Photography by Werner Segarra In the entry courtyard, stone tiles intersected with creeping thyme offer better drainage than solid paving, landscape architect Donna Winters says. The limestone fountain is French.

Long involved with the environmentally oriented Windstar Foundation, and president and CEO of his family’s Chicago-based knitting mills, Richard Schuessler was industrious in coming up with ways to help the firm “go green.” He even developed a knitting yarn made from recycled plastic soda bottles.
His creative wife, Bonnie, meanwhile, was in the business of renovating homes for others, and also remodeled a downtown Chicago townhouse the couple had purchased for themselves. Later, they turned a portion of it into a thriving bed-and-breakfast.
When Richard retired and the two decided to move to Arizona, they combined her design talent and a mutual interest in finding ways to safeguard the planet, and set about planning their dream home. Richard recalls telling his wife: “‘We have this passion that can’t end here. Let’s do a green house.’” They did just that in north Scottsdale.

A patio overhang at this Scottsdale home keeps hot sun out of the living room, while French doors with transoms allow an abundance of light and fresh air to enter. Seating is composed of fringed banquettes.

Built by R.A. Merritt Custom Homes, their traditional Tuscan-style residence is a showstopper, complete with dynamic architecture, thoughtful amenities, and well-planned interiors that save energy at every turn.
In fact, the residence is eco-conscious to the max, having achieved the advanced level of Scottsdale’s stringent and nationally respected Green Building Program, says architect Erik Peterson. He praises the Schuesslers for “always being willing to take the high road” in implementing energy-saving measures.
Just a few of the many green features Peterson and the homeowners incorporated are extra insulation in walls and ceilings; water-saving plumbing; and a Lutron lighting-control system that—among its several energy-saving benefits—automatically sets the power of lighting to 70 percent of a bulb’s strength. “The eye can’t detect a difference between 70 and 100 percent,” Richard points out.