06 May 2024
Movie producer Chris Hanley (think Buffalo '66, The Virgin Suicides, American Psycho...) and his wife Roberta have built an essentially invisible house on a ninety acre property edging onto the Joshua Tree National Park within the Mojave Desert in California.
The innovative design is the work of architect Tomas Osinski who hails from Poland and now heads up Tomas Osinski Design Inc based in California.
The building's 510 square meters of surface area is designed to blend into the surrounding terrain, rendering it almost invisible. Exterior walls are clad with heat-reflecting Solarcool glass and the roof insulation system incorporates CFC-free, closed cell polyethylene foam. The structure is cantilevered off its desert building site and the building’s footprint extends over more than 557 sq.m. (6000 sq.ft.) measuring 68.6m long x 7.6. wide x 6.4m high. A 32.4kW electricity generation system is fed by ninety two solar roof panels with storage via three Tesla batteries.
The floor plan comprises a 30m pool, four bathrooms, three bedrooms, kitchen and a very spacious living environment. The open-plan kitchen features cabinetry by Boffi of Italy and appliances by Wolf and Miele. It has been described as a mirrored twenty two story horizontal skyscraper and has recently been listed for sale at what would be a record breaking US$18 million. The property is available on Airbnb and daily rental starts at about US$2,500.
