arizona Archives - Page 7 of 10

Creative Container Gardening

Posted on July 22, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

In cities throughout the country, container gardening is a staple in multifamily housing where space may be limited. And while at home during shelter-in-place orders, many were inspired to test out their green thumbs. We’ve always prioritized green spaces within our projects, from rooftop foliage to lush vertical landscapes, and we love to see our residents doing the same. For those looking to get creative with container gardening, here are a few ideas and inventions to help inspire:

Know Your Basics

This may seem like a no-brainer, but understanding factors like lighting, drainage and materials can drastically affect which plants thrive on a patio or terrace. You’ll also have to choose between annuals, perennials, herbs or greenery. And of course, consider your location. Plants that thrive in Arizona’s climate may not translate well into Chicago’s weather. Knowing your home’s plant hardiness zone can help you decide what to grow.

Embrace Edible Greens

Don’t let growing your own food or herbs intimidate you; it can be done, even if you have limited space. In fact, gardening your produce in containers can actually help you control growing conditions and potential pests. Larger pots, proper drainage, and potting mix specifically designed for containers will help your efforts. For an extra growth boost, plant flowers that will attract pollinators. For more in-depth tips, the Old Farmer’s Almanac has extensive resources for all things container gardening.

Try New Technology

It’s 2020, so gardening technology has evolved to meet your needs. If you travel often or forget to water your plants, invest in self-watering planters. If you want a show-stopping tower of plants, The Farmstand takes container gardening to the next level, with options to grow 200+ varieties of plants with minimal user effort. Or if you want to keep track of the health of your plants from your smartphone, check out devices like the Parrot Flower Power.

Whether it’s in Illinois or Arizona, our passion for bringing the outdoors inside serves to inspire and welcome. We hope it inspires our Optima community members to do the same.

Our Signature Vertical Landscaping System

Posted on July 20, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

With every project, we ask ourselves how the natural land around us influences, affects and works in tandem with the structures we build. Seeking to holistically integrate the natural and built environments led us to develop our next-generation vertical landscaping system. The lush green element, utilized in many of our Arizona properties, is a cornerstone feature of Optima communities, a key component to our sustainability initiatives and so much more.

Our signature vertical landscaping system at Optima Kierland Center.

Aesthetic Enhancement

On its surface level, our signature vertical landscaping system serves to enhance the natural beauty of our communities. The lush verdure enables a palette of vibrantly colored plants at the edge of each floor to grow both up and over the edge of the building. This creates beautiful, private terrace gardens for each unit in buildings like Optima Camelview Village, Optima Kierland Center, and Optima Sonoran Village. The intense greenery also plays bold juxtaposition to our building’s facade, where concrete and glass work work in harmony to celebrate the relationship between the built and natural environment, with glass blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, home and garden.

Our signature vertical landscaping system at Optima Sonoran Village.

Functional, Sustainable Beauty

Our signature vertical landscaping system isn’t just for aesthetic value — it plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment. The system, with self-containing irrigation and drainage, provides a haven for urban wildlife, promotes evaporative cooling, re-oxygenates the air, reduces dust and smog levels, reduces ambient noise, detains stormwater and thermally insulates and shields residents from the desert sun, all of which contributes to a sustainable urban environment. Residents also experience the direct impact of being surrounded by nature, with the vertical landscaping system serving as a connection to nature and added source of privacy.

Like all good design, our vertical landscaping system is a natural study in form and function. We’re proud to pioneer a system that contributes to the natural beauty of the environment, and helps preserve it, too.

Inside the Phoenix Art Museum

Posted on July 6, 2020May 23, 2024 by Nancy

We know and love Phoenix, home to Optima Biltmore Towers, as an urban oasis and cultural hub, where the arts are everywhere you look. At the center of Phoenix’s ever-evolving and expanding arts scene is the Phoenix Art Museum, an institution that’s been around for sixty years.

History of the Museum

Although the museum has been around for 60 years, its community ties go even deeper. In 1915, just three years after Arizona achieved statehood, the Phoenix Women’s Club was formed. The club used their platform to establish an art exhibition committee, whose goal was to improve the quality of art offerings at the Arizona State Fair and to purchase one piece of art each year. Their vision, and collection, became the foundational basis for the museum’s collection today, now consisting of more than 20,000 art objects.

Sculptural exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum — Credit: Tomwsulcer on Wikimedia Commons, made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

The Museum Today

Today, the Phoenix Art Museum is considered the largest art museum in the southwestern United States, engaging 300,000 local and visiting art lovers alike each year. Their mission? “To ignite imaginations, create connections, and serve as a vibrant destination, a brave space, for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art.” They don’t just operate as a museum to achieve this — they’re a vibrant community center and host to festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs, both inside and outside the museum walls.

For those planning their visit, expect to enjoy American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art and fashion design, as well as an interactive children’s space, photography exhibitions (held in partnership with the Center for Creative Photography) and a landscaped sculpture garden.

There’s no shortage of things to discover, whether you’re a first-time or regular visitor. While the museum is temporarily closed due to COVID-19, you can explore their full list of collection onlines here. And when their doors do open once more, you can learn more about planning your visit here, or view a calendar of upcoming events here.

Wellness at Optima Kierland

Posted on June 29, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

As the residential real estate industry develops, amenities are becoming more in-demand, more inventive and more expansive. And wellness is a huge part of that growth. One study from March 2020 predicts that wellness is estimated to be a $4.2 trillion USD industry for the next generation of high-end homebuyers – forecast to grow at nearly twice the rate of the global economy. The amenity spaces we design for our properties are purposefully created for both community and individual wellness. We’ve previously covered wellness at Optima Signature, and today we review and explore wellness at Optima Kierland.

Embracing Nature

Located in the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona, Optima Kierland Center is comprised of 7120, 7140, 7160 and 7180, four buildings which together make a serene retreat from the North Scottsdale urban core. Both the individual residences and the vast amenity spaces feature stunning views of the surrounding desert, not to mention curated landscaping, hanging gardens and communal green space. More than six acres of open green space on the ground level create a park-like setting for the community, and also reduces ambient temperature to mitigate the heat-island effect. In fact, the landscaping actually creates a microclimate that lowers the ambient temperature from 5 to 9 degrees compared to surrounding sidewalks. The oasis-like greenspace of Optima Kierland keeps residents inspired, provides a closeness with the surrounding environment and celebrates the natural desert surroundings.

The Sky Deck and pool at 7120 Optima Kierland — The Sky Deck at 7120 Optima Kierland

Enjoying the Outdoors

Signature to Optima Kierland Center is the inclusion of a Sky Deck on each of the community’s towers. With panoramic views of the city, each Sky Deck also includes a wealth of amenity spaces, including heated pools, spa-grade plunge pools and saunas, indoor-outdoor yoga studios, rooftop walking and running tracks, entertaining spaces with barbecues, covered bars and counter seating, outdoor theater, lush landscaping and more.

Connecting with Community

As with all of our multi-family properties, fostering a strong sense of community is a top priority because we believe that connection fosters physical and emotional wellness. At Kierland Center, this intention manifests into the many communal amenity spaces, including fully outfitted sports areas, movie theaters, party rooms, game rooms, and state-of-the-art fitness centers. Each building also includes an exclusive Residents Club so neighbors can enjoy each other’s company regularly.

In designing spaces around wellness, we inherently design spaces that bring people closer to each other, closer to their environment and closer to their own personal aspirations. Our people-centric approach is what fuels our passion and drives us forward to continue creating in thoughtful, meaningful ways.

The Sculpture Garden at Optima Sonoran Village

Posted on June 10, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

At Optima, our appreciation and curiosity about materials — and how those materials are expressed — extends beyond architecture and into the artistic medium of sculpture. The sculpture garden at Optima Sonoran Village is home to several original sculptures by Optima founder David Hovey Sr., and exemplifies how art can influence and impact the space it resides within.

Silver Fern, an original Optima sculpture by David Hovey Sr.

The garden includes five original David Hovey Sr. sculptures: Curves and Voids, Silver Fern, Triangles, Intersecting Arches and Duo. Originally created as a large and monumental sculpture, Duo is crafted out of steel to create a striking silhouette alluding to a man and a woman gazing at one another. Meanwhile, Curves and Voids expresses steel and its potential through grand, sweeping curves. The voids are laser cut within the sculpture’s steel planes; the holes provide gaps and textures that contrast and play off of the sculpture’s curves.

Intersecting Arches, an original Optima sculpture by David Hovey Sr.

Each original sculpture within the garden is just one of many variations of a design. David Hovey Sr. often experiments with color, size and orientation within his sculpture designs to breathe new life into the same form, placing these iterations across Optima communities. At the sculpture garden at Optima Sonoran Village, Hovey Sr. chose to use Corten steel rather than coat the sculptures in bold hues. He did so to ensure that rather than competing with the building’s vibrant facade, the sculptures would complement the community. Of the five sculptures, Curves & Voids is large-scale, and the other four remain of modest size.

We invite anyone who visits Optima Sonoran Village to take a stroll through the sculpture garden, to immerse themselves in the art form and to discover how sculpture can transform the space it’s within.

Neighborhood Spotlight: Phoenix

Posted on June 3, 2020May 21, 2024 by Nancy

Home to Optima Biltmore Towers and a rapidly evolving city skyline, Phoenix is the vivacious and sprawling city capital of Arizona. Today we’re diving deep into why we love Phoenix, its endless pockets to explore and its bustling arts scene.

Phoenix Art Museum. Credit: Wikimedia Commons licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Arts and Culture

Phoenix is thriving in the arts and culture arena, with classic spots like the Phoenix Art Museum whose collection spans from the Renaissance era to the present day and the Heard Museum, showcasing American Indian art, to a burgeoning underground arts scene. Phoenix’s newest walkable arts district, Roosevelt Row, features urban murals, galleries from up-and-coming artists and is the home of First Fridays art extravaganza, a once-monthly neighborhood art crawl.

Taliesin West, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Credit: Teemu008 on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed

Architectural Treasures

We’re proud to put down roots in a city that has inspired Modernist architectural masters like Frank Lloyd Wright. Taliesin West is a cornerstone piece of Modernist architecture, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as his winter home and school, and the now-home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The city is also home to the futuristic desert home, Cosanti, designed by Wright’s seminal student, Italian architect Paolo Soleri.

R&R – Both Natural and Manmade

Phoenix also boasts unparalleled access to the natural gems of the Arizona landscape, with options like Desert Botanical Garden, Camelback Mountain (which is also right next to Optima Sonoran Village) and Papago Park all closeby to the urban oasis. When it comes to manufactured R&R, Phoenix is known too for its lush golf courses and luxury spas, where you can while away the day and recenter.

As we continue to expand in Arizona, we look forward to discovering more in our favorite places, and learning about new communities, too. Stay tuned for more neighborhood spotlights on our other Optima communities.

Staying Creative During COVID-19

Posted on May 26, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

During COVID-19, we’re spending more time at home than we’re maybe used to. For some, this means extra time spent playing with — and managing — the kids, for others, any extra time offers a much needed pause to rejuvenate, refresh and stay well. No matter the unique situation, we’re all coming together and responding to the situation in thoughtful, creative ways. Here are just a few ways our team is staying creative (and sane) during COVID-19:

Making New Traditions

“I’ve been taking out my markers to make a few bubble letter posters for car parade birthday greetings and if I can’t get there in the car, then I’ll just show my artwork in the Zoom birthday party.

Each day I play either online canasta or online mah jongg with my friends. Canasta has become part of my nighttime ritual, a way to catch up on everyone’s day while playing a hand on-line and we talk on Discord at the same time so we feel like we’re real gamers like our kids!”

-Jennifer Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President

Painting… Nonstop

“I don’t know how creative I’ve been, does painting almost every square inch of our house count as creative? I’m working on our kitchen cabinets right now.”

-Shelby Vukic, Office Manager & Executive Assistant

Slowing Down to Stargaze

“What I think I’ve enjoyed the most is slowing down, and not having to go go go all the time. Being able to relax outside in the evening, take a dip in the pool, soak in the hot tub and see the AZ stars. I have been enjoying my mornings watering all our potted plants, herbs and flowers in the back. I’ve been cooking a lot, we are eating better, and with fresher ingredients too. Saving money on not eating out as much as we were doing!”

-Jamie Springer, Regional Manager

Becoming Adventurers, Gardeners and Ornithologists

“Big things have happened in my house during shelter-in-place. My son became potty trained and learned how to ride a scooter. We play with the bouncy house in the backyard every day that the weather allows and go on a ton of nature walks. We live on a ravine so we go out looking for deer, foxes, fish, and birds. The kids have a blast. We spend a lot of time looking through binoculars these days – we have an owl living in a tree in our backyard as well as woodpeckers, robins and cardinals. The other day we spotted a scarlet tanager. We’ve become a house of ornithologists! We also planted some seeds in our garden – so far just arugula and basil but we plan to plant the rest next weekend.”

-Ali Burnham, Marketing Director

From our homes to yours, we hope these stories provide some inspiration and help you find new ways to stay creative during COVID-19, too!

Our Beliefs: Freedom to Innovate

Posted on May 18, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

At Optima, all aspects of our work are deeply saturated by the passion and values instilled in Our Beliefs. Our team unifies around these beliefs, enabling us to create more collaboratively, to communicate more effectively and to be collectively inspired by a shared vision. One belief — freedom to innovate — speaks to the degrees of freedom that we enjoy, allowing us to continually instill our work with inventive thinking and approaches.

As a vertically-integrated business, we serve as the owner, the architect, the general contractor, the developer, and property manager, allowing us to keep our hands on all parts of the process. With a full-throttle, approach to every aspect of building, from inception to execution, inherently we hold unique degrees of freedom and adaptability.

Take when we were building 7160 Optima Kierland, the first tower of Optima Kierland Apartments, for example: we were able to shift on a dime and seize opportunity when it was presented. At the time of construction, we identified a rapid increase in market demand for three-bedroom units and quickly adapted mid-build, creating three-bedroom units, even after concrete had been poured.

As project architect, we modified plans and ensured no adverse cost impact resulted, coordinating with our design team maintaining bathrooms and shafts in their original location. As general contractor for the project, we engaged quick responses from partners without affecting project delivery.

Each and every day we make our decisions based on what we believe is right, without compromising our vision. The freedom to innovate is at the core of this decision making process — driving our work each and every day to be better, more efficient and more inventive.

The Evolving Phoenix Skyline

Posted on April 22, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

When Optima expanded to its Arizona office in 2000, everything about the landscape was foreign — from the arid climate and lush desert vegetation, to the way the city developed. Our business has taken roots in the state since then, allowing us to tackle new architectural frontiers and new design languages, and also allowing us to witness the explosive expansion and evolution of the Phoenix city skyline.

The Polycentric City

Known as the Valley of the Sun for its sprawling, multi-city metropolitan layout, Phoenix has never been defined by a dense city skyline — but that’s been swiftly changing. As a city that covers 520 square miles, Phoenix was designed to optimize for automobile travel, with a highly advanced freeway system that made out-of-town commuters able to get to and from work in as little as 20-30 minutes, a rarity for most cities.

In response to rapid growth, the city developed a “village” system in the 1980s, aiming to create several urban hubs — rather than one, centralized locale — where businesses could thrive. Since then, fifteen urban villages have emerged in the polycentrically planned city, such as the successful pocket at 24th and Camelback Road, where Optima Biltmore Towers is located.

Onwards and Upwards

As businesses continued to naturally gravitate to a “downtown” core, particularly after the introduction of the light rail in 2008, Phoenix recognized the need to reconsider zoning codes and encourage height and intentional growth in downtown Phoenix. Zoning codes evolved in 2010 and 2015 along the light rail track, and with the code modifications and the city opening its arms, the downtown area began to rise.

Now, 18 of Arizona’s 20 tallest buildings are in downtown Phoenix, including the 40-story Chase Tower which rises to a total of 438 feet. The U.S. Bank Center, designed in the Modernist International Style, is among that list too. While impressive skyscrapers and highrises have begun to fill in the skyline and build out a bustling and thriving downtown, we’re still able to catch glimpses of Camelback Mountain, maintaining the true-to-Arizona-style balance between the built and natural environment.

Working From Home at Optima

Posted on April 15, 2020September 1, 2020 by Nancy

Achieving work-life balance has taken on new gravity as we shelter-in-place. At Optima, our teams are with you every step of the way to ensure you have a productive workday, and find daily fulfillment and joy in the comfort of your home. Here are just a few of the ways our properties are already optimized for people’s remote working needs:

Distinct Work Zones

One of the biggest challenges when working from home is achieving a healthy separation between work and life. At our multifamily communities, each home is designed to have space for a desk and at-home workspace. With the opportunity to have a dedicated work zone, you’ll be able to create an environment that is conducive to your daily success and that allows you to tackle any challenge.

Home office space at Optima Sonoran Village

Connection to Nature

A shelter-in-place order doesn’t mean we have to separate ourselves entirely from the outdoors. It’s important to continue finding sensitive ways to get your daily dose of sunshine. With the integration of the built and natural environment integral to our design sensibilities, all of our communities feature vast outdoor spaces, with many homes offering significant outdoor living spaces. These outdoor spaces are the perfect place to take advantage of weather on a nice day — like having an outdoor picnic on your balcony.

Engaging Digital Programming

Our property management teams are committed as ever to ensuring that our communities and residents stay connected — with one another and with their daily patterns. We’ve been hard at work putting together virtual event series and fitness classes that allow Optima residents to enjoy a full array of digital amenities from the comfort of their own home. Some of this programming includes digital patio workouts with a fitness trainer at Optima Sonoran Village, digital fitness classes with an onsite trainer at Optima Signature and even building-wide movie, trivia and comedy nights at Optima Kierland Apartments.

As we continue to shelter-in-place and practice social distancing, our buildings and our teams are ready to collaborate and come together to make being home even more enjoyable for our communities.

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Tag: arizona