The Palen Studio
Joshua Tree, CA
The client was an L.A. film executive who owned 2.5 acres in Joshua Tree, CA and needed a weekend retreat, as well as a hi-bay, video film studio in which to shoot large movie sets.
The design requirements were for a 1,200 SF, 1 bedroom, 1 bath residence, and a 1,000 SF film studio separated by a 20’ h. exterior and shaded ‘desert room’ for daytime and nighttime work and recreational use.
The desert site, at +2,600' elevation, is located within the most harsh climate zone in California with temperatures ranging between +15 deg. F to +115 deg. F, winds up to 100 mph and 5 mi. from a major earthquake fault. Modular, steel construction systems were selected for structural strength and durability, speed of erection, cost, manpower availability and long term, low maintenance reasons.
Shipping containers for the living studio were purchased at the Port of L.A., retrofitted at a factory under quality control conditions and then shipped by truck to the desert site where the site utility work and foundations had been completed. The actual erection and installation of the (5) containers took 3 hours. The film studio was erected in five days using a pre-fabricated steel building manufactured in Visalia, CA, a few hours by truck to the site.
Ecotech Design detailed a bolt-on, exo-skeletal shade structure connected to the south and west facing container walls and roofs which block 75% of solar heat and glare and lower inside temperatures up to 25 deg. naturally and without the need for air-conditioning. Natural ventilation is provided throughout container spaces with operable windows and natural daylight is brought in and modulated in the film studio using 22” dia., dimmable solar tubes.
The Palen Studio was the first permitted container residence built in San Bernardino County and established the precedent for other shipping container residential projects to be built throughout the Mojave Desert of California.
