Rancho Almasomos

Yavapai County, AZ

Green Fern
Green Fern

Rancho Almasomos is a living landscape on high desert terrain just south of Sedona, Arizona. This is where agriculture, ecology, and hospitality intertwine. In close partnership with the client and an interdisciplinary design and engineering team, we are creating a site-wide strategy that redefines how human and ecological health are inseparable.

Size: 131 acres
Client: Rancho Almasomos
Scope: Planning, Architecture
Press: Architect's Newspaper
Civil Engineer: Lyon Engineering
Water Conveyance: Kaeko
Preconstruction Services: Tierra Verde
MEP Engineering: Bowie Tiglas
Team: Lindsey Wikstrom, Jean Suh, Blake Kem, Jessica Martin, Sonya Falkovskaia, Sarah Cawley, David Zhang, Meghan Jones, Manavi Dixit, Lindsey Sinisi, Mara Jovanovic

The site strategy follows four guiding ecological approaches: preservation and conservation, keeping the land’s natural systems intact; management and protection, moderating human activity; restoration and remediation, healing past disturbance; and generation and creation, actively propagating biodiversity. These principles shape everything from road alignment to planting palettes, balancing human experience with ecological cycles.

Barns, a farm stand, a bistro, a retreat lodge, and a wellness studio, are sited on previously disturbed ground to minimize impact. All cultivated spaces are designed to restore soil fertility, support pollinators, provide food for the local community, harvest rainwater, replenish groundwater and feed biodynamic gardens, which will transform daily operations into acts of regeneration.

The site strategy follows four guiding ecological approaches: preservation and conservation, keeping the land’s natural systems intact; management and protection, moderating human activity; restoration and remediation, healing past disturbance; and generation and creation, actively propagating biodiversity. These principles shape everything from road alignment to planting palettes, balancing human experience with ecological cycles.

Barns, a farm stand, a bistro, a retreat lodge, and a wellness studio, are sited on previously disturbed ground to minimize impact. All cultivated spaces are designed to restore soil fertility, support pollinators, provide food for the local community, harvest rainwater, replenish groundwater and feed biodynamic gardens, which will transform daily operations into acts of regeneration.

Communal dining teaches visitors about the life of soil and seed, linking wellness to stewardship and reattaching people to place. The architecture, drawn from regional materials and colors, fosters a sense of belonging to the high desert environment. In this way, the design itself becomes a form of care, supporting both biodiversity and belonging.

Ranchos Almasomos encapsulates a philosophy about place: a working landscape where conservation and culture sustain one another, and where the vitality of the ecosystem and the well-being of its people are understood as a single, continuous condition.

Communal dining teaches visitors about the life of soil and seed, linking wellness to stewardship and reattaching people to place. The architecture, drawn from regional materials and colors, fosters a sense of belonging to the high desert environment. In this way, the design itself becomes a form of care, supporting both biodiversity and belonging.

Ranchos Almasomos encapsulates a philosophy about place: a working landscape where conservation and culture sustain one another, and where the vitality of the ecosystem and the well-being of its people are understood as a single, continuous condition.

Reach out to start a conversation about your project and how we can bring it to life with thoughtful, sustainable design hello@mattaforma.com

Reach out to start a conversation about your project and how we can bring it to life with thoughtful, sustainable design hello@mattaforma.com