This 4500sf custom home in Palm Springs designed for a technology executive includes 3 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, a large living/dining room, media room, kitchen, office and three car garage. The front of the house is relatively closed for privacy, while the rear facade opens up to mountain views through a 27-foot-long sliding glass door. The plan unfolds around a large open living area that creates an axis through the house with bedrooms flanking it to one side, and kitchen, media room and garage to the other. 

The home’s dramatic roof form takes cues from Palm Springs’ “Desert Modernism” architectural tradition. At the rear, it is a dramatic butterfly form that folds and transforms into a shallow gable roof form in the front. The folded shapes and large overhangs protect the interior from harsh sun and express the spirit and optimism of this modernist community in the desert. 

The single-story plan is organized around a central living space spanning from front to back that offers views from the front entrance through the space to the pool and mountains. Private bedroom spaces are positioned to one side of the central spine and utility and public spaces are aligned on the other side. A see-through fireplace and heroically scaled central roof beam further reinforce this axis. 

The house is planned to be “net-zero,” generating as much power as it consumes. In order minimize energy consumption, the walls and roofs are highly insulated while large overhangs and vertical fins protect the south, west and east facing openings. A large 15 kwh solar array will fit discreetly on the south facing roof slope. The all-electric project will use energy efficient heat pumps for HVAC and hot water. 

The house for Palm Springs is sky. The sheltering and dominant roof shapes compel visitors to look upward and consider its silhouette against the persistent blue of the sky. Gazing downwards, the sun casts powerful shadows over interesting building forms and powerful shapes appear and move across the ground. There is nothing precious about this architecture of the desert.