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Anthem at Merrill Ranch

84% never use the Kid Zone. So we planned for what people do.

Client
Pulte Homes, with Collectiv Landscape Architects
Place
San Tan Valley, Arizona

  • 2

    Paths forward, presented to Pulte

Open desert at Merrill Ranch, with mountains on the horizon
The open desert at Merrill Ranch

Anthem at Merrill Ranch started in 2005 with a plan for 10,000 homes in ten years. Twenty years later it’s half built, the land east of Felix Road sits empty, and every competitor nearby sells another farm theme.

Four buyer groups were already shopping the valley. For the new desert neighborhood, we wrote one profile to design toward: the Desert Dwellers, who trade “close” for “calm” and “bustle” for “beauty.”

The buyer groups page from the Anthem insight study: four groups, each with who they are, what brings them, what they need and where they're moving now
Four buyer groups

A survey by Parkside, the part of Anthem that’s built, showed 84% never use the Kid Zone and 74% use the trails, and the top request was more classes and events.

We presented two paths. Parkside 2.0 refreshes what’s built. Rastro Real is a new desert brand with four ways of living and 15 named places. It makes the case for moving money from hardware few people use to programs people want.

The Rastro Real board from the Anthem at Merrill Ranch strategy: the name and the line "Follow us to the real trail." over a collage of desert textures, a mother and daughter splashing in a fountain, a hiker on a ridge, a jeep on a dirt road, rust-red steel screens and a neon cactus sign
Rastro Real
Four values and the ways of living that come from them: Rhythm to Flow, Kinship to Kindle, Nature to Roam, Balance to Reset
From values to ways of living
The Rastro Real amenity framework: 15 named places, among them a birding walk, a glow walk and a bark lounge, with example photos and a map showing where each one sits along the trails
Fifteen planned places

See it

Next

The North Phoenix desert from the air in low sun, with dirt tracks running toward the mountains

NorthPark

A desert community framework approved on three unanimous city council votes.