Once this weekend home is built near Joshua Tree, California, there will be no reason to travel to Mars. A full, otherworldly experience will be available right here on Earth. Ed Ogosta’s client wanted a home that would help him “live in an incredible way,” Ed recalls. There’s little doubt it will.
“We worked through a number of different possibilities for the bowl-shaped site, but there was something really elegant about the simplicity of the circle around a square,” he explains. “The whole program fit.”
The square sits between the two circles and contains the conditioned space. Meanwhile the deep circular overhangs shade interiors from heat gain and provide covered terraces for certain rooms. Light monitors atop the house usher light into the kitchen and the bathroom. Outdoor spaces are contained within a large plinth, an Ogosta trademark.
All the sitting areas—both indoor and outdoor—are sunken to create the feeling of “inhabiting the earth,” says the architect. “And it gives you a different perspective on the rugged Flintstones topography.”
Inhabiting the earth, perhaps, but possibly not the Earth. For the house is surely a spaceship that can leave our atmosphere at will. But then again, if you lived here, why would you want to?
Custom on the Boards
Honor Award
Edward Ogosta Architecture
Orbital House
Yucca Valley, California
Project Credits
Architect: Edward Ogosta, AIA, Edward Ogosta Architecture, Los Angeles
Structural Engineer:
Carl Howe, C.W. Howe Partners, Culver City, California
Project Size: 1,700 square feet
Site Size: 7.5 acres
Key Products
Countertops: Caesarstone
Faucets: Kohler
Kitchen Appliances: Fisher & Paykel
Lighting: Lutron
Railing: C.R. Laurence
Roof Windows: VELUX
Toilets: Geberit
Windows/Window Wall Systems: Western Window Systems
Window Shading: Mechoshade
Images
Plans
