Aaron S. Katz used corrugated metal panels on the exterior of his 2,000-square-foot house and his free-standing, one-car garage. The architect used sustainable materials whenever possible.

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Aaron S. Katz knows his house is unorthodox and not to everyone's fancy.

But it's as aptly engineered to his predilections as, well, a shell is to a snail or a pouch is to a baby kangaroo. The 35-year-old architect knows what he likes, and it's modern and minimal.

From the outside, Katz's year-old Midtown home looks as though it eloped from an industrial park. Corrugated steel-and-aluminum panels, called Galvalume, sheathe both the 2,000-square-foot house and the free-standing, single-car garage.

Expanses of storefront glass, tinted evergreen, encase the home's long north and south sides. The glass walls face courtyards, and Katz relies on landscaping to endow diversity in texture and shape.

"I like the contrast between the regimented house and the native desert around it," he says.

Indoors, it's all sleek lines, accented with the shiny surfaces of glass-and-metal décor. It's open and light.

Katz used no doors inside. Instead, walls segregate the bed and bath areas.

"I've always disliked the idea of doors, not from the standpoint of privacy or security, but as barriers. I like designs in which one space flows into another without pause or hindrance," he says.

Katz created a spacious interior by using an innovative roof design and modern, engineered lumber that's able to span greater distances than traditional wood beams can. Without the need for interior structural columns and walls, Katz gained flexibility in designing a floor plan to suit his sensibilities.

Guests who enter Katz's home often think he lacks a kitchen. But appliances lurk behind cabinets (an under-the-counter refrigerator) or blend into the cabinetry (smooth-top stove and built-in oven).

"I didn't want a standard kitchen with bulky appliances and clunky cabinets. I designed the kitchen to be part of my living and dining room," says this native Tucsonan and 1996 University of Arizona graduate.

Economy, energy efficiency, low maintenance and preservation of desert plants played major roles in Katz's blueprint for the home — the first he has designed for himself. Galvalume panels, for example, cost less than masonry or frame-and-stucco walls, and they "will never rust, won't dent unless sledgehammered, won't tarnish and never need refinishing," Katz says. An air space between the panels and walls minimizes heat transference.

Many of Katz's choices in building materials reflect his dedication to sustainability; he maintains Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accreditation with the U.S. Green Building Council. For example, Katz's kitchen countertops and baseboards are made of Richlite, engineered from paper harvested from managed forests. Richlite is lightweight yet durable; it's been used to surface outdoor skating ramps.

Katz kept intact three-fourths of the low-upkeep native vegetation that covered his plot before his home was built. Pre-existing palo verde trees, towering prickly pears and creosote bushes form a natural wall against the street.

"The industrial look isn't for everyone," Katz says. "I set the house back so that it minimally intrudes on the neighborhood."

Katz confesses to a taste for the macabre, and his house happens to be on Poe Street, in the Poet's Corner neighborhood. Katz has dubbed his abode the "oblong house," after a story by Edgar Allan Poe, one of his favorite writers. Never mind that Poe's "oblong box" referred to a burial casket.

Katz may share his idiosyncrasy for the macabre with his parents, but in home décor they are miles apart. Katz designed his parents' six-year-old house in north-central Tucson. It's a brick, territorial-style home with arches and exposed beams — and it's filled with the couple's many collections.

"If you saw our house, you'd know why Aaron has gone to the other side," says his mother, Sali Katz, who has a master's degree in interior design. "Our house is just stuffed. His minimalism is a reaction to being overwhelmed."