Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Daniel Chavkin Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.

On Sunday, the Palm Springs Art Museum introduced its new Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion. Its inaugural exhibition commemorates the Class 1 Historic building’s original architect, E. Stewart Williams, offering a visual glimpse into his 50-year career.

Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Julius Shulman/ J. Paul Getty Trust Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.

The center is housed inside a classic midcentury International style building that Williams, a prominent figure of Desert Modern style, originally designed as a 1961 Sante Fe Federal Savings & Loan.

Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Daniel Chavkin Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.

Los Angeles-based firm Marmol Radziner restored the 13,000-square-foot modernist structure, which stands elevated above street level in glass and steel. Floor-to-ceiling windows that look over the cityscape and the San Jacinto Mountains frame its glass pavilion. Marmol Radziner based redevelopment designs on old black-and-white photographs of the building and Williams’s original drawings.The building’s main level features a gallery space for architecture and design exhibitions and curatorial offices. The lower level of the building serves as a study center and meeting space.

Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Julius Shulman/ J. Paul Getty Trust Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.

“Palm Springs has the world’s greatest concentration per capita of midcentury modern architecture, and so it is a natural fit for the Palm Springs Art Museum to increase its commitment to architecture and design through exhibitions, educational programs, and research,” said Steven A. Nash, executive director of the museum, in a press release issued by Resnicow Schroeder Associates.

Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Daniel Chavkin Architecture and Design Center, Palm Springs, Calif.

Read more about Marmol Radziner by following this link.

Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.
Courtesy Julius Shulman/ J. Paul Getty Trust Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan, Palm Springs, Calif.