On the northern edge of the San Jacinto Mountains in Palm Springs, California, there is a home that is so seamlessly embedded in the rocky desert area that mother nature could have made it. Designed by the architect Jill Lewis, named Wabi Sabi House, with low sabs, two -stage, is in silence like a natural expansion of the nonsense landscape loaded by boulders.
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
When designing the building, Lewis, who divided her time between Palm Springs and San Francisco, held to the main principles of organic architecture that endeavor to create harmony between the house and its natural environment.
“It is this type of crazy moons”, “explains Lewis about the region and in particular the half-hectare plot of land, which is against the picturesque backdrop of the Desert Palisades.” This specific website is increasing to the boomerang-shaped Berm, so that we have put the house on the front edge to create this really private background with a view of the mountain. “
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
A thoughtful attitude to the modernity of desert modernism, the expansive 6-step house with 6,500 square meters (even in the form of a boomerang) is on a three-part concrete foundation. An open floor plan and spacious windows with room-high ceilings offer incomparable 360-degree views.
'There is a look at Palm Springs in one direction, the windmills in another and incredible [unobstructed] View of the Santa Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains, ”adds Lewis.
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
The structure is dressed in blackened cypress sidewalks with tongue and utility errors with painted steel fascia and glass guards. Inside, large format porcelain and concrete floors create a free dialogue with the natural stone that is located around the property.
“The way I work, and my design values are really about context sensitivity and an honest expression of materials,” says Lewis. “Everything feels effortless, inevitable and of course, and you really have the feeling that you connect with the website.”
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
Some walls and custom -made cupboards were confronted with light, natural oak, while other walls are generously covered with polished Portuguese limestone, which must be practically touched. The three-quarters of tongue and groove hemlock ceilings extend to the outdoor representatives that offer a further connection between interior and outdoor spaces.
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
And then there are the gardens inspired by Japanese, which were brought to life by the project collaborator John Hreno, the Associate director of the landscape design company Hoerr.
“As a designer, we want to feel the room, energy and the Chi,” explains Hreno, who studied the site in detail. “I wanted to transform the landscape into a lively experience and something that looks like it was always there and the house was built for it.”
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
Hreno's overarching goal was to maintain and restore the local ecosystems in terms of the country. The regenerative design of the landscape offers local plants such as Yellow Bratlebushes, Agave and Mexican Palo Verde as well as the locally overarching boulders and stones as well as a rainwater collection system for the system and wildlife of the property
“I wanted to do the natural beauty of the site again and not just from the periphery with a borrowed landscape,” says Hreno.
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
For this purpose, Hreno wrapped the house with five different planting regions that take advantage of their individual positioning and at the same time pay homage to the five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – which are associated with seasons, directions and emotions. Agaves that represent lush water splashes are planted in a section, while circular opunties cactuses are the appearance of coins as an allusion to prosperity in another, and plants such as Encelia fire the fire through their lively colors.
“The property is a kind of choreography of experiences, and I wanted it to be an example of what the possibilities are crispy native landscapes over only stereotypical,” explains Hreno.
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
“I think the best work we see in the desert is not about replicating the past, but about learning from it and applying the core teaching in a new way,” says Lewis, noticing the nearby historical houses that were designed by legendary architects such as Donald Wexler, Albert Frey and Richard Neura.
But the most important lesson you and Hreno have learned is the person who was personified by nature: “The desert is very irreconcilable,” she says. “It's a beautiful employee, but you can't force your will to it. You have to listen and take it seriously. '
(Photo credit: Douglas Friedman)
Topics