Palm Springs Modern Homes
Palm Springs, Calif.
DesignARC

DesignARC joins forces with an imaginative developer to continue a veritable tradition of desert modern design

© Benny Chan/Fotoworks

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By Joseph Giovannini

There may be no second acts in American public lives, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once pronounced, but in Palm Springs, California, Midcentury Modernism has returned for a high-profile encore. In a series of very successful housing projects, DesignARC—with offices in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Orange County—has taken up the ethos and architectural vocabulary of the resort’s many Modernist buildings within the parameters of the speculative marketplace. Turns out, design sells.

About eight years ago, Dennis Cunningham of Palm Springs Modern Homes began building houses in a Modernist spirit on a variety of lot sizes, designed by DesignARC. The architects developed simple wood-frame structures that usually featured a double-height living room and double master bedrooms. In one five-unit project, which happens to be located next to the Alexander development (and across the street from a middle school designed by Albert Frei), the houses form an L around a pool protected from prevailing winds by high walls. The architects composed the houses with slipped planes, à la de Stijl, each painted a color selected from the desert’s pale palette of gray, silver, copper, and tan. Collectively, the parts form a varied composition along the street, becoming a handsome suburban ensemble updating the precedents of their distinguished neighbors. The houses sold easily and profitably to a largely gay clientele: The developer had discovered a niche market for Modernist enthusiasts seeking a second home. Since then, Cunningham has engaged the architects to develop several mostly multifamily projects, each of which uniquely fits its site at a density that would make a New Urbanist’s heart flutter. All share common roots in Modernist precedent.

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Formal name of Project:
Palm Springs Modern Homes
5@Miraleste, 48@Arenas, 48@Baristo

Location:
Palm Springs, Calif.

Owner:
Palm Springs Modern Homes
Dennis and Cheryl Cunningham

Architect:
DesignARC
10500 West Pico Bl.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 204-8950 (phone)
(310) 204-8959 (fax)
www.designarc.net