home on the 4.5-acre, three-home compound of Optima Paradise Valley.

Situated on more than one acre, the remaining 2,641-square-foot home is priced at $3.99 million and is designed with privacy, comfort and convenience in mind, a press release stated.

The compound was developed by award-winning real estate firm Optima and designed by internationally recognized architects David Hovey Jr. and David C. Hovey.

The homes within Optima Paradise Valley were created using the patent-pending Optima DCHGlobal Modular Factory Built Building System, which is a proprietary architectural system developed by Hovey Jr. and Hovey Sr. that synchronizes standardization with design flexibility in an entirely factory-produced modular system. Building modules are based on Vierendeel steel trusses and can be transported by truck to the site and hoisted into place atop concrete piers by crane, according to the release.

This residence showcases three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a spacious chef-grade kitchen adorned with high-end appliances, a three-car garage and a two-bedroom, two-bathroom stand-alone guest house. In addition to the views of Camelback and Mummy mountains, the home features a courtyard with entertainment space, a lap pool and spa, a fire pit, an outdoor kitchen and a covered patio that seamlessly blends indoor and outdoor living.

The other two homes, which are nearly identical to the remaining home but have an additional 14×36-foot module which adds 489 square feet to the guest houses, have already sold.

The remaining Optima Paradise Valley home is composed of seven steel modules ranging from 18×72 feet to 12×24 feet. The primary house is made up of two 18×72-foot staggered modules connected at the long sides, with three smaller 12×24-foot modules forming the attached three-car garage. The home has a detached guest house comprised of a 14×54-foot module.

“This desert dwelling, ideally situated within the highly coveted town of Paradise Valley, encapsulates a modern interpretation of the old Arizona, compound-style of living,” President and COO Hovey Jr. said in the release. “We knew we had the opportunity to bring something truly special to the market in terms of style, sustainability and process. With these homes located next to one another, their contemporary design relates to one another while still standing out against the Sonoran Desert’s natural terrain. With two of the homes selling within a few months of hitting the market, we know that homeowners are looking for low-impact homes with elevated, upscale design that exemplify luxury living in the Valley.”

The glass and steel truss structure create a transparent design that erases the boundaries between the inside and outside to bring in abundant natural light, while sunshades above the windows shelter the interiors from the desert heat and direct sunlight, the release stated. Punched horizontal panels mounted on the exterior provide both shading and privacy to select areas. Outside, above the courtyard entertainment space, there are elevated horizontal screens that provide shade for the outdoor areas and cast shadow patterns.

The home has been designed with sustainability in mind and is equipped with high-efficiency Variable Refrigerant Flow HVAC systems, which enables the temperature within each room to be controlled independently from the others, as well as all electric appliances and structural steel that has a high-recycled content. The home can also accommodate the future installation of a solar power collection system.

The Optima DCHGlobal MFB homes only take days to fabricate, last longer than a traditional single-family home, reduce waste from the construction process, require less maintenance and utilize the highest quality of building components and finishes, according to the release. Currently, only three other homes have been built using this system, which provides residents with an exclusive homeownership opportunity.

Located within minutes from Scottsdale, Optima Paradise Valley’s location offers residents accessibility to a variety of the area’s most popular outdoor experiences, including world-class golf, hikes and biking trails, as well as some of the state’s acclaimed dining destinations, high-end shopping, entertainment and five-star resorts.

 

Read more on Town of Paradise Valley Independent

Visit Optima Paradise Valley for more details

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