An architecturally forward home currently in construction in the California desert has hit the market for $3.5 million.
Envisioned by London-based architectural firm Whitaker Studio, the three-bedroom property known as the Starburst Container House is being built out of shipping containers positioned to look like a star and stretched out in different directions in Joshua Tree.
Despite completion date still months away, the property is listed with Engels and Völkers Santa Monica and has already garnered attention on Instagram, where it has boasted its own account, @starbursthouse. since news of the project was first announced in 2018.
The house will measure 2,112 square feet and sit on more than 90 acres of land in the middle of the desert. The entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, which spans both the Mojave and Colorado deserts, is only a mile away. The inside of the Starbust Container House makes space for regular furniture such as beds and couches but is otherwise entirely built into its environment — all-white walls slope in different directions while large windows, skylights and canopies let in views of the desert.
Chris Hanley, a Hollywood producer behind movies like “The Virgin Suicides” and “American Psycho,” and his wife Roberta are the ones who commissioned the property from Whitaker Studio. Owner James Whitaker specializes in homes with modern and unusual designs, including a studio made of reflecting lights in Germany and a modular structure known as the “Anywhere House” in Alberta, Canada.
“Each container is orientated to maximize views across the landscape, or to use the topography to provide privacy, depending on their individual use,” Hanley told the New York Post.
The home is slated to be completed sometime in 2021. A representative told the Post that the Hanleys have raised the necessary funds to start and finish construction in the coming year.
“They’ve raised the funds and it’s being built in the middle of next year,” a spokesperson told the Post. “Whitaker Studio is the architect and designer. It’s very open, but there’s the potential for art installations or other partnerships with companies or international architecture firms to use it as a showroom.”
