Why Architect Rachel Shillander Toted a Mirrored Orb Around Topanga Canyon

I guess I accidentally stole this chrome ball. I’ve had it for about thirteen years and got it at my first job after architecture school, working with a design group called Ball-Nogues Studio. They were doing an installation near Joshua Tree with artist Andrea Zittel’s nonprofit, High Desert Test Sites, involving a swimming pool with floating chrome spheres. On my way out to meet them, I picked up some spheres from their warehouse in Burbank. This one was too big for the pool—it’s thirty inches in diameter—so it ended up staying in my car and has been with me ever since.