Pictured: demolished in 2007, the often-photographed William Livingstone House – a good example of Detroit's (and especially Brush Park's) long, slow, and ongoing architectural apocalypse. Incidentally, the house was the first commission by eventually very well known architect Albert Kahn. Photograph above is uncredited and was passed on to us by Fipi Lele; if you can tell us who shot it, please do in the comments below.
I'm not usually a huge fan of modern architecture – obviously, given the theme of this site – but the material and the flowing organic quality of this door really struck me. Designed by Matharoo Associates in Surat, India, it is installed in a private residence.
At 5.2m high and 1.7m wide, the door is comprised of 40 sections of 254mm-thick Burma teak. Each section is carved so that the door integrates 160 pulleys, 80 ball bearings, a wire-rope and a counter weight hidden within the single pivot.
Stacked one above the other in the closed position, each plank can then rotate by a simple push causing the door to reconfigure into a sinusoidal curve.
Despite only submitting the door for the competition, the accompanying 1700m² showpiece house features a number of similarly inventive components, including a light-emitting onyx wall, which also caught the judges attention.
A video intro to – and tour of – the 65-square foot Tumbleweed House, from Fair Companies.
A nice video tour of Pasadena, including Bungalow Heaven and the Gamble House.
Lookiloos has a terrific profile on Michael Borbely's gorgeous Mission Revival home in San Jose, California. The tile, beams, fixtures – everything is spot-on and a really nice example of the style.
The stark white house at the end of Plaza Drive in San Jose's
historic Palm Haven neighborhood takes you by surprise. It's small in
scale, a single story on a corner lot. But its domed tower and
decorative parapet across the roofline force you to take a second look.
This is Michael Borbely's mini masterpiece – a recently completed
Mission Revival house of stucco and tile that took years of research to
create, plus help from San Jose's Fireclay Tile to reproduce
century-old details.Borbely, 45, is an architectural activist of sorts who spearheaded
an effort several years ago to restore the pillars at the entrance to
the 1930s Palm Haven in Willow Glen to their original Mission Revival
style. So when he was ready for a new project after selling his Prairie
style house in the neighborhood, "I looked for the house in the worst
condition that had the most impact on the neighborhood." He decided on
a tiny Spanish style house for sale nearby in need of a major remodel.
He wanted the house to fit into the streetscape and, taking some cues
from the pillars and an original Mission Revival house in the
neighborhood, decided to reinvent a scaled-down version.
Our friends at Prairie Mod, always hep to news in the tiny overlapping center of the Frank Lloyd Wright / Lego Venn diagram, have noted two additions to Lego's classic architecture line. Both are Frank Lloyd Wright designs, of course: the Guggenheim model is now on sale for $55 shipped, and Fallingwater will be available soon.
Brickstructures, the folks who are collaborating with Lego and the Frank Lloyd Wright folks on these models, has several other structures available to view on their website, including 7 South Dearborn, the Burj Dubai, the Chicago Spire, the Empire State Building, Jin Mao Tower, the John Hancokc, Marina City, the M.B. Skyneedle, Sears Tower, the St. Louis Arch, San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid, Trump Tower and the World Trade Center.
No idea if these others will be available for sale; for most, it's doubtful, given the huge number of blocks
I got this from the folks at Preservation Directory and thought some Hewn & Hammered readers might be able to help. My own home is the opposite: a very plain, unfortunately much-"improved" Mission Revival bungalow in a neighborhood full of beautiful Victorians, Craftsman highwaters and Mission cottages.
Please contact New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir directly to participate or to receive additional information about the article. Her deadline is Thursday, May 14, 2009.
Two caveats: 1) the neighborhood should not be "up and coming", rather a place that is going to stay as it is, but the home buyers love the house anyway. 2) The house is NOT for sale. These can be recently moved-in residents or long time owners, but no one who is selling the house currently.
I'm looking for people who love their home where others might not give the same house a second glance. Thanks so much I look forward to your e-mails."
Offered without comment: a truly highwater bungalow in Sacramento, California.
The Humphrey House blog details a total, top-to bottom green remodel – keeping many original features but altering the underlying materials and design to make it as energy-efficient as possible – of a beautiful 1920s Chicago bungalow. This is probably the most complete houseblog I've read in a long time. They carefully document every single project (in photos and drawings) – including the little mistakes that we all learn from - in the seemingly-endless quest to turn this drafty but pretty home into a showcase of modern green technology, techniques and materials.
They are also maintaining a list of trusted Chicago contractors in the sidebar, so if you're looking for someone to take on a modernization project on an older home in that area, this is a great place to start.
Our friends at Charles & Hudson have the lowdown on what’s in your (well, maybe not everyone’s, but most) interior walls.