Location: Palm Springs, California, US
Area: 3,000 SF
Year: 2016
Architects: LINEOFFICE Architecture, Jim Jennings Architecture
Interior Design: Martha Angus
Photography © Lance Gerber
This collaboration with Jim Jennings Architecture and Martha Angus utilized a factory fabricated steel frame to create a simple yet elegant 3,000 SF getaway in the desert.
Jim Jennings invited our office to collaborate on this home in Palm Springs, California. The project utilizes a steel building frame pioneered by Blue-Sky Building systems. This system utilizes factory fabricated steel components to create a bolted moment-resistive frame. The benefit of this is twofold: it increases the speed of construction and removes the need for lateral force (earthquake) resisting shear walls. For this project on a corner lot the local planning codes limited the house to a single story. The client requested privacy from the street and an open rear yard. The plan answers these challenges by organizing the living spaces in relatively thin ‘bars’ along the two street side property lines. A singular concrete block wall rings the site. At the two street sides it rises to a few feet above eye-level but does not continue to the underside of the roof. This allows clerestory light in to the home at all sides but maintains privacy from the street. The side of the house facing the pool and rear yard, in contrast to the street side, is shielded from the street and completely open. Here large roof overhangs shade the floor to ceiling glazed windows and doors to allow light but protect from glare and excessive heat gain. From the main living spaces of the house the San Jacinto mountain range rising over 10,000 feet from the desert floor to the west is framed by the concrete block wall on the bottom and the roof overhang on the top.
LINEOFFICE Architecture
All images courtesy of LINEOFFICE Architecture | © Lance Gerber
LINEOFFICE Architecture
Ross Hummel is a licensed architect in California with over 19 years of experience in the profession. He holds a professional degree in Architecture from Iowa State University and a Masters degree in Architecture from Harvard University. Prior to founding LINEOFFICE Architecture Ross worked in the award-winning San Francisco offices of Jim Jennings Architecture and Kuth Ranieri Architects. This experience instilled Ross with a fierce commitment to the transformative power of design and a passion for detail. In his former capacities as Project Architect and Designer, and in his current position as Principal of LINEOFFICE Architecture, Ross has maintained involvement in all aspects of project planning, design and development, consultant coordination, agency entitlements, and construction administration. Ross is committed to working within the specific project parameters of site, budget, schedule and program to deliver innovatively designed projects that meet client goals and expectations. more
CONTACT
LINEOFFICE Architecture
(415) 355-0095
office@lineofficearchitecture.com
VISIT
Casalibrary 
Love the simplicity of this project. Jim Jennings is doing great work.
LikeLike