The builder of this Arizona home, Jerry Meek, considers its architect, Don Ziebell, an artist, in large measure because of his constant attention to detail. The living room’s complex ceiling trusses, for example, were fabricated on-site using antique beams, says Meek. “Every beam was individually templated and handcrafted to honor the materials and to duplicate the Old World craftsmanship of where they originally were used.”

Summer jobs working with an uncle during his college years may have been the spark that set Ziebell on his architectural course. He once assisted the interior designer and antiques dealer in the renovation of a mid-1700s Virginia plantation. There was no looking back.

Graduating with a degree in architecture, Ziebell got a job at an Arizona company, rising quickly from draftsman to senior designer. Later, he worked in Newport Beach, California, for a firm that specialized in resorts. In 1994, he and another architect formed a company that designed projects in Mexico. But, he explains, “A devaluation of the peso caused all of these projects to be abandoned, and the initial partner fled to a firm that actually paid a salary.” Keeping the company’s name, Oz Architects (“O” for that fellow’s last name, “Z” for his), he says, “I headed back to Phoenix in 1996.”

Shortly after, Ziebell was engaged to design the remodel of Phoenix’s world-famous Royal Palms hotel. This undertaking earned him a 1999 Gold Nugget Award and was a turning point in his career. Fred Unger, the resort’s owner at the time, calls Ziebell a “perfectionist and a genius” at his trade.

Unger recalls traveling to Mexico with the architect to buy items for the Royal Palms re-do, such as old paving and doors. It was the first time Ziebell had participated in such a trip. Today, he often accompanies his residential clients on these buying expeditions. And seeing a demand for amenities with “patina and soul,” this Master of the Southwest created Antiquities, a Scottsdale shop that sells architectural elements.

The Royal Palms experience led to Ziebell’s involvement in the design of many award-winning endeavors, and he has earned wide-reaching respect. “I think Don is one of the finest commercial architects, and his residential work is of the highest quality,” notes Drew Brown, a principal of DMB Associates, which developed Silverleaf, a north Scottsdale residential community. Ziebell’s design for the Silverleaf clubhouse received a Gold Nugget Grand Award.

Ziebell is excited about several new projects, among them a planned renovation of The Hermosa Inn in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and the design of loftlike residences proposed for construction along the Arizona Canal in central Scottsdale.

Antique bricks are among materials that will lend the latter early-20th-century appeal, Ziebell reports, and, he promises, “Yes, the lofts will have a very distinct soul.”