Every February, Palm Springs, California, becomes a mecca for architecture and design enthusiasts. The usually quiet resort town becomes a destination for tourists from around the world, who have the opportunity to see the most important monuments of modernist architecture during Modernism Week. What really sets Palm Springs apart and why is it such an important city for the world of architecture?
text: ALICJA WOJCIECHOWSKA
Desert, glass and steel in Palm Springs
Palm Springs is a resort town located in southern California, in the Coachella Valley. It gained fame in the mid-20th century thanks to Hollywood stars who began to choose this place as the ideal location for their winter holiday villas. Why there? The name Palm Springs comes from the hot springs that were discovered in the surrounding canyons and the characteristic Washingtonia filifera palms that grow there. This combination created a healing microclimate, a kind of oasis in the Californian desert, ideal for relaxation.
The climate and landscape that attracted California’s elite to Palm Springs inspired the creation of a new architectural movement known as “Desert Modernism”. Mid-century modern gained its desert offshoot here, thanks in part to architects such as Richard Neutra, Donald Wexler and Albert Frey. Their vision of modernism in Palm Springs was characterised by lightness of form and materials, which harmonised perfectly with the harsh desert environment. Aluminium and glass reigned supreme, while wooden accents warmed the interiors of the villas. Most of the houses have remained in very good condition to this day and continue to attract architecture and design enthusiasts.
On the tour route
One of the most recognisable modernist villas in Palm Springs is the Kaufmann Desert House, designed in 1946 by Richard Neutra for businessman Edgar J. Kaufmann. The same man who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build the famous Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.
Kaufmann Desert House is a light structure based on vertical aluminium blinds that protect against the heat and large glazed areas that blur the boundary between the garden and the interior. The architect’s intention was to emphasise the relationship between the building and the surrounding desert landscape. The house has become a landmark of Palm Springs and, in a sense, has defined the characteristics of desert modernism, which can be observed in later projects in the area.
When visiting Palm Springs, Frey House II is a must-see. This house, with an area of only 74 square metres, was designed by Albert Frey as his own home. It is set on top of a rock and, at the time of its construction, was the highest residential building in Palm Springs. The architect’s idea was to design a house that would have as little impact on its surroundings as possible. Here, too, aluminium and glass form the basis of the house’s construction, and the rock on which it is set is an integral part of the interior, separating the living area from the bedroom, which offers an impressive panoramic view of the entire resort.
Albert Frey is the author of many projects in Palm Springs, but one of them is unusual. It is the Tramway petrol station located at the northern entrance to the city, which was to be the first building seen by visitors arriving in the city. Its form, with a characteristic cantilevered triangular roof, resembles an aeroplane taking off. The station was built in 1965 and has become a permanent fixture not only in the city’s skyline, but also in architectural history textbooks. It has now been converted into a public building and serves as a tourist information centre.
However, private homes in Palm Springs are not just expensive villas. Architect Donald Wexler designed a resort community of affordable prefabricated homes made of steel and glass elements. He believed that desert conditions were ideal for building modular steel homes, which could be constructed in less than 30 days. Steel was resistant to the intense desert sun and wind, and, importantly, was a relatively inexpensive material at the time.
The construction of such houses was based on a concrete foundation, onto which a ready-made bathroom and kitchen, forming the central core of the building, were lowered by crane. It was then encased with lightweight metal walls for the remaining rooms and one of three available ready-made roof designs. However, Wexler could not have predicted the sharp rise in steel prices, which led to the end of the low-cost modular home project after only seven structures had been completed.
Modernism Week in Palm Springs
The examples presented here are only a small fraction of the impressive architectural achievements in Palm Springs. The entire city is filled with extraordinary houses built in the desert modernist style. Every year in February, the city hosts the Modernism Week festival of modernist architecture, during which visitors can tour the interiors of many villas and take part in inspiring accompanying events, such as lectures and meetings with artists and architectural historians. This year’s edition takes place from 12 to 22 February, and during these eleven days of the festival, tourists have access to over 400 different attractions. It is undoubtedly a must-visit for architecture enthusiasts.
_
Alicja Wojciechowska – architectural historian and archaeologist specialising in interwar Polish architecture. A graduate of the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), where she completed a master’s degree with honours in architectural history, and archaeology at the University of Warsaw. She is interested in the revitalisation of historical monuments and the popularisation of knowledge about architecture among young audiences. Her research focuses on, among other things, the significance of railway architecture in the Second Polish Republic and the phenomenon of multiple modernities.
Read also: United States | Travel | Recommended | Modernism | whiteMAD on Instagram
