Valley entrepreneur Max Biberger converts nanoparticles into energy products. Fittingly, he charged his design team to convert his Scottsdale home into vibrant 21st-century space.

In 2002, Biberger purchased an approximately 3,500-sq.-ft. two-level and began transforming it into a home where he could feel comfortable, stretch out in the family room on his motorized De Sede recliner and watch sports — especially after he returned home from the rigors of international business traveling.

Determined to create spaces that were distinctively his, he retained Scottsdale interior designer Claire Ownby and high-end remodeler Jack McDade, also of Scottsdale, who served as the general contractor on the two-year-old home.

Ownby and McDade remodeled much of the three-bedroom-plus-office home in 2002, including the kitchen, the master bath, the guest bath and the powder room. At the same time, they changed the flooring, lighting, paint and interior door hardware; contracted a new entry door; installed a built-in barbecue designed by Ownby; and added a water feature and landscaping to the pool area. Ownby Design returned at the end of 2002 to furnish the home, completing the project the following year.

Biberger is an entrepreneur specializing in start-ups. In addition to his current work in the energy sector, he has built equipment for the semiconductor industry and has also measured products for water chemistries and conservation. He travels primarily in Europe and Asia— mostly to Japan. the country that has most influenced him aesthetically. Because of this, he was guided by a minimalist palette and requested dark hardwood floors through the home as well as lacquered wood in his contemporary kitchen.

“Max told me he wanted something unusual, something different from what he was accustomed to seeing in the United States,” notes Ownby, an ASID-award-winning interior designer. “His minimal and contemporary taste was evident from the beginning.”