What would concern me is that the largest windows are on the west wall which is the hottest side.

Small (dark?) entrance. You will need to step back in the great room

for visitors, I like the house.

Without knowing something about you and your building site, people are only able to give generic responses.

After taking a look, my suggestions would almost create a new plan.

Are you working with an Architect?

The entrance seems tight. I also think the pantry is in a strange position. Can it be swapped with the laundry room so it's closer to your actual work space?

Upstairs bedroom wants another window.

What do you plan to keep in that distant pantry?

Are you sure this isn't an service station with some incidental space attached? Because the house looks built around storing cars. People, not so much a factor. People's comfort and convenience, not a consideration at all. . Between the extremely unwelcoming Where's Waldo entry, to the cavernous poorly delineated public space that doesn't even plan for sitting down to a meal, or producing one in comfort, the whole plan looks like a single, hermit car mechanic's, fantasy.

Thru the master bath to get to the closet. Pantry in an odd location. Very odd window placement and sizing. Coat closet is around the corner. As mentioned prior without knowing anything about location, lot type and orientation, it looks like it will be very dark for the most part. Why would you want a flat roof? What type of siding?

Curious as to the reason for 3 different common spaces (great room, family room and den in a 3 bedroom home? Is one really an office? Who gets the upstairs bedroom? A child, or is that a bedroom for guests, and therefore, private?

The window sizes and placement appear to have been doled out grudgingly in an area with so much sun / ability for natural light.

The laundry area is a traffic area. Anyone folding or doing laundry is going to be in the way of anyone trying to get in or out of the garage. I'd move those W/D units closer to the front, or really, reconfigure that entire laundry / pantry combo

Your kitchen is generous in size with an abundance of countertops, but you'll end up prepping and doing all your work to the right of the sink on the island and ignoring that expanse on the the other side of the stove. You'd be better served going to the Kitchens forum and redesigning, and using that dead zone for pantry and free up more space for garage entry / laundry.

It would be nicer to have the garages pushed back some, or at least not have that large massing sticking out in front so much.

Hard to say anything more than that without knowing your lot layout, family makeup and what you are thinking in your wants/ needs list.

I lived in Phoenix for quite some time, and my biggest concern is that you've maximized your western exposure. :-O Especially with the kitchen being the hottest room in the house, y'all will be cookin' *yourselves.*

Southern light is best, so ideally, your Great Room or Kitchen should face that direction.

I don't suppose a complete redo is possible? (So sorry.) :-(

All of that said, I do love that you've picked a vernacular style! It sounds counterintuitive, but I never really saw that many Pueblo homes in Phoenix. Are y'all gonna do the log detail, too??? With those little tiled water hole thingies? (Assuming you even know what the heck I'm trying to say, lol.)

Thanks everyone for the comments, appreciate it, trying to get this as close to right as possible. I'll post a picture of the site plan later today.

For reference it will only be myself, wife & young daughter living here. The front room is really an office but added a closet so if someone desired it could be used as a bedroom.

The second floor bedroom is just a space for guests.

our style preference is "soft desert contemporary/Pueblo". In the area home will be constructed that is the predominant home style (flat roof, etc.).

This is depending on age of your child but i wouldn't want my young kids having a bathtub in their bedroom basically. They could turn it on get in and you'd never know. I think the den would be better placed be the 2nd bedroom so if used as a bedroom down the line it wouldn't be right by your master.

Hi Greg - what part of Phoenix will you be building in ? I lived in Verrado for a year while working on a project in North Scottsdale. It's so beautiful out there.

It might be nice to take out the walk in pantry and create an attractive mudroom / family entry / laundry room off the garage. Your kitchen is large enough to incorporate pantry storage. I would suggest relocating the storage area in the garage as well so you're not walking through it as you enter your home.

It's always a good idea to start laying out the furniture in your rooms as soon as possible so you can get a good feel for the room sizes. If you're incorporating a dining area on the right side of the great room you'll want to make sure everything fits and that you have adequate space to walk through the spaces.

How large is your lot?

I would sooner redesign the house than have windows facing west in a hot climate. The cooling costs will be massive.

I would try to flip at least the pantry and laundry entrance so the pantry was not so far from the kitchen. And I think I would create the possibility to use the family room upstairs as another bedroom.

Totally not a pro but it seems if you are going to the expense of putting on a second floor with a bath, it seems it would be more functional overall if you made it a bit larger with a family room plus two bedrooms up there to accommodate extra guests or two older children.

There is no good shading device for the low western sun, unless you plan them to be vertical slats that you can close (effectively blocking any view out of the rooms where you will spend all of your time in the evenings). Southern exposure light can be managed as the sun is higher in the sky.

You will carry a tremendous thermal load in your great room and master bedroom - having to really crank up the A/C at the end of the day - the hottest time.

You will have tremendous glare and light streaming in uncontrolled - again - unless you block it outside with screens / slats / obstructions. Putting in interior blinds won't really decrease the thermal load enough, but it will manage the horizontal blinding light.

If the the view on the West side is not a factor, how about flipping the MBR and Great Room to be in front of the house and kitchen, den and MB closet to be on the back part of the house. This should reduce the number of windows and mitigate the western exposure. Also definitely weigh in to swap laundry and pantry.

As jannicone said, there is no good way in the southern US to block the western sun. I know that because our bedroom in the condo we're renting faces west and even with our hurricane shutters closed so we can't even enjoy the view of the bay from our windows, the room is hotter than all the other rooms in the condo.

Plus your patio will be unusable for a good 6 months of the year because of the sun. And even in winter the sun will filter through which in MN is a good thing. In Phoenix, not so good.

Why would you want windows in your master closet? Light is the enemy of fabrics.

Your best light is to the south which is now taken up with closet, bathroom and master bedroom instead of the public rooms.

I would highly recommend reading up on passive solar heating/cooling for your area and consider orienting your house so the long side is north/south and the shorter side is east/west. My house like yours was originally going to face west in the back and I'm so glad I redesigned my house so instead of the long axis facing east/west, it now faces north/south.

cpartist is absolutely right about the optimum orientation for the house. If you have a large lot, and if the street orientation permits, and if the views are not a factor, and if any existing vegetation allows, then you should consider reorienting with the long axis facing east-west. That's a lot of ifs, though, and I'm assuming your site constraints led you to the orientation as shown. The only effective way to block the low western sun is with vegetation, either natural or planted. This may or may not be possible, or even desirable if views are an issue.

I've always thought the perfect orientation for a house is for the entry and service spaces to be on the north, and with the public spaces and large areas of glass to be on the south side. This works well for a northern climate where the southern sun is welcome and the wind blows from the north. In a southern climate like yours I'm not sure this works so well, and perhaps reversing it is better.

In any case, if your lot permits it, consider reorienting the house to accommodate the hot southern sun. And become familiar with passive solar heating and cooling.

The only effective way to block the low western sun is with vegetation, either natural or planted. This may or may not be possible, or even desirable if views are an issue.

I'm wondering how dense any vegetation plantings would or could be in Phoenix?

I've always thought the perfect orientation for a house is for the entry and service spaces to be on the north, and with the public spaces and large areas of glass to be on the south side. This works well for a northern climate where the southern sun is welcome and the wind blows from the north. In a southern climate like yours I'm not sure this works so well, and perhaps reversing it is better.

Not necessarily. I have my major windows on the south side but have a lanai helping to shade it too. In the winter, it will help allow light to enter but now in the summer the lanai blocks direct sunlight. And for the majority of the year, having that light entering from the south is just delightful.

How dense vegetation can be in Phoenix? Define, "vegetation." :-P

Seriously, the best luck I had was with an aloe vera plant... That thing got to be *massive.* It was taller than 6' (especially when it flowered), at least that wide, and if it was watered too much, it turned red. Maybe I should've planted a hedge of them, lol.

The kids would have sword fights with the branches that dried up and fell off. :-D

I've attached some pictures of the property and a screenshot of a rough grading and drainage plan showing where house would be sited. The entire back of the house is currently designed with a large covered patio, the idea was to mitigate some of the western sun with the overhang.

Sounds like at a minimum I need to incorporate the pantry into the kitchen, revise the laundry/entry area and increase size/depth of front entry.

For those mentioning the east/west exposure, I'm kind of locked in with my lot, orienting it to look N or S wouldn't make sense since there are neighbors either side. Maybe move the master bedroom to the east side and put master bath/closet towards west side. The reason for the second floor deck looking west is to catch the city lights that you can see if you are off to the north a little bit from the hill behind the property.

I'm a little reluctant to move great room to the east side, just not sure how that would look. I'd basically be mirroring the existing plan from west to east but I'm open to ideas.

FYI, this is an ICF house, extremely energy efficient, 12" thick concrete/foam walls.

Lot is 1.25 acres in a county island area, there's no HOA and minimal restrictions.

Again, all the advice appreciated!

I've attached some pictures of the property and a screenshot of a rough grading and drainage plan showing where house would be sited. The entire back of the house is currently designed with a large covered patio, the idea was to mitigate some of the western sun with the overhang.

It won't. Your patio will be useless for a good part of the year.

For those mentioning the east/west exposure, I'm kind of locked in with my lot, orienting it to look N or S wouldn't make sense since there are neighbors either side. Maybe move the master bedroom to the east side and put master bath/closet towards west side. The reason for the second floor deck looking west is to catch the city lights that you can see if you are off to the north a little bit from the hill behind the property.

Based on your lot, I'm guessing a person of design talent could create an L shaped house that takes advantage of the N/S orientation with a detached garage with a breezeway that helps tie it and the house together and manage to also minimize the view of the neighbors.

In fact it appears from the photos, that your neighbor to your left did just that themselves. However it takes a bit of thinking outside the box and being willing to work with someone of design talent.

FYI, this is an ICF house, extremely energy efficient, 12" thick concrete/foam walls.

That is smart and it will help. However it won't mitigate the sun streaming into the great room or your bedroom and heating up the house in the late afternoon when the sun is lowest and the air is hottest. It also won't help when you want to utilize your patio.

Lot is 1.25 acres in a county island area, there's no HOA and minimal restrictions.

Again, all the advice appreciated!

Find a person of design talent to work with you designing a house that mitigates the western sun.

If you're not already working with a designer, perhaps you could hire an architect for a consult to get ideas about the western exposure. Or, talk to friends and acquaintances or just look around to see how others have dealt with the issue.

Well...you have a lovely lot and an interesting house. Unfortunately, the two simply don't work well with one another, especially as regards the main living areas and glazing facing west. That's a non-starter, especially in your location.

If it's important to you to have comfortable and enjoyable indoor and outdoor living spaces you truly need to redesign your house to fit your lot and your climatic conditions. Your lot is large enough to do it properly.

Rather than focus on a distant westerly view, I'd suggest that you orient your house around "internal" views within your own property, and develop a strong indoor-outdoor relationship between the interiors of your house and the exteriors of your lot. How? An L-shaped, T-shaped or H-shaped house design offers lots of possibilities and allows you to avoid having to struggle with the west sun, glare and heat for the rest of your life.

There are many experienced architects in your area who know how to do this. Find one and don't look back. Good luck!

One other thought. The cost of hiring an architect will most likely be made up by having a house that is oriented to take advantage of passive cooling which will lower your monthly bills and make your indoor lives and outdoor lives more comfortable.

Rapp is on point. It is such a pleasure to view nice, helpful comments.

Greg - here are some quick sun study drawings showing your west elevation wall at 3 pm today, 4 pm today and 5 pm today. The roof over your patio blocks out a fair amount of sunlight - as you can see, the sunlight begins to enter the master bedroom starting at approx. 3 pm but due to the deeper roof over the great room, the sunlight doesn't enter that room until a few minutes before 4 pm. Your sun set at 7:04 pm today, so that's approx. 3 hours of sunlight in your great room, through the lower doors and windows.

I geo-located the model of your home using the coordinates for Apache Junction AZ (West of Phoenix.) If you'd like to see a more accurate model, just let me know.

Christopher - Columbus Custom Design

Columbus what a great visualization.

I think the OP already lives there and is well aware of the issue. I've spent two summers there, and have to say that it doesn't matter if you are in the shade or not, hot is hot. I will say, though, that window treatments make a big difference INSIDE, and (gearing up for the firing squad) vertical blinds were a great heat mitigator while still allowing plenty of light.