Toll Brothers’ new Turquesa gated community in North Scottsdale is the latest luxury project to use Western Window Systems’ large sliding and folding glass doors. We spoke with Kevin E. Rosinski, senior vice president of Toll Brothers’ Arizona division, about the Turquesa homes, their use of Western Window Systems products, and Toll Brothers’ commitment to integrating indoor-outdoor living concepts into their luxury homes.

What makes Turquesa unique from other planned communities in the area?
One of the most significant things that make Turquesa unique from other gated communities is the smaller, more intimate feel since the community is made up of only 20 homes. And the homes are built on an average of two acres each, as opposed to many gated communities’ homes, which are built on half-acre or one-acre lots. With the Turquesa homes, there is larger and more usable space on each lot than you’ll find at other communities.

How does Turquesa capture what homebuyers are looking for in the marketplace?
One of the most attractive aspects of Turquesa is the diversity of the homes. There are six different home designs, and each one has numerous “Design Your Own Home” options available, so it’s that flexibility that makes the homes feel like they are custom builds. The Turquesa homes have a resort-style feel them, so it’s almost like having Disneyland or a JW Marriott in your backyard.

What importance does Toll Brothers place on indoor-outdoor living?
We have high regard for indoor-outdoor living. It’s one of the most significant approaches we look at when building today’s homes, and I think we’ve been able to pull it off. People in Arizona like to be outside for eight months of the year because the weather is so spectacular during that time. In the past, the outdoor and the indoor spaces of a home were always segregated. People have been wanting pools in their backyard ever since they started living in Arizona, but it was always, “There’s the pool and the patio, and here’s the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms.” They were never integrated until recently, and it’s been a home run since architects and builders started evolving the indoor-outdoor concept. Now, the pool and patio areas just feel like a larger, outdoor room in the house.

What role does indoor-outdoor living play at Turquesa?
It plays a very heavy role. Almost every wall in the Turquesa homes opens to the outdoors. In fact, each Turquesa home has five or six indoor-outdoor areas of the house. Whether it’s the great room, the kitchen, the courtyard, the home office, or the master bedroom, each area of the home can open up to the outside, allowing for the highly sought-after al fresco dining experience or the option to entertain guests in a space that instantly becomes much larger thanks to large sliding door systems.

How do Western Window Systems products allow Toll Brothers to bring indoor-outdoor living to Turquesa?
There is a seamless feeling when you walk into our Turquesa homes. The Western Window Systems doors look as if they were designed specifically to fit with them.”

What Western Window Systems products will homebuyers find at Turquesa?
They’ll find 90-degree pocket doors, pocket sliders, bi-fold stacking doors, and pocket windows. The pocket windows are used in the kitchen to open up to the outside, like you see in a lot of restaurants.

What separates Western Window Systems from the competition?
I’d say the number one thing is the overall line of products. It’s diverse. And because they have the same or even better quality of other companies’ custom products, they are a great value and we can promise shorter lead times to homebuyers.

What are homebuyers’ reactions to Western Window Systems products in the Turquesa model?
It’s amazing to see their reactions. It’s night and day when the doors are open rather than closed. When they’re open on a nice Arizona day, people love it. They walk in the front and go immediately through the great room to the open pocket sliders that lead out to the backyard patio and pool. They are just amazed at the openness and seamless transition from indoors to outdoors.

For more information and a photo tour of the Turquesa luxury home community, visit our project gallery.