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Robb Report Magazine

Custom Designing a Dream

Architect and designer John B. Scholz knows how to make a dream home a reality.
Written By Sheila J. Gibson

When John B. Scholz designed a house in a Paradise Valley, Ariz., development in the early 1990s, the home owners' association complained, as did the planning board. The home's design wasn't an issue; the problem was its size. At slightly more than 3,000 square feet, it barely exceeded the minimum required for construction. None of it bothered Scholz--or the home owner. "It was exactly what the client wanted, and it's exactly what the client got," Scholz says. "What's more important is bout how people like and live in their house rather than what other people think ait."

Scholz tailors his designs to his clients' lifestyles. For almost 20 years, his Scottsdale, Ariz.-based architectural company has specialized in luxury homes. He estimates that three out of every four commissions he receives are custom projects in which the clients dictate everything from the home's size to its bathroom fixtures. In the planning of these homes, Scholz performs his most important job: listening.

"You have to be a good listener more than anything else," he says. "I think the best architect alive would have to be a combination of architect and psychologist, because you have to listen to what people tell you and read between the lines and interpret it for them. People want to personalize a house." Making the clients' wishes a reality takes many forms, from an underground garage to a soaring two-story foyer to niche lighting to spotlight a favorite piece of artwork.

Scholz spends from 30 to 40 hours doing his "homework" in initial consultations with clients. An average-sized project runs from 7,000 to 9,000 square feet and costs from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. It's this "wish-list" period of developing a home that Scholz enjoys the most. "As [the clients] develop a sense of what's going on, you see their eyes light up," he says. "That is always a tremendous high for me."

Scholz's company, John B. Scholz Architect Inc., has created more than 100 custom homes for clients across the United States and around the world. Currently, Scholz is working on 10 projects in locations as widespread as Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Washington state, South Florida, and Moscow.

Scholz's father, Don, was a developer of prefabricated luxury homes and the founder of Scholz Homes. It was under his father's guidance that young John took his first summer jobs on construction sites, planting petunia beds and digging ditches for plumbing. John and his father are still peripherally involved with the original company, Toledo, Ohio-based Scholz Design, which sells designs of homes and custom designs. (See "Dream Homes," April 1998.)

Keeping It Interesting

Scholz relishes the challenges of residential architecture, such as wrestling with difficult sites and local restrictions and working with a platoon of outside consultants, as he did when creating an $8 million, 20,000-square-foot home on Chicago's North Shore. He is completing a 40,000-square-foot home in London that could have a final price tag between $30 million and $40 million. "We seldom if ever do the same thing twice. We literally do every [style] design there is. The fact that [we] never get typecast keeps it interesting for me," he says.

Scholz's decades of experience provide him with a unique outlook on the high-end custom home field. Although some clients are commissioning larger homes with soaring ceilings, for some, like the home owner in Paradise Valley, size isn't everything. We spoke to Scholz about the art of personalizing a custom home and the direction in which the market is heading.

What makes an upscale home distinct?

The obvious ingredients, such as terrific curb appeal, the interior spaces, and the sight lines should be incorporated. Personalizing the house to the utmost extent is what makes a house successful. Everybody is looking for something different in the way they live. Some people are looking for a sanctuary, others are looking for a trophy house.

How do designers approach the idea of a sanctuary?

[With] everything from steam showers to Jacuzzi tubs, all the little amenities that make people comfortable, in a private area of the house. Part of it has to do with architectural planning and part has to do with good interior design. Cocooning is an especially applicable word, because that's exactly what it is. You want to create an environment that shelters people, so they can fortify themselves to go out and face life the next day.

What about home size?

I've noticed that people are less and less bashful about doing what they want. When people are doing large custom houses, it is important that they get what they want. There's less caution about pulling out all the stops.

What are home owners requesting now that they didn't ask for before?

They're asking for [things] in larger quantities, and they seem more willing to spend to get what they want. Room sizes are expanding--master baths, kitchens, and suite areas.

People like higher ceilings, more volumetric space than they used to. That's an idea that's been around long enough so that people worry less about heating and air-conditioning bills [and are more concerned] with how the house feels.

Are the intended uses of the rooms changing as well?

The public spaces within the [larger] houses--the living room, the formal entry foyers--have a tendency to be more luxurious and dramatic. We exaggerate the volume and the size of things that constitute the perimeters of rooms: columns, large arches, backlit domed ceilings, and cathedral areas. We see a lot more openness--columns, arches, divisions in ceiling heights, and treatments. [We see] a lot of backlit ceilings, sometimes with beams, sometimes with coffers.

If everything is slightly enlarged, all the things in a room go along with it, like the fireplace, which has become a large and important part of the room. Hoods, openings, and mantel and hearth treatments reflect the increase in the scale of the room. All the things are part of a pecking order in size and importance. It's like a symphony. All the movements have to be choreographed into one cohesive whole.

What other rooms are expanding?

One [area that is] definitely increasing is the master bedroom/bath. People want bathrooms and bedrooms to feel like a Four Seasons [suite]. Master suites now contain the bedroom itself, probably a sitting area with its own fireplace, sometimes an exercise facility or an office, and the master bath. Sometimes you see almost totally diversified his-and-her bath and suite situations, where the only thing shared would be a very large Jacuzzi tub.

What building materials are predominant today?

There is a recurrence of themes that have already been around the block once or twice. There are very strong trends toward Mediterranean neoclassic design and combining materials--say, stucco and stone, which is a very handsome look, or stucco and brick. There is a definite trend toward more luxurious finishes in floor coverings and countertops. Granites and marbles are becoming de rigueur in upscale houses. People are more adventurous in paving materials and flooring materials--slate, for instance. It's always a nice idea to incorporate indigenous materials, if it can be done.

How are exterior home styles influencing interior design styles?

We see a lot of [homes with] traditional exteriors in order to be in concert with neighbors or the general surroundings, with interiors that are much more dramatic. When you walk in the front door, you don't necessarily see what you expected to see from the outside.

Does a home's location affect its design?

You can put any style anywhere, as long as it's extremely well done. Most of the accepted styles and their offshoots would fit almost anyplace in the United States. It's a fairly simple situation to take a house in Southern California that is heavily Mediterranean and produce it in the Midwest and have it look completely at home.

How does the design of vacation homes differ from designing a primary residence?

When you go on vacation, you expect a different perspective for a limited period of time. People want houses that reflect what they feel when they go on vacation. It's more of a personalized statement, and people tend to go a bit more wild and crazy. They get a little more adventurous in spirit. It's more like a Disneyland for adults. Also, houses like that tend to get constructed in more interesting areas--mountains, seashores.

Has technology also influenced home design?

There is a tremendous improvement in the sophistication of smart homes and security systems. We caution people to pick a level of technology they're comfortable with. You can have a $100,000 security system that will turn on every light in the house, but if you aren't comfortable with it, it does you no good.

What will the luxury homes of the future have?

I don't think there are going to be any radical inventions in the next five to 10 years, but I think we're going to see a continuing general refinement in materials and designs. What strikes me about the type of work that's being done today is the continuing increase in sophistication in both the client and the product design. That's the main thing that will distinguish it from a lesser-sized and lower-priced project.

What are some of the problems facing luxury home designers today?

It probably comes down to trying to define what the client wants to do. The most difficult and simultaneously rewarding aspect of it is trying to give the clients exactly what they want to make them happy with their house.

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