Partner Spotlight: The Axoim Desert House
Author:Lindsey ShookTurkel imagines a dream desert escape that offers seamless indoor-outdoor living with the help of custom windows and doors by Marvin
“The Axiom Desert House gave us the opportunity to turn the lens on ourselves, to become the client and identify how we can improve, as a practice, to best help our clients achieve their goals,” says Meelena Oleksiuk Turkel, Partner, Turkel about the vision behind the Palm Springs home she shares with her family. “It also continues to give us a ‘lab’ in which we explore and test design elements, materials, systems and details before recommending them to our clients. It’s a place where we study better ways to live.”
Known for developing modern systems-built homes and pre-fab structures, the Turkel team appreciates the level of risk reduction that accompanies this approach to design and build. “Our practice has developed a signature prefab process that we believe is the best and most efficient way to design and build a custom home,” she remarks. “There is predictability of cost, timeline and quality built into every step. The home is essentially built three times: once using a 3D digital model, then in a climate-controlled factory. By the time the building components are delivered to the site for assembly, we have confidence that the home will come together efficiently, and correctly, that the materials will be of high quality, and that it will cost what we had anticipated.”
This 2,100-square-foot mid-century-style home was brought to life using the firm’s signature post-and-beam aesthetic that seamlessly connects interior spaces with the surrounding environment allowing for idyllic indoor-outdoor living. “The home wraps around the courtyard and pool, which really are an extension of the indoor living spaces,” Turkel notes. “The great room and each of the three-bedroom suites have direct, zero-threshold access to the outdoor living area. Deep overhangs help shield the home from direct sunlight, while strategically located windows and doors facilitate the free flow of breezes throughout the home.”
The team forged this deep connection between interior and exterior spaces by leaning on the internal design principal they call, ‘the Living Platform’. “The Living Platform is at a scale between architecture and furniture,” she explains. “It is a gesture that honors our approach to indoor-outdoor living and multi-use spaces. Inside, it’s a window seat—but when the sliding glass recedes into pockets, it’s also a platform that extends into the courtyard.”
They looked to Marvin to transform this dream desert home into reality. “Without the Marvin Lift and Slide door, The Living Platform would not be nearly as magical, as it enables its transformation,” Turkel says. “Marvin’s full suite of products (glass doors, doors, windows, multi-slide doors, lift and slide doors) that are available in custom sizes, allow for us to not have to mix products to achieve the functionality our clients are looking for helps us maintain the clean lines. We design and prefabricate homes for clients across the country, and regardless of the climate, Marvin windows and doors can be made to suit them. We are committed to only including high-quality materials in our prefabricated home packages—Marvin’s durable, beautiful and easy to operate products fit the bill. Working with Marvin has been a pleasure that we look forward to repeating again and again.”
