Seeking an experienced firm to work with on the Sun City Grand project, Del Webb Corp., the developer, selected Dahlin Group Architects of San Ramon, CA. "We've been working with Del Webb for 10 years and have done many others projects with them," said Karl Danielson, vice president of Dahlin Group Architects. "This was the first campus style community we com-pleted, however. The community and activities centers for the other projects are located within one main building while this project organized separate buildings around a community water park and garden area."

Since the buildings for this community are more spread out, it was necessary to create and emphasize a common theme among them to preserve a singular identity for the village. "One of the details we looked to establish was a signature stone lay-up which would become an icon associated with Grand," Danielson said. "Arizona flagstone was used in a lay-up pattern we had developed. Stone in selected areas would start at the top in 2- x 2-foot squares in a formal grid, and as it descends down the wall, the grid would break into a random stone pattern and then into a thicker random stone pattern."