Turkel Design

Open great room frames views of the rolling hills at dawn

Interior of Sonoma Retreat, featuring the open living area and pitched roof

Axiom Desert House by Turkel Design Palm Springs, CA Photo by Chase Daniel

Completed in February 2019, the Axiom Desert House was the Featured Home in this year’s Palm Springs Modernism Week.

Axiom Desert House by Turkel Design - Great Room Photo by Chase Daniel

Axiom Desert House by Turkel Design When the foundation was ready, the weather-tight shell was stacked onto a truck and delivered to the site as flat-packed panels. An experienced crew began unloading and preparing assembly—much faster and with more precision than conventional construction allows.

Axiom Desert House by Turkel Design We worked with BC Timber Frame to source our Douglas fir glulam beams—using Select Structural, the highest grade of local Douglas fir timber known for its beauty, structural integrity, and fewer and smaller knots. Our beams are custom-tapered and surfaced with solid, edge-glued, finger-jointed, vertical grain, old-growth fir—achieving an exquisite furniture-grade beam. See how our crew carefully placed the beams onto the prefab shell.

Axiom 2750 by Turkel Design -3 bedrooms -3.5 baths -possible single level living Our vision for living on a steeply-sloped site is a stack of two living spaces. You enter the upper living space from the uphill side, then walk toward the view as the hill falls away, leaving you high in the air. The lower living space is tucked into the hill: you descend to it by an open stair, then walk toward the view, and step out directly onto the hillside. The upper living space is an expansive great room, and off to one side is a full master-bedroom suite - allowing the possibility for single-level living. This level also features a large screened porch, directly off the kitchen – all sharing in the same unobstructed view. The lower living space includes a more intimate family room, flanked by a bedroom and junior master suite. Suitable as a vacation home or primary residence, this design can be customized to allow for downhill entry if required.

Axiom 2610 by Turkel Design -3 bedrooms + office + family -3 baths -possible single level living This is our vision for urban living. From the entry, you are drawn through a dining area to a double-height kitchen opening directly onto a secluded patio – ideal for outdoor dining. Just beyond, large sliding glass panels retract into a concealed pocket, allowing the living room to spill into the back yard. With a potential bedroom and full bath off the private patio, this home is designed to accommodate single-level living. Upstairs, the house bifurcates. At the front are bedrooms, bath and office. At the rear, enjoying private views of the back yard, a generous master suite is accessed via an open bridge, overlooking the great room below.

Axiom 2110 by Turkel Design Axiom Desert House -3 bedrooms + office -3 baths -single level living Many cultures feature houses with rooms grouped around a private courtyard: this is our take on that venerable tradition. Passing through a flat-roofed entry, the space expands as you encounter a high, beamed ceiling, sloping upward to 12 feet. This is the great room - 40 feet in length, it opens directly onto the walled courtyard through glass panels that slide away into hidden pockets. An especially loved feature of the room is a 4-by-12-foot window-seat extending into and overlooking the courtyard. This too has operable glass panels that tuck away into pockets: a charming place to lie down—even sleep—“half-in, half-out.” Master suites occupy both ends of this “L” shaped home, each with private access to the courtyard; an ideal arrangement for a shared vacation home, in town or out. While being careful to ensure privacy, the outward facing walls stop short of the overhanging roof, bringing in balancing light and capturing expansive outward views.

Axiom 2350 by Turkel Design -3 bedrooms + loft -3 baths -possible single level living This home, appropriate for narrow city as well as broad lots with expansive views, addresses the street with a private face, while throwing itself open in two directions through the glazed great room. The dining, kitchen, and living room are grouped in an “L” shape that embraces a covered deck. Within this “L,” the ceiling heights vary dramatically, giving each space a distinctive feeling, while maintaining an open flow between them. Discretely tucked away on the main level, a bedroom suite allows for single-level living, if desired. Among the most delightful spaces is the loft office: perched above the kitchen, it not only looks down on the living and dining rooms, but directs one’s gaze upward and outward.

The weeHouse exteriors are clad in corrugated Cor-Ten, but with a custom pattern of folds to create an organic randomness. The foundations were designed with a shallow recess around the top to make the modules look like they’re hovering. After they bought the property in early 2014, the Siegels camped there for two summers while they saved up money and planned a permanent structure. In his research, BJ came across this design, a customizable prefab house by Alchemy Architects. "Of all the things that I found, I was drawn to that one because it was absolutely the simplest and cleanest," he says.