Creating Serenity

The desert is open space and long views, but also the close-up, detailed perfection of the cactus flower. It is nature’s serene minimalism. This is the setting for our project inside the gated community of The Vintage in Indian Wells, California.

Photo |

This project involved deep creative collaboration with clients Bob Davidson and Lisa Park. Lisa, an artist herself, partnered with architect Marc Whipple and the W^R team on every aspect of the interior design, and personally curated or co-designed each of the many art pieces throughout the house.

Bob, a businessman and engineer, has a passion for racing and cars, and also for collecting fine wines. So, at the start, the program was going to include dazzling and innovative ways of displaying cars and wine that would be both highly visible and striking artistic statements.

This house is a modern canvas upon which this artist and engineer could play out their strong vision and sense of creative adventure. A home they could call, Serenity. 

The Vintage community requires all home construction to be one story in height. Our clients wanted the space of a two-story house, so the solution was to dig down. Whipple Russell architect + project manager Ty Harrison explains, “The design includes a main entry floor and a lower floor, which is naturally lit by large front and rear sunken courtyards. These two courtyards are strategically placed to flood both levels with sunlight, through the abundant use of glass, including glass floors and walkways.” 

The front façade displays a graphical image on film that has been applied to the glass, creating a translucent mural capturing the motion and colors of the desert hills, while providing privacy from the street.

The home’s long horizontal profile is contrasted with strong vertical columns flanking the entry, in addition to Marc’s signature ribbon windows. As in most Whipple Russell Architects’ designs, water greets a guest at the entry. In one of the two streetside reflecting ponds stands Arete, a bold, energetic piece by sculptor Richard Erdman, commissioned along with four others for the house.

Passing through the front entry door, the walkway becomes glass underfoot, a bridge, crossing an expansive courtyard filled with greenery, waterfalls, a fire feature, and a trio of sculptures by Erdman. Aurora, Odyssey, and Aria appear to dance lightly on the reflecting pool below. A floating staircase leads down to the lower level and the open courtyard.

As you enter the house, views open up in every direction; down through the bridge’s glass floor to see the lower level and reflecting pond, left and right, the main living areas, and ahead, out to the patio, pool, golf course, and mountains. A whimsical entry feature is the custom lighting piece – a Lisa Park design. The conceptual fixture uses 125 individual lights, each of varying lengths, to reimagine a rain cloud showering its droplets down to the pond below.

Client Bob Davidson designed and collaborated extensively on the creation of the wine tower that presides at the entry. A devoted wine enthusiast, Bob takes wine storage to a whole new level, as in 28 feet in the air. The striking revolving steel cylinder rises through both levels, spiked with custom holders cradling 1,280 bottles of wine. Ty recounts the building of a prototype; “We made a mock-up in our office with the clients, creating and placing custom bottle holders to figure out where to drill the holes at the correct angle, so that when in motion the tower would have a very strong corkscrew effect – as if it were drilling itself into the ground, while simultaneously bottles spin skyward.” 

Bob has an engineering background and had a clear idea of how the tower should operate. It is a challenging piece of engineering weighing several tons with a structural steel collar surround, large motors to power it, and a recessed mechanical space below that is hidden. All is contained within a glass, climate-controlled rectangular volume. This unique structure can be viewed from many rooms of the house.

This is a three kitchen home with a 900 sq. foot commercial catering kitchen downstairs. The open main kitchen is Italian, imported by Mass Beverly, who also made the multi-ring light fixture. The surfaces here are cappuccino sanded stone, and cabinetry finished with high-gloss lacquer and heat-treated oak. Retractable doors screen off this kitchen when desired. Nearby is the butler’s pantry kitchen, used for prep and clean-up, featuring a blast chiller and warming ovens. 

In the dining room, the walnut table seats 12 and is lit by a Mass Beverly multi-ring-light fixture. There is a view out to the reflecting pond, where a Woods Davy sculpture stands above the waterfalls.

From the main level of the house, a wide glass walkway leads out to the pool and patio area–an expanse of sparkling water. To the right is circular fire pit seating and dining tables.

Ahead is a feature particularly enjoyed by the couple’s dog, Happy. This glass swim bridge connects the two pools, traversing the small courtyard below.

To the left, at the water’s far edge, stands Spira, a tall, strong, yet lively piece of Erdman sculpture that leads the eye to the impressive view of the mountains.

At one end of the double pool area is the terraced sunning deck outside the primary suite, and at the other, an outdoor kitchen, bar, and custom made Korean BBQ table. Stepping pedestals lead out across the water to a submerged pool island with seating for sunning and conversation–ah...serenity.

Access to the pool and patios from the lower level takes you below the glass walkway, through a quiet, secluded Zen garden, and then up a stairway to the patio. The rock garden features a modern quintet of waterfalls and a single sculpted tree.

Another passion that enlivens the house is one for cars. Fast cars. And classic cars. Bob didn’t want these beauties to be housed out of sight in a dark garage. So, an open display garage was designed that can be viewed from the entire lower level.

Access is through a car lift in the garage on the main level. A driver pulls into one of the four spaces that then lowers the car down to the museum, where a turntable enables the car to be positioned in the display.

This was a major design challenge, to make the cars visible, not only from the lower level, but from other areas of the house. They can be seen below, through the glass walkway leading to the primary bedroom suite … goodnight cars!

The cars currently on display are the McLaren P1, McLaren Senna, the Ferrari LaFerrari, the Porsche 918 Spyder with martini livery, the Lotus Evija, the Hennessey Venom F5 in custom gold chrome, the 1965 Griffith race car, the Norma race car and the Eagle race car, both part of Davidson Racing, which Bob raced himself, alongside his team, and the 1953 Corvette race car. This is the earliest-known Corvette to run NASCAR sanctioned events, and the first Corvette to ever race. Bob does drive these cars, so there is an exhaust system with a hose for the tailpipes, and a trickle charge for the batteries.

Ty says, “I love cars, and all of us at Whipple Russell really enjoyed creating the museum graphics for each car. We designed a museum-quality display board wall graphic behind each car, with its name and close-up images. As the different cars are rotated in and out, the panels can slide on a rail, or be replaced with new panels.” In addition, custom remote-controlled replicas of each car are on display next to the real thing.

A favorite art piece in the museum is the custom painted life-size bronze by British sculptor Paul Oz of Ayrton Senna, arguably the greatest F1 driver of them all. He drove a total of 161 Grand Prix races, amassing an impressive 41 wins throughout his career. Ayrton drove for McLaren between 1988 and 1993, winning the F1 World Championships in 1988, 1990, and 1991. For Bob and Lisa, it was a must have.

Next to the car museum is a space made for dancing – on walnut flooring in a herringbone pattern. The room dazzles with two wall-size graphics of the Manhattan skyline at night, one 30-feet long. Opposite the fireplace is a 14 foot stage for live entertainment. The fire is also dancing, as it is a Ruben’s tube design, where the flames jump and shimmy in time with the beat.

The primary bedroom suite provides a private sanctuary with doors leading out to the pool, and to Bob’s putting green. A private courtyard features a sculpture by Dorit Levinstein called Renoir Dancers XL that can be viewed from three different areas of the suite.

Above the bed is a butterfly piece by artist Michelle McKinney, commissioned / curated by Lisa. Made of painted wire mesh, the 7 foot wide vortex work depicts leaves, flowers, and butterflies in motion. Decorative glass panels are from Rimadesio provided by Mass Beverly.

Bookmatched porcelain tile is used throughout the bath and closet. A focal point of the bath is the double-size semi-circular glass shower ringed by a walnut walkway and lit by a round skylight. Advanced Woodwork supplied the custom vanities and closets. The spa retreat atmosphere is enhanced by a handcrafted walnut bathtub finished in a high gloss lacquer by NK Woodworking.

The 1,000 sq. foot closet includes three islands, a fireplace, and three skylights with soffited indirect lighting.

Lisa wanted variety and fun in the interior design, especially in the private spaces. Each bedroom and bath have their own thematic colors, textures, and personality. The team created custom wallpapers from graphic images for many of the rooms. A pink rose fills one wall of the feminine guest bedroom, and in that bath, custom art glass of cherry blossoms was created for privacy screening.

A wall-size photo of New York City’s Central Park decorates the wall in the masculine guest bedroom, and the kid’s bedroom is safari themed.

Each of the five powder rooms also has a theme and color scheme. The dance room has silvery wallpaper with floating balloons and a drum set, the car museum’s powder room sports wallpaper of a Lamborghini on one wall, and polished stainless steel on the other, for an automotive feel. The main powder room is gold with gold balloons, a gramophone, and a back-lit quartz vanity, and the other main floor powder room’s theme also features gold, with gold piano key-shaped tile, a privacy wall, and abstract mural incorporating gold leaf.

Lisa comes from a family of artists, her father being the well-known Korean painter Jae Kon Park. She has creative spaces for her work on both levels of the house. Downstairs is meant for creation and storage (the messy part), and upstairs serves as a gallery and study. This room contains a backlit stone island with flat file storage and rolling supply carts. Adjoining is an office for Bob, so they can co-create. His desk chair is a redesigned seat from a Ferrari race car.

The gym includes various exercise equipment, including the high-tech Peloton, and Tonal, a digital weight training system. The flooring is a comfortable rubber backed matting by Chilewich.

Adjoining the gym are a massage room with motorized adjustable tables, hair washing sink, and styling station. This space includes a state-of-the-art float tank, or sensory deprivation tank, for well-being and rejuvenation, and a juice bar for refreshments.

Theater guests will settle into motorized and reclining custom-made Elite HTS seating and look up to a 161” wide by 91” tall Samsung Wall screen. The seats' red leather is dyed to match the famous Ferrari red.

While riding the home elevator, a backlit transparency two stories tall replicates the 360 degree view from the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, UAE. A way to replicate a view the clients enjoyed on a visit and tour of the building, while vacationing there.

The clients wanted the fewest visible lighting fixtures, so interior ceiling soffits contain indirect cove lighting, and the front entry and courtyard display the use of embedded LED strips as accent lighting.

At Serenity, there is vibrant air and crisp delineation between sky, mountains, and what humans have built. An interior brimming with the passions and creativity of their lives, open to the vermillion sunsets, valleys in a blue haze, and sculptures of the hills carved by wind and water. Here they can find stillness and a wide, pale morning sky.