Construction Diary: In the Mojave Desert, a First-Time Builder Takes On a Tricky Prefab Home
Julie Park had a vision. After building a career in the fashion industry, which had her traveling to Paris, New York, and Hong Kong in a continuous loop, she wanted a quiet place where she could reconnect with her husband, Nathan, and their teenage daughter, Hana. They’re based in Los Angeles, so the idea of driving two hours east to the desert on weekends seemed ideal.
Homeowner Julie Park ordered the home’s components from the prefab company Blue Sky Building Systems, and she hired architect Andrew Goodwin to assist with structural engineering and permits.
Julie had the wooden front door custom made and set on a pivot. Its color and vertical texture contrasts with the horizontal cladding on either side.
A trip to the Mojave Desert strengthened their resolve. "When I’m traveling, I don’t pay attention to the location as much as the architecture," Julie says. "We stayed in a beautiful rental property, and that’s how everything started." The couple dreamed of building a second home in the area, so they started saving—and by 2019, after about three years of penny-pinching, they felt comfortable enough with the size of their nest egg to start looking for land in Yucca Valley.
Julie decided to design the home herself using the prefabricated Blue Sky Building System, and the company connected her with architect Andrew Goodwin to help bring the project to life.
Julie is passionate about baking and cooking, so she specified a highly functional (and stylish) Reform Kitchen.
Finding the Land
Julie: We bought the land in 2020. I initially wanted a lot of boulders—but over in that terrain, the price of land jumps considerably. We just didn’t have the budget for that! This land felt like the best compromise: It has privacy, it’s close to town, there’s some terrain, and it still fit within our budget. I think we got lucky because I just happened to come across the listing. I saw the land that afternoon, and put in an offer the next morning.
"The home is about 1,500 square feet, but I knew I wanted to devote a lot of that to a large kitchen and living space," Julie says. The curve of the countertop breaks up the home’s angles.
I also went with this property because it already had water and an electricity pole nearby. At that point, I had toured so many other plots of land that didn’t have that, which would’ve cost more money. Nevertheless, I ended up spending $45,000 to bury the conduit from our house in the dirt, so it all evened out in the end.
In my vision for the home, there would be 360-degree views in all directions—that’s why I named it the Panorama House. The land is low-slung, and I knew I wanted the house to be somewhat raised above it. I wanted to make it so that when you’re inside, it almost feels like you’re floating above the landscape, and there are mountains in all directions.
Julie installed wardrobes in the bedrooms with the same cut-out circular pulls as the kitchen cabinetry.
"It’s always enjoyable to partner with other designers and design-centric thinkers," Andrew says. "Julie was no exception."
Framing the Design
Julie: I planned on working with Blue Sky Building Systems on this project from the beginning—it’s a prefab company that uses galvanized steel as the primary building material. My initial contractor was someone that I had known for a very long time, but he ended up not trusting the system—he thought the posts beneath the property wouldn’t be able to support its weight.
I remember thinking, "Well, what do I do now?" I called around for other available contractors, and everyone was booked. Someone said, "I think I could work with you sometime in 2023," which was a two-year wait! After calling about a dozen people, I finally found a contractor—but it ended up being a disaster.
The home has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The green and yellow tiles in the respective bathrooms are one of the few pops of color in the home.
Out here in the desert, the dirt is so compacted. You really need to know how to move the dirt, and you need special tools to do so. Watching this contractor work, I had this gut feeling that he was inexperienced. But I was so naive at this point, and I told myself that we had already given him money, so we tried to stick with him.
I had the first panic attack of my life then, because of how stressful it was. He’d say, "I need a deposit for the roof, I need a deposit for the framing," and I just didn’t know then that I was being fooled. I figured that I had managed people before and could manage this somehow. By October, I had let that general contractor go.
The hallway is full of art and knickknacks that Julie’s daughter made.
Julie bought the sofa at auction in Stockholm. She loves how it blends into the midcentury-modern look and feel of the home.
The Roof
Julie: A few of the contractor’s workers stayed behind and offered to help me build the roof. The structure of the home was in place, even though there was a hurdle in rectifying a 12-inch discrepancy between the drawings and the actual framing—a whole other stressor! But the roof was even more of a challenge, because of its different elevations and intricacies.
Julie kept the interior design minimalist to place the focus on the desert landscape, which is visible through a wall of windows in the living room.
"It’s easy to forget how cold it can be in the desert at night," Julie says. "My husband and I agreed that we needed a woodburning fireplace, and we give slippers to guests because of the concrete." The fireplace is double-sided, so that it can be used inside and out.
Andrew: My team and I were introduced to Julie in the spring of 2021, because of our experience in designing homes using the Blue Sky Building System—that team brought us in. We then provided the architecture and engineering required to get the building permit. This project was unique due to its combination of light metal framing and wood structure in order to create the roof "fold" as it was designed. Our team was familiar with homes in a similar style, but we were excited to see how Julie wanted to push the envelope when it came to the structural system’s capabilities.
As we began to work through the structural engineering, we had to find a way to accomplish the design intent of the roof. We were not involved in constructing the roof, but we were there to help try and solve the intricacies of the roof shape. This was a major design and engineering problem to solve!
It required marrying a lightweight structural system that would elevate the home above the terrain with a wood-framed roof that could be flexible enough to unite each corner of the roof at a different elevation. The roof folds diagonally along a ridge beam that also slopes. This caused each corner of the roof to be at a different elevation, which makes each eave pitch at a different slope.
Fleetwood windows are installed throughout the home.
Julie: Each beam had to be cut on an angle and at different heights, making room for a large, structural beam that holds the roof in place and goes from the southeast corner to the northwest corner. These are heavy beams, to say the least, and they installed them using rigging and scaffolding. There wasn’t a crane—it was almost like building in ancient Egypt, because they used ropes to help them move the beams up and into place.
Because the beams were cut at angles and at different lengths, we also had to get special brackets to secure them. The brackets alone were probably $6,000! Looking back on my decision to design the roof this way, I know I was more interested in the look of it than fully aware of what it would take to execute it. I don’t have any regrets, but it was much more of an undertaking than I could have imagined.
The landscaping blends into the rugged terrain.
Julie also designed a spa area just a few steps away from the house.
The Interior Design
Julie: It took about six months to frame the house and put a roof on it. My health was poor during this time—I was unable to walk—so I spent a lot of time in bed using SketchUp. The whole house was designed using this modeling software! When I look out onto this landscape, I’m reminded of Mars. Since we used a white metal frame for the structure, it almost felt like a spaceship landing in this valley.
When it came to the interior and these 360-degree views, I wanted to keep things minimal. I didn’t want to take away from the setting and the wonder of just looking out at it. There are a lot of circular motifs throughout, particularly with the kitchen cabinetry, which felt "space age" to me.
I also wanted to have a lot of curved edges (like the kitchen countertop) to complement those circles while softening all of the hard lines in the structure of the house. Using concrete throughout felt like a natural choice, but to bring in warmth, oak is everywhere. I made a custom pivot front door with wood reeding for texture, and the closets all have built-in wardrobes. I know I could’ve just thrown a closet in and called it a day, but I wanted that midcentury-modern detail, considering the history of the area.
At sunset, the views from the spa deck extend for miles.
Final Thoughts
I’m very scrappy, and I can think on my feet and make calls and be resourceful. I’m proud of that. I think this project would’ve made a lot of people quit, and we did consider that at times. A lot of people made it possible to finish this home, which we did in three years, and I could not have done it without them—I’m so grateful. I could’ve done a simpler home as a first project, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Julie and her partner are currently renting out the home to recoup some building costs, although they’re considering a permanent move after their daughter leaves for college.
Floor Plan of Panorama House by Andrew Goodwin Designs
The Panorama House is currently available to rent on Airbnb.
More Construction Diary stories:
It Took a Decade, But Their Experimental, DIY Home Was Worth the Wait
This Architect’s "Fugly" Beach House Has the Most Exquisitely Crafted Kitchen
A Ceramicist Gets Hands On While Renovating Her Midcentury Home
Project Details:
Architect of Record: Andrew Goodwin Designs / @agooddesign
Builder and Interior Design: Julie Park
Structural Engineer: Dave Poland Engineering, LLC
Prefab Company: Blue Sky Building Systems
Published
Last Updated
Stay up to Date on the Latest in Prefab Homes
From cozy cottages to large family houses, see how prefab continues to redefine the future of construction, building, and design.