London-based architecture studio Whitaker Studio designs a three-bedroom, three-bath single-family residence near California's Joshua Tree National Park. While soothing desert views are always a plus, what makes this particular home so appealing is its looks and configuration.
The project idea was unveiled in 2017, and since then, visuals for the "starburst house" became a media sensation with its unique shape and clustered shipping container construction. Each shipping container segment ends with windows providing views of the surrounding landscape. Each shipping container is positioned at varying angles as it comes together at the center of the home.
With its stunningly realistic visuals, the home has not even started construction yet, the house is up for sale and listed at $3.5 million. An ideal desert getaway the studio interest for the property has only continued to increase.
Santa Monica real estate firm engel & völkers provided the following property description:
This phenomenal project includes plans, construction, and delivery of the spectacular Starburst, an architectural shipping container home commissioned from London Based Whitaker Studios. The home's exoskeleton of cuboid forms emanate in all directions oriented to capture the sheer beauty of the vistas, sky, and desert-scape.
"A stark interior comprising concrete flooring, white walls, and minimal furnishings. Incredible rock formations, private mountain, panoramic basin views, and hundreds of Joshua Trees. Ideal for stargazing, horses, and those who seek tranquility for their spiritual, meditation or yoga practices. Multiple flat sites to choose from that offer both astonishing desert scenery and privacy. The height of rare and natural beauty, this property makes for an incredible site for your dream compound or weekend getaway."
View more project visuals below.
37 Comments
Not a house. Not a home. Yet, at least. What's for sale is 22 acres of desert and a set of nice renderings.
It's important to describe things accurately.
I'd like to get a look at their detailing of how all these forms come together, because (as usual) the renderings appear magical. It is a striking design, though, and I hope it gets built.
“With its stunningly realistic visuals, the home has not even started construction yet...”
The sale price is not only for the lot and renderings. It includes plans, construction and delivery of the home. Whether or not they can pull it off, that's the risk the potential buyer will be making.
Most work architects do is about drawing and visualising things that have not been built, yet there are clients that commission them, plots that have been bought etc.
^ All true, rando. My beef is with Katherine's headline.
Indeed, headlines are important if you only read the headline before jumping to the comments section.
Nice dodge!
This firm has no built work.
Nothing to support that they could perform, or that this would be a buildable design within a mile of what they have rendered.
I don't think that's fair to compare to most architectural work.
So tired of this rendering making the rounds.
Milking the last bit of publicity from this story. Good on this "designer".
this is being done a lot by me. Someone buys a lot, puts up a sign with a rendering of that lot with some trendy house, and waits for a buyer to bite.
defiantly BIG dna here — the Instagram ornament. Do the interiors even matter?
Stop giving this bullshit piece any traction whatsoever. Most architects can take this design and build it wherever they want. Fail.
Also, it seems like these architects haven't built anything yet...such a complex undertaking would be very improbably for them.
Gotta respect the hustle - three years on and the mainstream attention has dwindled but he still has industry websites and social media on the hook. #Allnewsisgoodnews
"includes plans, construction, and delivery of " if I had 3,5 mil laying around I would like to take this punk to task.
Can you imagine what the construction contract and deed of sale would look like? The asterisk next to the word includes*... would be bigger than the friggin' building itself. Maybe that's the meaning behind the plan shape!
I can't imagine a contractor giving a ball park estimate to this crap. How do you enter this bedroom? jumping over the headboard?
.
It ain't rocket science + you got drywall and mud on your side!
Why do architects hate to see not only success, but also the possibility of success of their peers?
Much can be said about this design but complaining that it is not built yet, that its a preliminary design, or anything about the lack of built work from the firm is especially weird since those comments would be perfectly applied to the early work of the men and women who fill our history books.
Form Mies' skyscrapers in the 1920s to Zaha's earliest imagined spaces in the 80's, they were entirely speculative and entirely formative in careers that changed the direction of our profession.
This project may not be all that, but if we need anything right now we definitely need more speculation, not less. And if it leads to money and a career and it pisses everyone off, then all the better.
the problem is trying to sell something that is not, nothing to do with successful designers.
So you are against almost every real estate project in the world? And on those grounds? If they don't build it first they cant advertise it? Curious to see what your business model looks like. Are you pissed off at Mies for imagining a glass building too? What a loser that guy was! Or Palladio for his speculative buildings? Even worse!
Will, I respect your respect for the hustle, but this project is just bad. The scale is vastly off, the circulation doesnt work, and lets not even start talking about the constructability. Sure its a cool idea, and should remain as such in glossy magazines.
it's important to call out the bullshit that makes architects, even if an unfair stereotype, look aloof and detached from the reality of most people. these kinds of projects are toxic for architect's broader reputation, and i don't mean in the fancy magazines.
If this was a built project it would be interesting. But as a design, it looks like a well rendered school project.
Zaha's early speculative work was actually interesting for what it was, not because of some illusion of it being built
I genuinely hope they build this project and make everyone eat their words. But I don't like the approach taken with this at all.
There are so many things that can be said about this design. The fact that it is an unbuilt project is not on the top of my list. It was pretty clear from the article that it wasnt built yet. The interior renders arent that convincing (and showcase some weird conditions that I would question as a design), but the exterior does indeed look real as can be. That does not bother me somehow. Not sure why it is a trigger for so many.
I think I started this. My apologies if it set the wrong tone about the project and design.
On one level, our field is probably more about unbuilt projects than built. So, in my mind, there's nothing negative about this project's status. (I think it's interesting, and said so.)
My critique was about writing, not architecture. The blog's headline and first couple of paragraphs (in combination with photorealistic renderings) made it seem as if this was built... I was a bit confused. I'm a nerd for this kind of thing: writing is hard, and good writing is harder. It's not a mortal sin to err at these kinds of distinctions, but it's fair game for discussion.
Awhile back I spent a chunk of time producing a dissertation and some articles about architecture, planning, and urban design. Chairs and editors stayed on me (rightly) to clarify if I was describing something accomplished versus underway versus projected; important distinctions exist. Add to this the fact that unbuilt projects themselves are entities with pasts, presents, and futures. Verb conjugations change, adverbs adjust, based on timing and contingency. These details are unimportant to a lot of folks, I know. But I liken this to architectural language, form, and materials-- the uses and misuses of which inspire lengthy debates here all the time.
And separately, I'm poking some fun at the design, I admit.
I too was disappointed to see it wasn’t built. Curious to see the detailing at then end. Going to need an A+ contractor in a tiny town to pull this off, possibly the greatest challenge of the project will be finding said GC. Also disappointing that there’s not a real plan or section, just renders that don’t tell me much about the interior or the construction.
Or the ridiculous air conditioning bill to cool a tin can with haphazard window exposures in the desert.
Or the rain water that’s going to pool up in those upward facing skylights...when it pours a few times a year.
I like the concept of the framed views, but it should have been done in a more regionally appropriate way.
archnine, there are a few high-end homes out that way, with Palm Springs and LA within a few hours. The contractor won't be thee biggest hurdle getting it built, the architect being able to design something like this on their first attempt at a building will be.
While I'm also critical of the architect in comments above, maybe they have more experience and more intense technical design on this than we realize? It would be a pretty interesting project to do CA on.
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