The 15th annual Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale returns to the Palm Springs Convention Center with rare goodies offered by top dealers. The show kicks off on Friday, February 13 with a gala kickoff party and runs through Monday, February 16.

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

The owners toured this home, which surrounds a mature tipu tipu tree, while visiting relatives for the day. The brick is original to the 1947 construction.

Sliding doors by Quantum were made to look like the original panes that couldn't be saved, and they lead to a fire pit outside.

“A building can have far greater impact than the space it stands in.”—William Carpenter, architect and resident

The best.

New zoning allowed for a zero-lot-line structure, but required a public storefront, which Carpenter uses as an art gallery.

Drawing from Croatia’s rich—and only recently acknowledged—tradition of socialist design, Numen / For Use's Polygon chair is small, comfortable and easy to move.

See Arch restored the exterior fireplace wall and painted it a deep blue hue to match the repainted blue timber cladding.

Vintage Trailer Show at Modernism Week

Nodding to the bay windows so common in San Francisco, the AetherSF shop's second in the stack of three shipping containers cantilevers out over the entry not only to provide a bit of shelter from a rainy night, but also to permit an expansive view of the neighborhood from the second floor lounge.

Last night, January 23rd, Dwell and Aether Apparel teamed up for the Dwell Conversation Prefab's Progress. We were joined by a two architects, a metal fabricator, and a prefab entrepreneur to talk about how prefabricated architecture can solve the problems presented by difficult sites.

Douglas Burnham, principal of Envelope A+D, and designer of the AetherSF shop describes how the trio of shipping containers are connected by just four bolts, making them entirely mobile. Because the buildings at the Proxy are intended to be temporary—San Francisco has designated the lot for mixed-income housing when it has the capacity to build—Burnham and his colleagues faced a difficult site not in terms of topography, but in terms of time.

Seth Krubiner (plaid shirt) and Benjamin Parco (black blazer) describe how they used prefab tools to build a pair of Bay Area Houses. Krubiner is a founder of Simpatico Homes and lives in the firm's prototype house in Emeryville, California. A hybrid site-built and modular system, Simpatico Homes build as much as they can in the factory but as Krubiner argued, certain elements (like the garage) are better done on-site. Parco designed a panelized prefab system for a house high in the Berkeley Hills, too high for a big truck and a crane to move a modular solution to the site.

At just nine feet wide, AetherSF succeeds by being a vertical store. A customized dry-cleaner's conveyor belt hoists tons of jackets tens of feet into the sky, essentially suspending the shop's inventory.

Rather an informal talk, Deputy Editor Aaron Britt (in the tie) moderated a talk about prefab design with (from left) architect Benjamin Parco, Seth Krubiner of Simpatico Homes, architect Douglas Burnham, and metalworker Chris French. Here French describes how his long experience doing custom metalwork allowed him to avoid a trial-and-error approach to the Aether interior.

The bath’s Kohler Purist fixtures and Frederick Weinberg animal figures sit on a Corian countertop

Modernism Week in Palm Springs.

The Airstream Haus’s interior is minimalist, but comfortable, boasting a fully functional kitchen and queen-size bed that doubles as a couch.

Silhouetted partygoers enjoying the atmosphere.

Loris Lora’s paintings, from her new book Eventually Everything Connects, reference icons like Charles and Ray Eames.

Another Lora piece from Eventually Everything Connects.

A comprehensive timeline traces growing global environmental awareness. Photo by Pat McElnea. Images provided courtesy The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive of The Cooper Union.

The Airstream Haus, parked in Ojai, California. August says that when your dwelling is small, it’s important to make the most of outdoor space.

The Kelleys furnished the cottage with help from Suzanne’s daughter Betsy Burbank of Betsy Burbank Interiors. Classic modernist icons, such as a Saarinen Womb chair for Knoll, a Herman Miller Eames lounge chair, and an Eileen Grey E1027 side table look at home alongside present-day pieces such as an Encore sofa (which handily folds down into a sleeping surface) from Room & Board and a Doka rug designed and produced by Stephanie Odegard. The Wohlert pendant lights from Louis Poulsen were designed by Vilhelm Wohlert in 1959, but grouped as such, they appear distinctly contemporary.

20K Show Homes The centerpiece of the Rural Studio program is the 20K House. The price is calculated by looking at the highest mortgage someone on Social Security can afford. They normally cost roughly $12,000 for materials and $8,000 for contracted labor and profit. Photo by Tim Hursley

“I really believe buildings are part of a city as an organism.”—William Carpenter, architect and resident

Architect Barbara Bestor added a striped floor of Santander Granada Tile, Douglas Fir cladding, and Granada Serengeti tile flipped to create a one-of-a-kind pattern on the wall.

The master bath commands one of the best views in the house.

Natural wooden walls clad the dining room corner, while a marigold lantern hangs above.

Guests mingled around the pool. Hello Again welcomed partygoers to rethink the typical dinner party.