MOD MEN Christopher Kennedy makes mid-century modern in the Mojave Desert. By G E O R G I N A M c W H I R T E R Photography by G R AY C R A W F O R D
At first glance, one could be forgiven for thinking a spaceship had landed in Joshua Tree, California. On closer inspection, however, the silvery glint of metal in the sun reveals itself as a small steel prefab perched lightly atop the boulder-strewn desert. It’s the holiday home of a Canadian couple who use it as a writer’s retreat (him) and yoga refuge (her). The husband was en route to Coachella when he spotted a prototype of the building in a magazine—and lost no time commissioning architects o2 Architecture and interior designer Christopher Kennedy for one of his own. The galvanized-steel shell is decidedly contemporary: a two-bed, one-bath cube with an open-plan kitchen-living-dining area. For interiors, though, the couple wanted something…different. “We just got into this show called Mad Men,” the husband told Kennedy. “Could you do a look like that?” He certainly could. In fact, Kennedy was already something of a design doyen of California modernism. He started the project
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