If you’ve ever driven down a desert highway on a hot day, you know that mirages don’t usually arrive in the form of a tropical oasis, but rather, as broad waves of bent light, shimmering — water-like — from the earth, only to disperse once you draw nearer.
Visually stimulating? Sure. Capable of transforming your life into that of a Bedouin prince at a moment’s notice? Not so much.
Enter this massive, cloud-white sculptural house that will soon be blooming from the dust in Joshua Tree, California. Yet to break ground (these are just surprisingly tidy renderings), the residence is the newest project from London-based designer James Whitaker.
The final product will be a starburst of shipping containers, splayed to create plenty of nooks, spaces and private views. At just over 2,000 square feet, there’s a sense of openness despite all the angles and asymmetry. Also integrated in to the home will be a large array of solar panels — since there’s no shortage of sun in the desert — and a deck built into a cove of rocks to protect outdoor gatherings from wind.
Whitaker initially conceived the structure to be an ad agency’s headquarters in Germany, but in a strange twist of fate, it will instead be a home near the otherworldly National Park a couple hours east of L.A.
We aren’t mad at the change in plans.
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