Tag Archives: Palm Springs

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Architecture: The ‘Desert Palisades’ In Palm Springs

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The Local Project (July 14, 2023) – Floating above the landscape is the best modernist home. Desert Palisades by Woods + Dangaran is a family home that was built from a goal to introduce a more international style of modernism to the desert.

Video timeline: 00:00 – Introduction to the Best Modernist Home 01:06 – Creating A Family Refuge and Paying Homage to the Mountains 01:39 – The Approach of the Home 02:04 – Ensuring the Home is Timeless and Fitting 02:34 – A Climate Focused Material Palette 03:50 – The Tonal Nature of the Home 04:33 – A Fine Curation of the Details 05:28 – Taking A Backseat to the Surroundings

Though focused on creating a desert oasis home in which the family could escape to and decompress, the architects have also paid homage to the mountain and enabled the owners to experience its form completely. In line with the basin of the San Jacinto Mountain, the home encompasses views across Palm Springs and the surrounding rocky landscape that further encourages the owners to not only appreciate it but to connect with it.

Approaching the desert oasis home as if it is a beacon on the hillside, the house tour unfolds in a natural procession, guiding viewers past the pool area and then into the pavilions that showcase the home’s sweeping views. Recognising the presence that the structure holds, Woods + Dangaran worked with a responsibility to make sure the best modernist home feels timeless and fits into the desert landscape. From its base, the architecture of the house is made up of a concrete masonry unit, while the support walls and ends of the pavilion are created with burnished CMU blocks that appear to come from the soil.

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Tours, Videos, Views

Architecture: A Tour Of Frank Sinatra’s 1947 ‘Twin Palms’ In Palm Springs

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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.

Aircraft, Travel, Videos, Views

California Views: ‘Palm Springs Air Museum’

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The Palm Springs Air Museum, is a non-profit educational institution in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. The Museum’s mission is to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of the World War II combat aircraft and the role the pilots and American citizens had in winning the war. 

Cities, Travel, Videos

Walks: ‘Downtown Palm Springs, California’ (Video)

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Palm Springs, a city in the Sonoran Desert of southern California, is known for its hot springs, stylish hotels, golf courses and spas. It’s also noted for its many fine examples of midcentury-modern architecture. Its core shopping district along Palm Canyon Drive features vintage boutiques, interior design shops and restaurants. The surrounding Coachella Valley offers hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.