And it’s about scale, too. The vast, airy rooms mirror the seemingly infinite expanse of the rugged landscape.
“Invisible House is a 5,500-square-foot (511 sq m), three- bedroom, four-bathroom, smart property cantilevered 100 feet (30 m) off the ground, featuring a prefab guest house, solar and thermal systems, a 222-square-foot (20.6 sq m) projection wall, and a 100-foot (30 m) indoor solar pool,” says Kirman’s colleague Matt Adamo. “Its mirrored exterior was conceived to reflect the ever-changing landscape and create a dialogue between object and site.”
Careful attention has been paid to sustainability, and the building’s foundation has one of the smallest environmental footprints in the Joshua Tree area. Nothing was disturbed during its construction, another benefit of the part-cantilevered design.
Architectural inspiration came from the Mies van der Rohe skyscrapers of New York City and striking monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, but given a horizontal twist. The 90-acre (36.4 ha) plot includes its own 4,000-foot (1,219 m) mountain and uses its magnificent setting to maximum effect. It’s unparalleled in conjuring feelings of peace, calm, and getting away from it all, something that so many city-dwellers seek.