| This original 1959 Charles DuBois-designed residence is a listed contributing structure by the city of Palm Springs within the Alexander Company’s Vista Las Palmas tract potential historic district in Palm Springs, California. The irregularly shaped site was one of the first developed as part of the original tract and is located on the east-circle cul-de-sac. The residence needed modernization, originally painted a salmon/orange color throughout, including all exterior materials, from the original local stone veneer to the mailbox, which was the first thing to be removed. The current owners wished to be good stewards of the noteworthy residence by rehabilitating the distinctive exterior features and expanding the low-slung residence to fit their modern lifestyle needs.
A key design requirement from the City of Palm Springs preservation guidelines is maintaining the scale and details of the street-facing front façades on contributing structures. This was achieved by stripping away the non-original components and restoring the exterior materials. The original breezeway between the garage and residence was reopened and restored, and the new primary bedroom suite on the north was set back from the original north corner to clearly define the original footprint from the new. Energy-efficient aluminum sash windows and doors were installed throughout, replacing the existing front openings in kind and operation.
The main residence scope included full interior remodel and expansion of the residence to the north. The main common entertainment rooms lining the east side of the house facing the rear yard were opened with multi-slide doors to connect the interior to the exterior fully. Likewise, a dividing wall in the kitchen was removed and the front den was opened up by a large sliding panel to connect both spaces to the entertainment rooms visually. A new primary suite was added to the north end of the main structure by lifting the low-slung roof to the north. New exterior wall materials, namely a red zinc-coated metal siding that imitates the existing wood board and batten, were chosen for durability in the desert environment.
The circular cul-de-sac inspired the organization of the exterior ‘rooms’ on the site; from the pool shelf, spa, and fire pit to the front landscape mounds, depicting the ‘rooms’ by overlapping circles of various sizes and materials influenced by Kandinsky’s ‘Circle’ series of paintings. This allowed us to spatially organize the site at the ground level while creating unexpected eye-level color and materiality layers. We added a new contemporary pool ‘casita’ sandwiched between two sets of existing mature palm groupings to anchor the rear yard. The structure's location was decided on the first site walk with the clients; we all stood there admiring the iconic Mt. San Jacinto peak. The canted casita roof tilts toward the mountain while providing needed shade and quiet space.
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