Anthem at Merrill Ranch. Future placemaking study for Pulte Homes, with Collectiv and BASE Collaborative.
Problem
Pulte was 20 years into Anthem at Merrill Ranch with half of it still unbuilt. East of Felix Road: no infrastructure, no amenity center, and a "Parkside" brand nobody could define. The fallback was more of the same, or selling the lots.
Every competing community in the valley is named something Ranch. We noted this.
Insight
The resident survey settled it. 84% never use the Kid Zone, the most expensive amenity on site. 74% use the trails. The top write-in wasn't a feature. It was more classes and events. The money was going to the wrong place.
The design target, The Desert Dwellers. Four buyer groups rolled into one person who wants mountain views and reliable Wi-Fi.
What residents value, and what Pulte can do about it. Four words in, four words out.
The whole argument, in one sentence.
Concept
Move budget from hardware nobody uses to programming people show up for. One design target, "The Desert Dwellers," built from four buyer groups. A lifestyle framework: Reset, Flow, Roam, Kindle. Two directions:
Parkside 2.0: fix what exists.
Rastro Real: a new brand east of Felix. Park to Peak trails, shade network, outdoor rooms, Superstition lookouts, a co-working hub, an HOA-run event calendar, four entry monument studies.
The framework: a network of parks and trails that gives people a reason to leave the house.
Each park answers one question a resident is already asking. Where can I breathe? Where are my people?
Rastro Real. Follow us to the Real Trail.
Signature colors, materials and vernacular. Desert, but not beige.
Park to Peak. Every trail ends at a view of a mountain range, as trails should.
Outdoor sanctuary rooms. Some quiet, some loud, all shaded.
The Superstition Lookouts. Activated high points with 360-degree views. You can see the mountains from them, which was the point.
Entry monument concept 1: Mexican Fencepost.
Entry monument concept 2: Tombstone Rose.
Strategy with Ryan at BASE Collaborative. Landscape architecture with Collectiv.
0 likes · 0 views · Nov 9, 2026
A two-part study and two concepts that move budget into the trails and programming people use.
