Panorama House

Between the expense, hassle, and exhaustion, our family was finding international travel less appealing, and we began looking for getaways nearer to our Los Angeles home. One such trip, at a modern home near Joshua Tree, surrounded by boulders, we felt like we were inhabiting our very own National Park. It was an unforgettable experience! We began to think about what it would take to build a modern home in the Mojave desert.

Finally, at the beginning of 2020, we saved enough funds and purchased 5 acres in a quiet sparsely populated neighborhood bordering Joshua Tree town in Yucca Valley. I have a design degree from Otis/Parsons and spent the last 20 years in the fashion industry. So instead of hiring an architect, I decided to design the house myself.

Design took about 8 months. Another year was spent on getting plans drawn and pulling permits. In April of 2022, we broke ground. I must have reached out to a dozen local contractors...only two would return my call, and even they were 2 years out. My husband and I couldn't imagine waiting another 2 years to bring my design to life. So we brought in a small LA family contractor team. However that turned out to be the biggest disaster we encountered during the entire project. They were inexperienced and they were thieves. They misrepresented their licensing and stole almost $200k, abandoning three of their workmates in the desert. I hired them, rented a place for them to live, paid their back pay (the GC never paid them) and resumed the project. Junior, one of the workers became my right hand man.

During that time, I must have had 3 panic attacks and by fall, due to stress and lack of sleep, I begin having flare ups with my immune disorder. I started feeling enormous pain in my joints and couldn't walk properly. Looking back, I don't know how I survived the winter of 2022/23. Since we didn't want to stop the project, I decided to become the GC and begin sourcing materials on my own and started the build. I drove around the project in a little tricycle as I couldn't properly walk and begin framing the house mid November of 2022.

The four corners of the house are all different heights, so framing the cantilever roof was the biggest challenge I faced. Each TJI joist had to be cut in an angle and in different lengths. I had to purchase very specialized angle brackets to mount each joist. Framing the roof was dangerous and very time consuming and most of all it was terrifyingly expensive.

By spring of 2023, I was in a groove. My health was still suffering but I was in a better place as the house was finally framed and we begin working on the interior. Due to high ceilings, the drywall took almost 3 months to finish. Encountering a reliable supply of mediocre subcontractors, we ended up rebuilding our hot tub deck for the 4th time. Finally we found a great concrete person and were able to salvage my floating spa deck upon a little hill overlooking the valley. It now is the highlight of the house.

During the summer of 2023 we camped out in the house without electricity and worked on putting the interiors together. My husband built a poor man's air conditioning by utilizing a solar fan and ice chest so he could work through 100 degree heat. We showered with the garden hose. We slept with all the sliders and windows open and felt mesmerized by the summer wind and star flooded views of the sky.

The concept of the house is that a space ship has landed on Mars. The house is built above ground so while being inside, one feels as though floating in mid air with unobstructed views of the valley and the surrounding mountains.

The windows and sliders are by Fleetwood. I brought in vintage pieces from auction houses from Denmark and Sweden plus some key designer pieces to complete the look of the interior. I used Reform cabinets to finish the kitchen and due to some complications, ended up hiring a furniture maker to install floating shelves and finish the kitchen. It's a small kitchen but very efficient and beautiful and stocked with pieces by Georg Jensen and Alessi and other ceramic pieces.

To soften the sharp lines of the house, I added elements of curves throughout. I replicated circle handles by Reform kitchen and built a custom credenza for the living room. Globe lights are themed through out each bedrooms and the living room showcases a stunning Turbo pendant by Louis Weisdorf, a great vintage find from Etsy.

I worked with a local landscape artist to correct the damages caused by the construction and we focused on native plants to make the landscape blend in naturally with the surrounding desert. We brought in large boulders to add more drama to the final landscape design. The result is breathtakingly striking yet blends in beautifully with the surrounding desert.

I met so many fascinating characters while building in the desert - some real artisans and craftsmen and some cons. As a woman, I was surrounded by burly guys but they all treated me with respect and guided me through the project. Building in the desert definitely had more unexpected challenges and I am surprised to find myself still standing after all that I had encountered. I felt overwhelmed and fatigued most of the time but somehow, I never gave up. There were so many issues that popped up throughout but I always found a way to a resolution. And the house finally passed its final inspection 4 days before Christmas 2023.

Building this house was one of the biggest challenges I faced in my career/life but I'm so grateful that my husband stood by me and allowed me to pursue our dream of building a desert home and entrusted me with our life savings. We are slightly broke after the build but we now have this amazing home. It's peaceful, quiet and otherworldly being here in our own desert house surrounded by nature. It took 3 years to finish and my health suffered but it really was all worth it.

Julie Park
Owner/Builder