Our Starburst House in Joshua Tree, California, has received attention like no other.
From CNN and Forbes to Der Spiegel it has been in hundreds of publications and seen by millions.
The idea of the Starburst House started as an office building in Germany. In 2017 a film producer in LA came across Hechingen Studio and asked if we could design something similar on his land in Joshua Tree.
There is a history of artistic sculptures in the Mohave Desert and the natural landscape feels in harmony with this idea.
At the end of concept (schematic) design, keen to show the world the house, we used our in-house skills to produce photorealistic images.
With some strategic planning and a little luck the house caught global attention and has been published extensively online and in print.
The exterior form of the house creates a phenomenal crystalline interior that opens up in every direction.
Because the form is so spectacular, the material finishes can be very calm here. They don’t need to shout.
However, we are meticulous about ensuring that each element enhances the whole. The layout of the floorboards and the detailing of the lighting all add to the overall design without being extravagant.
The form of the Starburst House was inspired by a science experiment I did as a schoolboy.
We tied a grain of salt to the end of a thread of cotton and dangled it into a beaker of saline solution. Over the following days the grain of salt acted as a seed, drawing in more salt from the solution and gradually a crystal grew on the end of our thread of cotton.
We are working with the great people at Panoramah for the windows and external doors on this project. Their support has been wonderful.
If you stand in the centre of the house and turn around, with the bedroom doors open, you can see down every spoke of the house to the desert and sky beyond.
The Starburst House in Joshua Tree enjoys the magic of taking a highly generic, transportable item and turning it into something very unique and site-specific.
Solar photovoltaic panels will form a car port, keeping cars cool and the house powered.
As you enter the Starburst House the geometry unfolding above your head is like nothing else.
Each room of the house frames a view of the surrounding landscape in a similar way to a photographer composes an image with their lens.
This theme of framing views is something that reoccurs in many of our projects.
This has proven the most popular image of the house since it first hit the press. The house has evolved a bit since this image was made - it no longer has the double doors in the centre of this picture - but the essence remains the same.
This abstract image was created as the cover image for a report when working with the great team at Arup. This picture is looking up at the house as if the floor (and ground) are removed.