Palm Springs by Guggenheim Architecture + Design Studio

Palm Springs

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A Palm Springs escape designed for cool interiors and cocktails by the pool Palm Springs has long been associated with a particular vision of Californian life. Low-slung modernist homes, mountain views, swimming pools, and long, hot afternoons have made the desert city synonymous with a kind of effortless glamour. For a long-term client of Guggenheim Architecture + Design Studio, that lifestyle was exactly what they were looking for. Approaching retirement, the couple wanted a place where they could escape, entertain friends and family, and embrace the pleasures of Palm Springs living, from slow mornings to cocktails by the pool. The brief was deliberately open. The clients knew they would regularly host visitors, but beyond creating enough accommodation for family and friends, they were interested in seeing where the architecture could take them. “They left the project parameters fairly open,” says Jenny Guggenheim. “They wanted to see what we could create with the space we were given.” The resulting home sits comfortably within a streetscape shaped by the legacy of Californian modernism, while establishing an architectural identity of its own. Guggenheim Studio was careful not to simply reproduce the historic language of Palm Springs, nor introduce something that felt disconnected from its surroundings. “It was important to us that you could drive down the street and think, ‘I wonder if that's always been there?’” says Guggenheim. “Or maybe it’s new?” That sense of belonging extends beyond the street-facing façade. Palm Springs is a place where the landscape is an essential part of daily life, and one of the studio's priorities was to make the most of the home's connection to its desert setting. The original house offered almost no view of the mountains, despite the dramatic San Jacinto range forming one of the area's most recognisable backdrops. The challenge was to open the house to that view without compromising the plan or sacrificing the cool, comfortable interiors needed to make life in the desert enjoyable during the hottest months. A 360-degree clerestory detail around the central great room became an important part of the solution, drawing the mountain landscape into the interior while allowing the home's kitchen, dining, and living spaces to remain protected from the intense heat outside. “You're able to enjoy that mountain space from the comfort of air conditioning inside,” says Guggenheim. “During the hotter months, when temperatures are regularly above 100 degrees, having really good cooled indoor spaces was incredibly important.” The experience of the house begins with a private front courtyard, a familiar feature of Palm Springs homes. Sheltered from the street, it provides another outdoor room and a shaded place to spend time during different parts of the day. From there, the house reveals itself gradually. Stepping inside, the eye is immediately drawn through the living spaces towards the pool at the rear of the property. The central great room brings the kitchen, dining, and living areas together as the social heart of the home, while three guest suites sit around the perimeter. Each suite has direct access to the outdoors, allowing visiting family and friends a degree of independence. It was an important consideration for a house expected to regularly fill with guests.The plan also makes clever use of what is a relatively compact Palm Springs site. A deep green tiled wall behind the kitchen range, for example, conceals a substantial storage and service zone. Behind it sits the laundry, which connects to a corridor leading through to the pool bathroom and outdoors. “Most of the corridors and rooms lead you to the exterior,” says Guggenheim. “There are very strong connections to the outdoor spaces throughout the house.” That relationship becomes particularly apparent around the fireplace, where a window-wall system can tuck completely away to create a seamless transition between inside and out. Interior flooring continues beyond the glazing, reinforcing the sense that the living spaces extend towards the pool rather than stopping at the edge of the building. A window seat beside the fireplace offers another moment of connection. It can open completely to the outdoors, creating a place to sit with a morning coffee before eventually making the short journey from the air-conditioned interior to the pool. Materially, the house takes its cues from the desert, but interprets them with a sense of playfulness. A pale stucco exterior helps reduce heat absorption, while the interior palette draws on the rusty tones of the surrounding mountains, the greens of agave, and the vivid blues of Palm Springs' ever-present swimming pools. The challenge was to acknowledge the area's mid-century heritage without turning the home into a themed interpretation of it. “Palm Springs makes it very easy to lean into a kind of cheesy realm,” Guggenheim says. “It was important to us that it felt rooted and sophisticated, but still colorful and fun.” The materials were also selected with the realities of desert life in mind. Extreme temperatures and the dry climate demanded robust, low-maintenance finishes that would age well, while the home itself needed to support the couple through retirement. Solar panels provide energy for the home's systems and help heat the pool, while the architecture balances the sense of escape the clients were seeking with the practical requirements of everyday living. Since completion, the house has performed much as Guggenheim Studio had hoped. On visits to the property, the studio has often found the owners entertaining, with friends gathered around drinks or family filling the guest suites. For Guggenheim, seeing the house being used in exactly that way has been one of the most satisfying aspects of the project. “We've gone down a few times to pop in and say hi, and there's already been a group of friends there enjoying a cocktail,” she says. “It's really cool to see them using it.” For visitors arriving from the Pacific Northwest, the house offers a genuine change of pace. The architecture, colors, and connection to the landscape make it feel unmistakably rooted in Palm Springs, creating the sense of having stepped into another world. And perhaps that is ultimately what the project was designed to offer: a place to leave everyday routines behind, gather with the people you love, and spend a little more time by the pool. As Guggenheim puts it, “That's really what Palm Springs and this home are all about. Relaxation, enjoying the pool and letting go of all your worries.” For more inspiration from architects and designers creating thoughtful responses to place, climate, and the way we live, explore projects and products on ArchiPro.

A Palm Springs escape designed for cool interiors and cocktails by the pool Palm Springs has long been associated with a particular vision of Californian life. Read more

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interior design architecture furnishings courtyard home outdoor living

Project team

Guggenheim Architecture + Design Studio
Guggenheim Architecture

A retreat designed around Californian modernism, effortless indoor-outdoor living, and the simple pleasures of entertaining by the pool.

A Palm Springs escape designed for cool interiors and cocktails by the pool

Palm Springs has long been associated with a particular vision of Californian life. Low-slung modernist homes, mountain views, swimming pools, and long, hot afternoons have made the desert city synonymous with a kind of effortless glamour.

For a long-term client of Guggenheim Architecture + Design Studio, that lifestyle was exactly what they were looking for. Approaching retirement, the couple wanted a place where they could escape, entertain friends and family, and embrace the pleasures of Palm Springs living, from slow mornings to cocktails by the pool.

The brief was deliberately open. The clients knew they would regularly host visitors, but beyond creating enough accommodation for family and friends, they were interested in seeing where the architecture could take them.

“They left the project parameters fairly open,” says Jenny Guggenheim. “They wanted to see what we could create with the space we were given.”

The resulting home sits comfortably within a streetscape shaped by the legacy of Californian modernism, while establishing an architectural identity of its own. Guggenheim Studio was careful not to simply reproduce the historic language of Palm Springs, nor introduce something that felt disconnected from its surroundings.

“It was important to us that you could drive down the street and think, ‘I wonder if that's always been there?’” says Guggenheim. “Or maybe it’s new?”

That sense of belonging extends beyond the street-facing façade. Palm Springs is a place where the landscape is an essential part of daily life, and one of the studio's priorities was to make the most of the home's connection to its desert setting. The original house offered almost no view of the mountains, despite the dramatic San Jacinto range forming one of the area's most recognisable backdrops.

The challenge was to open the house to that view without compromising the plan or sacrificing the cool, comfortable interiors needed to make life in the desert enjoyable during the hottest months.

A 360-degree clerestory detail around the central great room became an important part of the solution, drawing the mountain landscape into the interior while allowing the home's kitchen, dining, and living spaces to remain protected from the intense heat outside. “You're able to enjoy that mountain space from the comfort of air conditioning inside,” says Guggenheim. “During the hotter months, when temperatures are regularly above 100 degrees, having really good cooled indoor spaces was incredibly important.”

The experience of the house begins with a private front courtyard, a familiar feature of Palm Springs homes. Sheltered from the street, it provides another outdoor room and a shaded place to spend time during different parts of the day. From there, the house reveals itself gradually. Stepping inside, the eye is immediately drawn through the living spaces towards the pool at the rear of the property. The central great room brings the kitchen, dining, and living areas together as the social heart of the home, while three guest suites sit around the perimeter.

Each suite has direct access to the outdoors, allowing visiting family and friends a degree of independence. It was an important consideration for a house expected to regularly fill with guests.The plan also makes clever use of what is a relatively compact Palm Springs site. A deep green tiled wall behind the kitchen range, for example, conceals a substantial storage and service zone. Behind it sits the laundry, which connects to a corridor leading through to the pool bathroom and outdoors. “Most of the corridors and rooms lead you to the exterior,” says Guggenheim. “There are very strong connections to the outdoor spaces throughout the house.”

That relationship becomes particularly apparent around the fireplace, where a window-wall system can tuck completely away to create a seamless transition between inside and out. Interior flooring continues beyond the glazing, reinforcing the sense that the living spaces extend towards the pool rather than stopping at the edge of the building.

A window seat beside the fireplace offers another moment of connection. It can open completely to the outdoors, creating a place to sit with a morning coffee before eventually making the short journey from the air-conditioned interior to the pool.

Materially, the house takes its cues from the desert, but interprets them with a sense of playfulness. A pale stucco exterior helps reduce heat absorption, while the interior palette draws on the rusty tones of the surrounding mountains, the greens of agave, and the vivid blues of Palm Springs' ever-present swimming pools.

The challenge was to acknowledge the area's mid-century heritage without turning the home into a themed interpretation of it. “Palm Springs makes it very easy to lean into a kind of cheesy realm,” Guggenheim says. “It was important to us that it felt rooted and sophisticated, but still colorful and fun.”

The materials were also selected with the realities of desert life in mind. Extreme temperatures and the dry climate demanded robust, low-maintenance finishes that would age well, while the home itself needed to support the couple through retirement.

Solar panels provide energy for the home's systems and help heat the pool, while the architecture balances the sense of escape the clients were seeking with the practical requirements of everyday living.

Since completion, the house has performed much as Guggenheim Studio had hoped. On visits to the property, the studio has often found the owners entertaining, with friends gathered around drinks or family filling the guest suites. For Guggenheim, seeing the house being used in exactly that way has been one of the most satisfying aspects of the project. “We've gone down a few times to pop in and say hi, and there's already been a group of friends there enjoying a cocktail,” she says. “It's really cool to see them using it.”

For visitors arriving from the Pacific Northwest, the house offers a genuine change of pace. The architecture, colors, and connection to the landscape make it feel unmistakably rooted in Palm Springs, creating the sense of having stepped into another world.

And perhaps that is ultimately what the project was designed to offer: a place to leave everyday routines behind, gather with the people you love, and spend a little more time by the pool. As Guggenheim puts it, “That's really what Palm Springs and this home are all about. Relaxation, enjoying the pool and letting go of all your worries.”

For more inspiration from architects and designers creating thoughtful responses to place, climate, and the way we live, explore projects and products on ArchiPro.