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IrelandA desert refuge and a green beach house on The Local Project
Three house tours travel from southern Utah to the NSW coast and a preserved retreat on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.
The Local Project
Story of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
A Desert Home Built From the Desert Itself (House Tour)
Next story: Below the hillside, The Local Project finds Toro Canyon's guest retreat
Things we can learn from the video
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- 1:14Zion's vertical geology informs the design, with the arrival sequence reducing the house's apparent scale beneath a mesa.
- 2:47The main living volume connects the fireplace, southern views and pool deck.
- 3:00The kitchen integrates ovens and wine storage into the cabinetry.
- 3:59Guest rooms and an enclosed media room offer shelter from the desert sun and expansive views.
- 5:10Dangaran connects the architecture's scale and spatial experience to Heizer, Smithson and Serra.
- 6:00Landscape colours, material choices and native planting help connect the residence to its surroundings.
Even the view needs a break. At Moccasin Flats in southern Utah, Joseph Dangaran describes the enclosed media room as "a place of refuge from the view." In a house organised around an immense desert landscape, somewhere to look away becomes part of the design.
"A Desert Home Built From the Desert Itself (House Tour)" drew the largest audience of The Local Project's three uploads, reaching roughly 133,000 views. Made in partnership with Gaggenau, the tour follows Woods + Dangaran's residence from an arrival that conceals its scale to living spaces opening towards the southern horizon. Dangaran's starting question is refreshingly direct: "Part of the challenge of working in an environment like this is how do you not screw it up?"
Viewers are discussing how the house blends into its setting, imagining the night sky and asking how daylight changes the rooms' colours. The film also connects its handling of scale to artists Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson and Richard Serra.
Back in Australia, "Architects Design a Brick and Timber Home Above the Ocean (House Tour)" visits Yowani in Rosedale. Atelier Marks Gaal camped on the site before designing it, observing the coastal weather. Then "Why an Architect Kept a 1970s Beach House and Painted It Green (House Tour)" brought a different response to place: Mel Bright's renovation retains Crescent House's character while adding curved elements and a practical return-from-beach connection for wetsuits and surfboards.
That green beach house is currently drawing the most daily views of the three. Across the channel, daily viewing is approaching twice its usual level, while subscribers were unchanged over the week. The Local Project collected about a million weekly views; nearby-sized The Luxury Home Show also had a busier-than-usual viewing day. Here, the most recent invitation indoors is a renovation built around keeping something, rather than starting again.
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What viewers say
I bet the sky at night would be breathtaking
@xerisz7163See it on YouTubeI like how it blends in with the environment and makes everything look very organic to the setting.
@marialeguizamo5673See it on YouTubeThe kitchen as the heart of the home makes so much sense here — with those views, cooking must feel like part of the landscape, not separate from it. I love how the materials echo the mesa itself. Does the light in the main living space change the room's color through the day?
@dreamhomeforusSee it on YouTube
2 more comments
It really blends into the environment. I like everything about the house but the entrance stairs.
@arhqSee it on YouTubeThank you for sharing this soulful space. Seeing a home shaped by the land makes me want to slow down and visit the desert.
@TM_expeditionsSee it on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on The Local Project right now
- Channel
- The Local Project
- Subscribers
- 1,470,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 1,001,857
- Videos published this week
- 3
- Video published
- November 10, 2026
- Video views so far
- 133,027
- Views on its first day
- 63,834
The numbers
Here is how The Local Project's house tours and wider audience moved this week.
💡 Test your knowledge
Where is Studio Bright's green Crescent House?
Crescent House is in Mount Martha on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.