Apart from the niceties of seeing the sun almost everyday, the desert is a harsh environment to live in. But Jim Austin, a former surfwear entrepreneur calls his new home by architect Lloyd Russell built above Palm Springs “the ultimate desert structure.”

One of the more interesting ideas Russell incorporated to help tame the desert sun is a steel canopy modeled after the structure used to cover bales of hay on a farm.

As for the house itself, it takes on a simple modern but “green” aesthetic largely from recycled materials from an architectural salvage shop, including an old school drinking fountain used as a bathroom sink, and salvaged machined steel parts now used as handles on cabinets and drawers.

A very different approach than the forest get away design we featured in Taking Form In The Forest, but each plays to the strengths of the intended location. Read post in Dwell.