flaming lips house

project team
j. michelle martin
studio f construction
obelisk engineering


press
2014 | esquire magazine 22 Men Who Are Redefining Style All Across America
2011 | ArchDaily Flaming Lips Residence and Studio / Fitzsimmons Architects
2010 | okcBIZ “From Houses to Offices, Seven Sites Shine on the 2010 Architecture Tour”
2010 | newsok About Space: Architecture Week Home Tour to Include Flaming Lips Home
2010 | Gizmodo The Flaming Lips’ Crib is Even More Psychedelic Than Their Music
2010 | Design Milk The ‘Real’ Flaming Lips’ Bathroom
2010 | New York Times Not Exactly Domesticated


photo
© joseph mills


This appropriately quirky residence and music studio is as free-thinking and boundary-pushing as the art and music of its owners, a photographer and artist, and her husband, frontman of the Flaming Lips. Located in an eclectic neighborhood of Oklahoma City, the addition/renovation of their home is the first phase and central piece of a larger master plan developed for six adjoining properties. These properties, referred to as “the Compound” for those familiar with it, are being transformed in phases.


Phase one consisted of the partial refinishing of the main house, and the renovation of an existing garage, apartment, and storage space. The existing low roof structure of the storage space was removed, making room for a new “fractured plane” roof that floats above a ribbon of clerestory windows. This angular roof cantilevers away from the house from a thin exoskeleton of steel, shading the patio below while still allowing indirect daylight to flood the living space. This connection to the outdoors is further emphasized by a wall of sliding glass doors that open to the outdoor patio and expansive yard.


The master suite conversion includes the bedroom, water closet, powder room, large dressing room, and a hall to the “dragon egg,” a concrete-walled, egg-shaped pod that contains the shower and Japanese-inspired soaking tub. The new main living area of the house features stained mahogany casework, mosaic tile flooring, extensive clerestory windows, and large sliding glass doors for indoor/outdoor living. A portal to the original house includes the pantry, refrigerator/freezer, and laundry room. Simple geometric forms become storage, desk, and passages both visible and hidden.