Horse sheds scattered in the ‘rough n’ tumble’ desert north of Lake Pleasant influenced the design for this 1,000 square foot retreat. The simple horse-shed form looks unassuming to a passerby, affording an element of security when one is away. Its careful site placement resulted from time spent camping on the land and an early morning comment by the client ‘I want to hear the Canyon’ when he stood at the cliff’s edge. After a patient search, the site’s sweet spot was found; a line of rooms parallels a desert wash that feeds Burro Canyon 400’ below along which wildlife and breezes travel.  The long face of the shed opens up to the north capturing a sweeping grand panorama of craggy volcanic mountain ranges and canyons; its underbelly clad in 5 x 10 sheets of mill finish aluminum in ‘spine configuration’ absorbing the range of colored light in the sites wild western sky similar to the 100 aluminum boxes of Donald Judd. Its southwestern end projects just over the cliff’s edge allowing the ‘hee-haw’ sounds of the long-abandoned burros from this region’s mining past – to be heard – mixing with the gurgling sounds of year-round water below.