Hasta La Ideas

Quickly making the rounds at the end of last week and over the weekend is the public launch of BOOM, a proposed development near Palm Springs that will feature residences spread across several unique neighborhoods, an open air market, countless amenities, and a “boutique hotel,” all intended to cater to gay clientele. As Architizer reports, what had originally began as planning for a totally new township for retirees, plopped down into the middle of the California desert, has branched out into “an encompassing residence for all ages with a mission of ‘inclusion, not seclusion; about living, not retiring.’” Inclusion, of course, as long as you can afford to live there. The estimated $250 million first section of the development will feature 8 neighborhoods designed by a veritable who’s who in architecture, bringing in the likes of J. Mayer H. Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and the Israeli firm L2 Tsionov-Vitkon. How they’ll actually build a town from the ground up with just $250 million and that stable of firms is beyond us (wouldn’t just the planning and rendering fees add up to about that cost?), but we’re eager to see it get built. Ground will reportedly be broken sometime in 2012. In the interim, have a fun time digging around on their Bruce Mau-designed website.

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