Writer and Chicago real estate scion Wendy Wacker—her great-grandfather, city planner Charles H. Wacker, had a huge hand in the development of the Windy City in the early 1900s—settled in Southern California in the late 1990s, eventually making Palm Springs her primary home.

Seeking a remote (yet not too distant) escape in 2012, she settled on a roughly 160-acre plot of pancake-flat scrubland that she scooped for just $85,000 at the sandy outskirts of Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree National Park. “The beauty up here is so otherworldly,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “The way the sky looks, the clouds seem so low, it’s almost as if you can reach them.”

Wacker worked with the esteemed firm Northworks and reportedly spent about $7 million to create a “stripped back, solar-powered sanctuary” that was dubbed Saturn Haus when completed in 2017. The steel, concrete, and glass residence, in the shape of a cruciform that hugs the minimalist landscape, is powered by an array of photovoltaic panels and battery storage packs as well as a wind turbine, while state-of-the-art thermal technology radiantly heats the smooth concrete flooring throughout the home and sustains the 75-foot lap pool at a constant temperature year-round. 

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Now available at just under $15 million, the home was fashioned as a series of interconnected pavilions. The horizontal planes of the flat roofs float above floor-to-ceiling glazing, creating a radical transparency that redefines what it means and feels like to be “inside.” Increasing its artistic connection to nature, throughout the day, sunlight and shadows use both interior and exterior spaces as slow-moving canvases. Over the years, its unique design has been the photogenic background to numerous photo shoots, including in Robb Report earlier this year.

At the heart of the 4,240-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath home is an airy great room. A fireplace with a simple column that rises to the wood-clad ceiling between huge panes of glass anchors one end of the rectangular space, with the kitchen at the other. A wall of glass sliders opens the room to a large patio. Behind the kitchen, a courtyard enclosed on three sides includes a stainless-steel built-in grill area with a sink, and, extending off the living area, are two bedrooms, including a primary suite with a dressing room and a separate, window-wrapped bedroom that hovers over the desert floor.

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The central section of the house is flanked by a couple of complementary detached structures, each connected by a trellis-covered walkway. The larger holds two additional bedrooms (one outfitted as a fitness/yoga space), a bathroom, and a two-room writer’s studio, while the smaller sits alongside the pool and houses a music studio. The fourth leg of the home, with the single-car garage and multi-vehicle carport, is topped by a roof terrace ideal for sunbathing (if you dare!) and star gazing.

The minimally landscaped areas immediately around the house quickly give way to the arid landscape, the spiny shrubs and Joshua trees interspersed with several sculptures set against the undulating shadow lines of the distant mountains.

Charlie Price at Coldwell Banker holds the listing.

Click here for more photos of the California high-desert retreat.