A Sculptural Desert Escape Inspired by a Shadow
This dark Yucca Valley home tricks the eye through clever use of light and shadow.
When husband-and-wife architects Monica Oller and Tom Pejic took on this Yucca Valley home, it was with very simple instructions from the homeowners: design a house like a shadow. The result is an ethereal, unexpectedly transparent home nestled above a stunning desert landscape. Situated on a partially graded outcropping with parts of the interior recessed into the rock face, the house reads almost like a cave dwelling. Pejic explains, "The house would replace the missing mountain that was scraped away, but not as a mountain, but a shadow or negative of the rock; what was found once the rock was removed, a hard glinting obsidian shard."
The architects designed the rooms as a linear sequence wrapping around a central courtyard. As one would have traversed the preexisting rock face, residents are constantly negotiating small elevation changes throughout the house. The plan also protects a central courtyard from the harsh Yucca Valley climate.
Photo: Marc Angeles
"There was the challenge of how to build appropriately on such a sublime and pristine site," explains Pejic. "It is akin to building a house in a natural cathedral."
Photo: Marc Angeles
The pool is framed by angular concrete paths reflecting the natural geometry of the site.
Photo: Marc Angeles
An unadorned black façade echoes the homeowners’ brief but compelling instructions to the architects to design a house like a shadow.
Photo: Marc Angeles
Darker Caeserstone countertops and concrete floors complement the angularity of the kitchen plan. An Ingo Maurer Zettel’z 5 chandelier hangs over the dining room table.
Photo: Marc Angeles
After sundown, the house itself seems to dematerialize into a dark starry expanse. For that reason, the homeowners have likened the living room to a campsite.
Photo: Marc Angeles
An enormous boulder blocks views of the street, enhancing the sense of tranquility.
Photo: Marc Angeles
The house seems to claw onto the surrounding landscape, nestled on an outcropping with nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding desert.
Photo: Marc Angeles
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