New Content!

All of my 2Modern Design Talk home/architecture-related entries have now been copied here to SHELTER, so if you wish to read some new content on this here blog, just use the label 2Modern below to pull them all up. All of the entries were posted on the 2Modern Design Talk blog during 2008 and I have copied them to this blog under the same dates that they were originally posted there.

Enjoy!

A Space Created In Nature And of Nature

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog. When I think Spa I usually think of cedar wood steam rooms, neutral colors, and stacks of white towels. You can imagine how surprised I was to see this spa-like hotel in Austria. Known as Rogner's Bad Blumau, this wellness spa and hotel is an architectural fantasy with colorful and amorphous shapes forming it's city-like landscape. 

Designed by the late Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, his vision was to create "life in harmony and in harmony with nature." All I know is that he created a delicious box of treats for the eyes and other senses. More examples of his beautiful work can be found here. Two of their thermal spa offerings. The Augenschlitzhäuser or "slit-eye" apartments and the Arcades. A detail of Stammhaus or the main part of the hotel, which includes Reception and the administrative offices. All images shown are from the Hotel's own website.

Valley Ho!

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

Check out this amazing hotel that was saved from destruction, the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona. Built in and designed by architect Edward L. Varney, this hotel was the setting of Hollywood actors' Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner's 1957 wedding reception. Now revived by Allen + Philp, it is ring-ding-i-ling beautiful again!

THEN:



NOW:



More pictures of the hotel found here.

It is also featured in the November/December 2008 issue of Preservation magazine.

Squint!

From my 2Modern Design Talk post:

The Selkirk chair

Squint furniture company founder Lisa Whatmough is a former artist. Her mix of period furniture like Victorian chaise lounges and comfy stuffed sofas and chairs with contemporary and vintage fabrics is eye-opening and has a cozy feeling. She started out making these as custom pieces, but now they are available made-to-order. Interestingly, "Each design is priced individually depending on the final mix of fabrics used." Therefore, they are made-to-order with a custom pricing structure.


The Simpson - front & back


The Chicago - front & back

Squint is available internationally through Squint, Liberty , Designers Guild, Lane Crawford, J Roaman , Barneys New York, and AADesign Museum in Seoul.


The Canterbury, Highgate, and Victorian Chaise styles.

I Wish...

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.





To see the Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in person. This unique and beautiful church located in Ronchamp, France was constructed by Le Corbusier in 1955. I always think of it as the "little church with the Dutch hat" (of course, having no idea if the Dutch have ever worn such a hat but it does remind me of their clogs). I can imagine spending hours in and around this structure because there is so much detail to observe.

Allowing for places of worship inside; framed by randomly placed windows, and outside with the open-air pulpit on the east side, I consider this, of all Le Corbusier's work, to be his most whimsical and fun.

It shows that Modern design does not need to have sharp angles, straight sides, and a sterile feel.

Exterior Images: Dan Delgado photos photos via the Bluffton University Digital Imaging Project
Interior Images: Galinsky

Lustron: The Maintenance-Free Home

Check out my latest post on the 2Modern Design Talk blog. I decided to research the all steel Lustron homes of 1949-50.

Lustron Homes

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

How would you like never having to paint your house again, inside or out? Well, this would be possible if you built your home out of steel or if you possessed one of the many classic Lustron homes still existing around the US.





Created by Carl Strandlund in 1947 to help alleviate a critical housing shortage, the Lustron home was different. Meant to be durable and maintenance-free homes manufactured as easily as cars on the assembly line and in record time, they were touted as the perfect home. Text taken from their brochure states:

You have your choice of exterior color combinations - all in non-glossy porcelain enameled steel which will never weather or stain, never need repainting, redecorating, or reroofing. The Lustron Home is decay-proof, vermin proof, rustproof, termite-proof. The construction itself acts as protection against lightning. The porcelain enamel, fused to steel at high temperatures, will take a hard blow without chipping or marking, will never fade, crack or peel. And the design and color will be as pleasing to your grandchildren as they are to you today.

Sounds perfect, doesn't it? So how come everyone did not grow up in one of these? Was it because, they only had so much variety and people didn't like being limited to Pink, Tan, Yellow, Aqua, Blue, Green and Gray as house colors? Or perhaps it feel weird landscaping a metal house with growing trees and flowers?

It turns out that politics was actually the cause of Lustron's downfall, but how many of you would have felt comfortable living in one of these? Here are interior shots of storage solutions for the bedroom and living rooms:




Here is a website from a former owner of a Lustron home, who lived in one for over sixteen years and his thoughts on what he missed during that experience.

You can locate other Lustron homes through the Lustron Connection, a great community website devoted to these dwellings and Lustron Preservation, which has a location database.


Here are a few more great links on Lustron homes:
A series of articles on the homes from the Old House Web.
The complete text from an official Lustron home brochure.

Dreams Can Come True?

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

Have you ever dreamed of living in a mid-century modern home?

Let us say that your dream does not include paying a mint for it and still having to invest more money into the house to re-fashion it back to the original floor plan and design after an absolutely hideous 1970s remodel? Let us also say the dream does not mean having to move to some rare community in the country where they still exist and paying an inflated property value required for living with history under your fingertips.

Let's say you just want to buy a piece of land now and recreate the mid-century house of your dreams but not have to design it from scratch either. OK, still with me?


Photo by John Ellis

Well, the truth is you can have those dreams come true*. The Maxx Livingstone company is the dream maker of my story. They are re-releasing the William Krisel A.I.A firm's Butterfly Home designed by architects William Krisel and Dan Palmer in 1956. The company's desire is to retain the architectural integrity while also updating the home for modern times. You can find more information here and a story on the rehab of one of the original models here.


*I saw this story on the B.E.L.T. website.

Oh, To Live In A Glass House

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

You may have noticed; as much of the consumer buying public did, that clothing company J.Crew placed the photo shoot for their last catalog on the immaculate grounds of the Richard Neutra-designed Kaufmann Desert house.


Kaufmann Desert House

If you didn't get enough modern design love from that, there are a few more design gems from that period in architecture that are still standing.


Phillip Johnson Glass House


This building, known as Da Monsta, is the visitor center at the Philip Johnson Glass House site. The site also includes numerous constructions by Johnson in a few different styles.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has acquired two new modern-era designed buildings, the Philip Johnson-designed Glass House and the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House. Both houses can be seen in this month's (May/ June) issue of the organization's Preservation magazine which discusses a new appreciation of Modernism in terms of architecture and the need for on-going protection.


Farnsworth House

Other modern masterpieces around the country include:


A Rudolf Schindler House


Philip Lovell House


Pierre Koenig Case Study Home

Photos from Time magazine and MOMA.org.

The Only Sofa You Ever Need Buy

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

The Jean-Michel Frank sofa.

You might not be familiar with the name, but you are familiar with the look. It is everywhere. It is classic and clean and works with most modern (after 1930) interior design. If you own this shape sofa, it will fit in almost anywhere, though it might not follow the other lines in your furniture designs, it will not interfere, stand out too much, or compete. It possesses straight sides; is not too puffy, and depending on the chosen upholstery, also not too unusual.

Jean Michel Frank [1895-1941] was born near the end of the 19th century. Consider what furniture movements were around at that time and you can see how this shape would have been considered highly unusual to some or extremely pedestrian to others.

The proof of this design as a classic style and the fact that it plays well with others is that almost every major furniture retailer has a similar style in their core collection, such as:

• Room & Board: Dean, runner ups: Essex, Winston
• Crate and Barrel: Axis, runner ups: Lombard, Cameron
• Restoration Hardware: Austin
• Pottery Barn: PB Square
• Macy's (as close as it gets) Corona
• IKEA (close but not it) Karlstad
• DWR: (close) Portula

For more on Jean-Michel:

• Jean Michel Frank: The Strange and Subtle Luxury of the Parisian Haute-Monde in the Art Deco Period, by Pierre Emmanuel Martin-Vivier, $64
• Architectural Digest Design Legends: Jean-Michel Frank
• Architonic: Products

Note: Jean-Michel never licensed his designs. The only way someone can guarantee that they have one of his pieces is if it can be documented that it was a part of an interiors he designed for a client's home.

The Uncommon Modern Television

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.

The television set was a symbol of the modern age. It was one of those items that when it first arrived, was a luxury item for only the rich. Well, years later it is practically in the same category of essential needs as food, clothing, shelter...and television! During the history of TV they have always fluctuated in size, beginning in large wood cabinets, becoming smaller for convenience, and more recently becoming thinner in depth at the same time as the screens became larger.

However, if you desire a smaller-size television for your kitchen, studio, or a combination den and child's playroom; they are out there in some very creative packages.

A few years ago I saw this beauty, the HANNS A.Red, that resembles a glossy ripe red apple. I would love to have this, if it wasn't $400 for a tiny 10" inch screen.

This same company, Hannspree, offers another set resembling something organic; it looks like it was made of wood.

HANNSwood

Then there is the Micro TV, a concept television from Sony. I have no idea if or when it will be produced or how expensive it will be, however, it will be available in white and fuchsia. I know it is cute, but a bright pink TV, really?
Micro TV

For your child or the child in you, the norm seems to be Disney promo products or anthromorphized animals of all sorts. You can own a Disney Princess TV, a Disney car, or one like this; again by Hannspree, that actually places a television monitor into the tummy of a cloth plush toy.
HANNSz.elephant

Then, of course, you could try going back to the beginning and purchase a reproduction of a groovy vintage design like this one:


from Predicta

Mid-Century Art Glass*

Note: Originally published at the 2Modern Design Talk blog.



Mid-century furniture has made a return over the last few years. We now can appreciate Eames, Le Corbusier, Saarinen, Bertoia, et al. The furnitures style with its new fluidity and curves was the artistic focus of decor. It was a big change from the fussier and heavier designs of earlier years. But what about the accessories, the background items that "dress" the room?


25" tall floor vase and 11" tall table vase

The 50s and 60s introduced new shapes and colors in decor with ceramics and glass. Some glass work falls under a category called art glass. One style of art glass that I admire is known as the "swung" glass vase. It is created with a technique where hot glass is held by its base with a special tool and swung in a circle before the glass cools, therefore, pulling and elongating the mouth of the piece.

I used to see art glass at thrift stores all the time in the 1980s. They come in great rich shades of blue, red, amber, green, and purple. Almost all of the American glass manufacturers were based in West Virginia and some of the names to look for are Blenko, Kanawha, Morgantown, Pilgrim, Rainbow, and Viking.

Blenko

The most well known one would be Blenko, whose pieces now fetch huge prices and exhibit in museums around the country. Their design control and color artistry is amazing. Purchasing a Blenko would be an investment. However, if you cannot afford one, there are many gems to be found at your local thrift store or neighborhood yard sale. It is true that some people do not know what they have; you might get lucky.

*Forgive the lame title, my brain was fried.