CBS Sunday Morning (July 2, 2023) – The John Muir Wilderness area extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for 90 miles, in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist John Muir, it encompasses 652,793 acres.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 23, 2023) – In this issue, Christopher Cox on the risk that California’s dams will fail; Charlie Savage on his connection to Pink Floyd and “The Wizard of Oz”; Dan Kois on Lorrie Moore; and more.
The Local Project (June 23, 2023) – Nestled among the palm trees, Twin Palms by E. Stewart Williams boasts not only a desirable position but a rich history that makes the iconic house stand out.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Intro to Frank Sinatra’s Iconic House 00:39 – A Completely Blank Canvas 01:14 – E. Stewart William’s First Architecture Project 01:53 – The Original Floor Plan 02:19 – A Typical Palm Springs Type Home 03:02 – Indoor and Outdoor Fusion 03:23 – The Many Moods of Modernism 03:40 – Enveloping and Warm 03:59 – The Unity of Nature and Architecture 04:38 – Balanced Light 05:15 – Frank Sinatra’s Love of the Desert
First built when there was nothing but mountains and desert, Twin Palms helped establish the architectural shape of Palm Springs. As Twin Palms was the first home designed by E. Stewart Williams, the iconic house offers a softness and comfortability that its original owner, Frank Sinatra, desired. Throughout this iconic house, E. Stewart Williams has provided fun, pleasure, privacy and respite, for the home’s first owner to its current occupants.
Though the midcentury home was built in 1947 for Frank Sinatra, E. Stewart Williams’s complex yet soft design has remained mostly intact, with the only change to the floor plan being the entrance, which was moved to the opposite side of the street to provide a dramatic arrival. Additionally, the original furniture and kitchen appliances remain, adding to the home’s interesting history.
For the rest of the exterior and interior design, the softness and expression of pleasure and place are articulated with the interior columns that are rounded instead of straight – an idea that helps to soften the environment and avoid the harshness of geometric design. With the architecture of homes in Palm Springs being designed with respect to the mountains, there is a sense of unity between nature and structure that exists in the iconic house. Further deepening this, E. Stewart Williams provides an overarching sense of indoor and outdoor living through the colour choices, materials and form of the iconic house.
Architectural Digest (June 10, 2023) – A visit to Joshua Tree in California to tour the awe-inspiring Kellogg Doolittle Residence. The sensational build was designed by organic architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg and his protegee John Vugrin in the 1980s taking over 20 years to complete.
Upon first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking this property was a living creature; the magnificent structure appears skeletal with 26 cast-concrete pieces fanning out in resemblance of vertebrae. An art piece in and of itself, it is no wonder this unique space is considered one of Kellogg’s greatest masterpieces.
Director: Meg Sutton Director of Photography: AJ Young Editor: Daniel Finn Guest: John Vugrin
The counter-offensive is getting under way. The next few weeks will be critical
Trailed ten days early with a blood-stirring video in which Ukrainian troops asked God to bless their “sacred revenge”, Ukraine’s counter-offensive is under way. For weeks its armed forces have conducted probing and shaping operations along the 1,000km front line, looking for weaknesses and confusing the Russians. Now Ukraine is testing enemy defences with an intensity not seen for months, with attacks against the occupiers in a series of positions in the east and south. The apparent demolition of the Kakhovka dam on June 6th, if it was indeed Russian sabotage as Western military sources believe, would be clear evidence that they are already feeling the pressure.
No one shows off a new gadget quite like Apple. But the device that Tim Cook unveiled on June 5th was billed as something more significant. The Vision Pro, a pair of sleek glass goggles, represents “an entirely new spatial-computing platform”, said Apple’s boss, comparing its launch to that of the Macintosh and the iPhone. Apple’s message is clear: after desktop and mobile computing, the next big tech era will be spatial computing—also known as augmented reality—in which computer graphics are overlaid on the world around the user.
The Local Project (June 6, 2023) – Inspired by the conventions of a boutique hotel, Kovac Design Studio administers an array of design elements that cater to its clients’ desires to have a modern house that celebrates the surrounds and can host friends and family.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction 00:43 – A Boutique Residence 01:07 – Enabling the Feeling of Secludedness 01:41 – The Organisation of the Building 02:12 – The Element of Surprise 02:38 – Built for 2 people or 200 people 02:54 – Covered in Glass 03:09 – Matching the Materials with the Surrounds 03:32 – The Glamorous Material Palette 03:57 – Giving Each Room its own Identity 04:33 – The Oculus 05:10 – The Canopy 05:28 – Designing a Concept from Start to Finish 05:57 – Proud Moments
From the first steps inside, Madison Desert Club is deliberately designed to offer the feeling of being outside when moving from room to room. Imbued with space for the owner to entertain and unwind, Madison Desert Club rejoices in the landscape of La Quinta with an open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows and doors.
Additionally, unique design elements are employed to enhance the home’s connection to the outdoors, beginning with a continuous canopy-style roof that is set over parts of the modern house, offering a change of light throughout the day. Another element seen upon arrival is the Oculus – a circular shape integrated into the roof, which allows for uninterrupted views of the sky above. Spanning all three levels, the modern house tour begins at the lower level, where a sauna, spa and gym are placed.
The above two levels hold the guestrooms, kitchen, living, dining areas and private cocktail bar. Expressed by its metal mesh curtain, the cocktail bar is imbued with warm colours that reference whiskey and give the impression of being inside a sophisticated space reserved for VIP clients. On the top level, a dedicated screening room offers a rare surprise when the screen wall opens up to the entire living space below.
Traveling with Andrew Films (June 3, 2023) – Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California, across the Golden Gate Strait from San Francisco. It’s known for its Richardson Bay houseboat enclaves, built by artist squatters after WWII.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Bay Model Visitor Center has a functioning 3D hydraulic model of the Bay Area, plus exhibits about the area’s waterways. The Marin Headlands offers Golden Gate Bridge views.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 4, 2023) – California is the place where the future happens, for good and ill. That’s part of its magic. Read our first-ever California Issue to find out what roads the state will take us down next.
Inside: A fight over a parking lot that explains the housing crisis; the future of California’s power to shape national policy; how the state is adapting to a warming world — and more.
From reparations to tax revolts, the Golden State tries out new ideas all the time. What roads will its latest experiments send us down?
By Laila Lalami
I remember my first glimpse into the future. In August 1992, when I arrived in California as a student, I discovered during orientation that the university required all incoming students to have something called an email account. To access it, I had to call up a text-based mail client on Unix, using a series of line commands. If I needed a file that sat on a university computer in New York, I could use file transfer protocol to download it in Los Angeles, the whole process taking no more than a few minutes. That’s brilliant, I remember thinking.
For a while this winter, seemingly every text message that Buffy Wicks received asked if she was running for Congress. Representative Barbara Lee, of California’s 12th District, which includes Oakland, had announced that she would enter the race for Dianne Feinstein’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat. This decision by Lee, who is 76, created a rare opportunity for the next generation of California Democrats to vie for federal office. And Wicks — a 45-year-old State Assembly member who lives in Lee’s district and was last re-elected with 85 percent of the vote — seemed like a natural candidate.
The Local Project (May 26, 2023) – A fusion of an Australian and Californian sensibility, Venice Beach House is a calm house that captures the spirit of its owner and a resonating sense of place.
Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Calm House 00:29 – The Location of the Home 00:48 – The Californian Bungalow 01:03 – The Brief 01:22 – A Visual Palette Cleanser 01:47 – A Walkthrough of the Home 02:36 – The Material Palette 02:50 – Aspects of the Surrounding Borrowed Landscape 03:31 – The Material Palette Continued 04:03 – Following the Sun 04:28 – Favourite Aspects of the Home
Tribe Studio Architects and Arabella McIntosh bring a distinct, globally inspired approach in crafting the Los Angeles home of Armadillo co-founder Jodie Fried. Whilst an embracing of the natural elements and the similarities in climate that bind both Los Angeles and Australian design, Venice Beach House is founded on the creation of a series of spaces that capture the travelled spirit of its owner.
As the occasional home to Jodie Fried and her family, the resulting calm house speaks to a combined methodology, drawing upon the renowned Californian outdoor lifestyle and familiar elements found home in Australia. Located among an assortment of established bungalow-style homes, the surrounding context plays a key role in shaping the proposed form, scale and proportion of the home whilst referencing a key Australian influence.
Built by Tatum Constructions, Venice Beach House is, at its heart, a calm house. Expressing an openness between inside and out, the home invites connection with the surrounding landscape and ensures a natural spillover of function into the outdoor spaces. The established fig tree in the front garden inspired and directed the planning to optimise natural shading and orientation to create key connections with the natural elements.
Traveling with Andrew (May 20, 2023) – Tiburon is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. It is located on the Tiburon Peninsula, which reaches south into the San Francisco Bay.
00:00 San Francisco Bay 00:29 The Tiburon Peninsula Historical Trail 02:40 Tiburon Railroad and Ferry Depot Museum 03:11 The Tiburon Peninsula Historical Trail 08:02 Paradise Drive 09:10 Bersot Capital Management 10:06 Point Tiburon Condos 11:53 Paradise Drive 12:31 Caffe Acri 12:42 Tiburon Blvd 14:31 Main St 18:41 Paradise Drive 19:08 Ferry Docks 21:17 Corinthian Yacht Club
It shares a ZIP code with the smaller incorporated city of Belvedere (formerly a separate island), which occupies the southwest part of the peninsula and is contiguous with Tiburon. Tiburon is bordered by Corte Madera to the north and Mill Valley to the west, but is otherwise mostly surrounded by the bay.
Besides Belvedere and Tiburon, much of the peninsula is unincorporated, including portions of the north side and the communities of Strawberry and Paradise Cay.