Modernism and the Future of Affordable Housing in Palm Springs

Christopher Hawthorne, senior architecture critic at Yale University, will examine noteworthy examples of contemporary modernist housing and the  ways those projects respond to today’s social, economic, and environmental pressures. An architecture critic, educator, and filmmaker, Hawthorne previously served from 2018 to 2022 as the first chief design officer for the city of  Los Angeles. His writing has appeared in The New York Times,  The New Yorker,  and The Atlantic.

Silvia Perea, curator of the Architecture and Design Collection at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will discuss the desert’s unique sky dome (light, color, clarity, sun path, and atmospheric conditions) and its influence on modern architecture. Her talk will also address how modernist principles developed in Europe were translated to the American context, with particular attention to ideas conceived in response to the Coachella Valley’s climate and landscape. Drawing from her curatorial work, Perea will situate desert modernism within a broader architectural and historical framework.

Modernism Today

Symposium speakers and a selection of architects whose work appears on the self-guided tour discuss modernism’s history, its current state, and its future in the desert.

Do classic modernist materials still make sense — practically and economically — today?

CHRISTOPHER HAWTHORNE, senior architecture critic at Yale University and  former chief design officer for the city of Los Angeles: If  you think about steel as a building block of a lot of modernist Southern California architecture, in the work of somebody like Craig Elwood, for example, steel is a good deal less affordable. But I think the spirit of economy, resourcefulness, practicality — all those things which were central to the practice of modernist architecture in Southern California can be brought to bear on the problems of affordability still today.

LAWRENCE SCARPA, architect and co-founder of Brooks + Scarpa, whose firm designed Rosa Gardens, a model for sustainable, energy-efficient housing in Palm Springs: Back then, everything was single-glazed glass. Insulation was rarely used. Things were beautiful, but the homes were almost like a tent. Today, homes are built much better in a whole lot of ways. But we also have lost the richness and the simplicity, like how glass comes right up to the ceiling and the floor and feels seamless. That contrasts what we often see today, which is going to a catalog or picking it off the shelf. Nothing is custom-made.

CRAIG BASSAM, architect and co-founder of the design studio BassamFellows: The difficult thing is ordering small batches of materials; we often have to wait to piggyback onto larger orders. This is where it gets tricky. You can’t just go and buy what you need. The manufacturer may only do large production runs, and they’re special orders. I know the [owners of the] Eames House in Los Angeles [encountered that] when they redid their floors; they had to specially order a huge batch to get the right color because it was custom for them. So that’s the hard thing — doing smaller batches.

HAWTHORNE: Concrete block can still be very useful. It can be arranged as a brise soleil, which is to say to be open to breezes. That’s a very readily available, inexpensive material that can be useful in terms of climate protection, passive cooling, or the production of semi-enclosed spaces that are part indoor and part outdoor that, of course in the desert, have to be cooled much of the year.

What environmental factors need to be considered when building in the desert?

WIL CARSON, architect and founder of 64North, designer of Aloe Palm Canyon, a 71-unit affordable housing community for low-income seniors: Sun and wind are the two primary drivers. Natural light and ventilation are two elements of these which have particular impact on the [Aloe Palm Canyon] project. This has influenced the overall massing of the project and the disposition of units and courtyards, the second-level open circulation, how elements including rooflines and trellises provide for shade, and how windows are oriented, both to provide for views and natural light but also to reduce solar gain.

SILVIA PEREA, curator of the Architecture and Design Collection at the University of California, Santa Barbara: The sky is much clearer in the desert because it’s drier and because it has less environmental pollution and light pollution. The conditions of the sky dome — related to sun exposure, temperature, wind — shaped a lot of the different and very characteristic facets of modern architecture in the desert, starting with the roofs. The roofs were not only meant to frame the beautiful horizon and the sky, but also to deal with strong winds and sun exposure. The presence of the sky is so overwhelming when you get to Palm Springs that I think architects were very aware of  it, the possibilities that it offered them, and the challenges that they had to respond to. An architect like Albert Frey was using sun charts to design his buildings, especially  his homes.

LANCE O’DONNELL, Palm Springs–based architect and founder of  o2 Architecture, whose Sunny Lane Uno residence, completed in 2020, joins the self-guided tour: For me, the natural environment — sun, wind, and everything it offers — needs to be balanced with views and indoor-outdoor living. When we think of nature as something we receive for free, it becomes our choice whether to resist it or find ways to enjoy it seamlessly.

SCOTT FELLOWS, creative director and co-founder of the design studio BassamFellows: There’s something in the connection to nature and the experience of light and space that is very conducive to your health. … We believe that modernist architecture can even make people live longer.

What design decisions have the greatest impact on a home’s affordability?

O’DONNELL: Maximize efficiency wherever possible while preserving comfort and functionality. For example, a dedicated pool bath may be a luxury, but a thoughtfully designed guest bath might meet the same need without adding unnecessary scope.

PEREA: For homeowners, affordability usually comes from a series of smart design choices rather than one big cost-saving move. Good planning and compact, well-organized layouts can lower both construction costs and long-term expenses. Simple building forms, repeating details, and using standard materials and systems, rather than highly custom ones, also help keep costs down. Designing homes to be durable and flexible over time can reduce maintenance and renovation costs later on.

O’DONNELL: Value often comes from exploring both local supply outlets and online options. With the abundance of online imagery for inspiration, targeted searches become easier. Whether you’re sourcing materials for a bathroom remodel or an entire home, simply knowing your required quantities — including overages — empowers informed decisions and expands your options.

CARSON: For Aloe Palm Canyon, we were strategic in how we designed and constructed the project, with construction cost in mind. This includes thoughtful design, engineering, material sourcing, value engineering for all aspects of the project, from its initial conception through construction. One specific innovation the project takes advantage of  is precut/prefabricated off-site framing: the project’s framing was precut off-site before being assembled on-site, reducing construction cost and speeding timelines, as well as reducing construction waste.

DUANE SMITH,  architect and founder of Hundred Mile House, responsible for the renovation of the 1954 Chino Canyon House:  For the Chino Canyon House, we used pretty affordable materials. Our kitchen is an IKEA kitchen base with custom doors, so that kept cabinetry costs low. Even though we used fairly nice tiles, we did the installation ourselves, which helped a lot. We didn’t do the panel-ready fridge and the panel-ready dishwasher. That also kept the kitchen costs fairly low by not being overly luxurious with any of our fixtures and finishes.

O’DONNELL: Taking an active role — whether by managing  the project or performing  select tasks yourself — can add both affordability and personal satisfaction. Success, however, requires adequate time and a balance of humility and skill.

Which technological advances have had the biggest impact on home design?

SMITH: Lighting technology has changed quite a bit. Ten years ago, we were on the cusp of using LEDs. But the color temperature wasn’t quite right; they weren’t all dimmable. That’s improved a lot. We’ve got so many more options now for great LED light fixtures, which are much more energy efficient. They dim to warm rather than being  this cold or white light.

O’DONNELL: Home design and construction continue to evolve, yet the industry still relies heavily on post–World War II, site-built methods and traditional trade contractors. Until new production models gain broader acceptance, the most impactful technological advances will be those that enhance comfort and sustainability, such as home automation systems, solar power generation, and integrated battery storage.

PEREA: The most important advances I’ve seen are less about flashy technology and more about better performance. Improvements in insulation, windows, and building envelopes have made homes far more energy-efficient and comfortable. Digital design and fabrication tools have also improved accuracy, which helps reduce waste and construction mistakes. Energy-efficient HVAC systems, passive design strategies, and smart controls have made it easier to build homes that are both environmentally responsible and cost-effective to operate.

CARSON: There is not a specific whiz-bang technology that we have found has made a marked difference in how buildings are designed and constructed over the past two decades. The fundamentals that modernist architects worked with in the 1950s are still very useful to us in how we construct our buildings and how they are lived in. However, there have been many small, individual improvements, especially in terms of energy efficiency and water use, which, while individually not “fancy,” when taken as a sum, mean that the buildings we are constructing are many times more energy efficient, and use substantially less water, than projects constructed 20 or even 10 years ago: insulation, glass coatings, heat pumps, appliances, and lighting.

SMITH: Smart home systems come and go. We don’t do a lot of smart homes because people are still very wary of the technology changing so fast. They don’t want to rely on any one system that they’re going to become dependent on that’s going to be out of date in five or 10 years. Even as a company, we’re still on the fence about integrating too much smart  home technology into any project.

BASSAM: The biggest advances have been high-performance building envelopes. Better glazing, insulation, and air sealing make homes quieter, cooler, and more comfortable — especially in extreme climates — without compromising glass, views, or design clarity. The best technology disappears into the architecture and makes the home feel effortless.

What considerations come into play when renovating a historically significant modernist building?

BASSAM: There are a lot of very good buildings out there that can be moved into this century. Good architecture is rare, so you don’t want to lose it. You want to work with it.

FELLOWS: The most sustainable building is a building that already exists. Regarding homes we’ve worked on that are listed on the National Register, there’s a seriousness of the historical importance of the architecture or the original architect. 

HAWTHORNE: Attempts to reconsider, renovate, remodel, redesign, and extend existing architecture have become an increasing focus particularly for younger architects over the last decade or so. One of the lessons is to build as little as possible. We forget about how small so many of even the canonical houses of midcentury modernism were. Most of the houses in the case study program, for example, were between 1,000 and 2,500 square feet, quite small by today’s standards. Doing more with less, living in smaller spaces — these are lessons that still apply.

FELLOWS: It’s not about creating a perfect museum piece preserved in amber that real people don’t live in. You want them to be relevant for today. But at the same time, you want to do nothing to destroy that historical relevance. It’s a balancing act.