Archinect - News

Sam Lubell on what's new at Lautner's Sheats-Goldstein House

2024-03-27T17:04:00-04:00

Goldstein and his team of architects, builders, engineers and landscape designers have been working on the Lautner house addition since 2003, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Goldstein’s property, which he has been tinkering with for more than 50 years. [...] “The purpose of all of this was to make the inside feel like it was outside,” said Goldstein, who describes a very collaborative working relationship with Lautner until the architect’s death, at 83, in 1994.

Sam Lubell examines half a century of renovations of and recent additions to James Goldstein's compound surrounding the famed John Lautner-designed Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles.

Big kudos to the Times for referencing Lautner’s 1960 (now-demolished) Concannon House with a link to our 2012 feature story "Lautner's Concannon Residence, from Dust to Dust" by Archinect senior contributing writer Orhan Ayyüce.

Lloyd Wright's landmark Wayfarers Chapel closes indefinitely due to landslide threat

2024-02-21T12:08:00-05:00

Lloyd Wright’s Wayfarers Chapel closed its doors to the public abruptly last week due to the threat of landslides that have afflicted the Los Angeles area and its site in Rancho Palos Verdes.

In a statement posted to the Chapel’s website, the ministry responsible for its stewardship cited “accelerated land movement” in the area as the reason for its immediate temporary closure.

Rancho Palos Verdes, which is a 12.3-square-mile incorporated city in coastal Los Angeles County, has been particularly impacted by winter storms since early February and is seeking to have a state of emergency declared for recent damage that’s compounded already dangerous landslide conditions.

A local official told the LA Times, “In some areas, [the land] is moving up to 10 feet a year. That’s significant movement, and we’re seeing the damage that’s being sustained throughout the community. We have approximately 400 homes that are threatened by this landslide.”

Completed by the eldest son of Frank Lloyd Wrig...

Eames Institute unveils new Eames Archives space in the Bay Area

2024-02-01T18:24:00-05:00

The nearly two-year-old Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has shared news of its arrival in a new permanent home in the San Francisco Bay Area that will consolidate its archival collection under one roof for the first time.

The new location helps the Institute engage with the collection, which had until now been warehoused at the Eames Office global headquarters in Venice, California. The new Eames Archives will now be housed and exhibited in a gallery space located in Richmond, California, about 15 minutes north of Oakland.

Ray & Charles Eames. Image courtesy Eames Office

Plans had been originally to have the archive located at the Eames Institute’s ranch complex in nearby Sonoma County. Now, the nonprofit's first public space includes a Gallery, Collections Center, and Archives Study Center for its more than 40,000 artifacts overseen by dedicated on-site preservation specialists. A small gift shop bookends the experience. The Eames Institute says this is all vital to making it...

SOM completes restoration of Lever House, a midcentury Manhattan office icon

2023-11-17T15:14:00-05:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has announced the completion of a recent restoration project that’s meant to breathe new life into their historic Lever House design in Manhattan.

The scope of their work entailed the creation of a new lobby, ground-level public plaza, installation of an entirely new modernized building system, and 15,000-square-foot Lever Club hospitality suite in addition to redesigned interior spaces from Marmol Radziner.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

The brief called for repairs affecting the material character of the building (terrazzo flooring, refinished exterior columns, and a glass mosaic tile wall) and fixes to water-damaged ceilings. Reed Hilderbrand has also contributed a comprehensive new landscape program for the building that connects the plaza area to third-floor terraces. Costs for the project were around $100 million.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

“This renovation brings Lever House into the 21st century,” SOM Partner Chris Cooper said in a statement...

Eero Saarinen's CBS 'Black Rock' Manhattan tower gets a gentle overhaul by Vocon and MdeAS

2023-08-08T11:21:00-04:00

A $36 million restoration of Eero Saarinen’s 1964 corporate headquarters for CBS in Manhattan has been announced by New York-based Harbor Group International, LLC (HGI) ahead of the project’s expected completion early this fall.

The architect’s lone skyscraper design, an ominous 38-story masterpiece of sable granite and polished concrete, is now renamed 51W52 in reflection of its Midtown location and features a pair of newly-renovated lobbies, restored bronze fin wall exterior, elevator bays, and lounge areas “curated” with Saarinen's own furniture designs for the Knoll company that were originally manufactured between 1948 and the late-1950s.

Image courtesy Harbor Group International, LLC

The building, which offers proximity to Grand Central Station, the 53rd Street corridor, MoMA, and Rockefeller Center, received a landmark designation from the city in 1997 and was renovated along similar lines in 1992 in an effort Paul Goldberger then criticized as “an attempt to convert one of th...

HGTV lists renovated Brady Bunch house for $5.5 million

2023-05-26T17:29:00-04:00

The Brady Bunch house is back on the market — and, this time, it comes with the interiors of your 1970s TV dreams. HGTV is selling the Studio City home pictured in hundreds of establishing shots on the famous sitcom not five years after purchasing it for $3.5 million.

The iconic home, located at 11222 Dilling Street in LA's Studio City neighborhood, was purchased by the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV in 2018. The network renovated the façade and gutted the interiors. They added a story to recreate the show’s living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and yard, which had all only existed on Stage 5 of Paramount Studios. The midcentury home’s makeover was documented in a 2019 series titled A Very Brady Renovation.

HGTV invested approximately $1.9 million into the renovations, which included the addition of 2,000 square feet to the home.

Previously on Archinect: The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

When the property hit the market in 2018, it was for the first time in 45 years, with an original asking price of $1.85 million. There had been speculation that it might be knocked down and redeveloped. Now, HGTV is asking for $5.5 million for the home, with the network reportedly planning to donate a portion of the proceeds toward an initiative ...

Diller Scofidio + Renfro issues update on historic Frank Lloyd Wright theater revitalization in Dallas

2022-12-12T18:50:00-05:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has shared new project details and a flythrough animation for their planned revitalization of the 63-year-old Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas.

The project’s scope revolves around a “faithful reinterpretation of Wright’s original design intent” that calls for the removal of several decades worth of accumulated additions; creation of a new “theater arts complex” outside that includes a new performance venue, two pavilions, and a 100-seat black box theater; demolition of the existing Heldt Building; and further development of the William B. Dean Park with an emphasis on “stitching” the site with the popular nearby Katy Trail and Turtle Creek attractions.

Image courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro

According to a press release, the final plans will be submitted to the city no later than December 31st of this year. Chicago-based preservation specialists Harboe Architects is also involved with the planning team, helping to restore the so...

SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe’s first Los Angeles area home hits the market in Glendale

2022-08-26T14:33:00-04:00

A historically significant mid-century modern home designed by SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe has hit the market in Glendale, California, for an asking price of just under $2.2 million.

The Pasadena Star is reporting the recent listing of Kappe’s Goetschel House, a 1954 commission that was recently restored to reflect its original design by HabHouse owner Andreas E.G. Larsson. Thanks to an archive of Kappe’s drawings and sketches for the home kept at the Getty Research Institute, Larsson hastened a yearlong renovation that added new elements such as a pergola and an outdoor shower to the property, which had been partly demolished. At the end of the restoration, the home had appreciated in value by nearly seven figures over the original sale price of $1.33 million.

Image: Cameron Carothers courtesy Unique California Property

The residence was the first designed ...

Richard Neutra-designed Oregon home hits the market at $3,750,000

2022-05-23T14:26:00-04:00

A Portland house with a provenance like no other is for sale. The revolutionary dwelling was designed 82 years ago by modernist architect Richard Neutra for lily hybridizer Jan de Graaff and his wife, Peggy, heir to the Macy’s department store owner who died on the Titanic.

The home, originally constructed in 1941, is located at 1901 South Comus Street. It was listed on Thursday, May 19th through Oregon-based real estate company The Hasson Company with an asking price of $3,750,000.

The three-level residence is celebrated for its embodiment of Neutra’s International style with its floor-to-ceiling windows and custom wood built-ins. It is one of only two Oregon homes designed by Neutra, who was commissioned by the de Graaffs to design a house for their modern furniture and art collection.

The house spans 6,887 square feet and sits on a 0.85-acre lot, offering unobstructed mountain, city, and river views. It features five bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms.

The 11 most threatened modern sites across the U.S.

2022-04-29T15:44:00-04:00

In response to the recent surprise demolition of Marcel Breuer’s Geller I house on Long Island, modernist conservation group Docomomo US has released its first-ever list of the 11 most threatened modern sites in the United States.

Working on the advice of its chapter members, the group selected 11 sites across the country in danger of seeing the same fate as Breuer’s first post-war residential project beginning with Miami’s Marine Stadium, which is still currently awaiting word on a publicly-funded restoration effort.

Washington state was a popular location, with Space Needle architect John Graham Jr.’s Lloyd Center and the Weyerhaeuser International Headquarters both making the list.

Massachusetts is also well-represented with the “Long House” prototype cotta...

Oscar Niemeyer's Brasília turns 60 this year

2020-02-04T19:54:00-05:00

This is a good year to visit Niemeyer’s work since it marks the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of Brasília, the gleaming new capital of Brazil masterplanned by Lúcio Costa and designed by Niemeyer, built from scratch in barely four years and completed in 1960. I finally had my chance to visit the mother lode.

For The Guardian, Chris Hall on Oscar Niemeyer's modernist architectural legacy in Brazil, and arguably his greatest achievement — designing (with Lúcio Costa) the country's built-from-scratch capital Brasília six decades ago.

"If Rio is a creased duvet with the built environment and nature entwined in its folds, then Brasília is a crisp white sheet laid neatly across the savannah bed," Hall writes.

Aerial view of Brasília's central avenue, the Monumental Axis. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

John Lautner's Bob Hope House gets a new lease on life

2019-06-06T14:06:00-04:00

Thanks to the deep pockets of venture capitalist Ron Burkle, the [Bob Hope House] is being remade to reflect the architect’s original vision. Lautner protégé Helena Arahuete, who worked with him for 23 years, has stripped the interiors and rebuilt the inside with natural materials. Swan faucets, wallpaper and carpet are out. Quartzite flooring, African mahogany and Brazilian granite are in — as is the shape-shifting light that transforms the house during the course of the day.

Comedian Bob Hope, when presented with a model of his 24,000 square foot Palm Springs home by architect John Lautner in 1969, had but one comment to reflect his admiration of and bewilderment towards the proposal: “Well, at least when they come down from Mars they’ll know where to go.”

Exterior of the Bob Hope House.

The monumental home was built as conceived, albeit with an extraordinary amount of minor material revisions requested by Hope and his wife Dolores. While Lautner and Arthur Elrod, the interior designer originally hired for the job before his untimely death, had envisioned a minimalist interior to direct attention to the home's sweeping vistas, the couple had something different in mind. According to the LA Times, "Dolores Hope wanted an ultra-glamorous interior suitable for Hollywood-style entertaining and golf tournament after-parties."

Interior of Bob Hope House.

After the couple had passed - Bob in 2003 and Dolores in 2011 - the house was put on the market for $50 mil...

Helen Liu Fong is the visionary Googie architect you've never heard of

2019-05-31T19:08:00-04:00

[Helen Liu] Fong’s specialty was Googie architecture, what Wong calls futuristic “Jetson kind of aesthetic” coffee shops and motels that would sweep the highways of America in the middle of the last century. Some of Fong’s most famous projects include the Holiday Bowl on Crenshaw Boulevard, the first Norms Restaurant, Johnie’s Coffee Shop, and the still kicking Pann’s Restaurant at 6710 La Tijera Boulevard.

A whimsical subcategory of mid-century design, known as 'Googie' architecture, was as integral to the Southern California architecture scene as any modernist homes designed by Schindler, Neutra or the Eameses. This is because Googie architecture was the design of choice for coffee shops, delis and other public architecture patronized by local and tourist alike.

Pann's Restaurant, Inglewood, California.

Helen Liu Fong, a Chinese-American taught at UC Berkeley's school of architecture, was an indispensable member of the design movement during the middle of the 20th century. "In 1949," according to Curbed LA, "she fulfilled her childhood dream, earning a degree in city planning from the architecture school at Berkeley."

Norm's Restaurant on La Cienega. Photo by Jack Laxer

A few years later, after a long stint as a secretary, the architects Armet and Davis, known for producing Googie architecture throughout Southern California at the time, hired the young architect to work on The Clo...

The Columbus Square pavilion by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher, Philadelphia's first licensed female architect, is slated for demolition

2019-03-13T15:24:00-04:00

The loss of this charming pavilion would be a double blow for Philadelphia history. Not only is Columbus Square’s little stone tower a fine example of mid-century modern design, it is also one of a handful of surviving buildings by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher, the first woman in Philadelphia to receive a license to practice architecture.

The crown-roofed cylindrical pavilion designed by Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher in 1960 is a landmark in South Philadelphia's Columbus Square. Now, the building is slated for demolition as part of a renovation of the park.

“Because this is women’s history month, it’s also worth pointing out that, 85 years after Fleisher received her architecture license, it’s still rare to find a Philadelphia building designed by a woman. The Columbus Square pavilion may be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find a use...”, architecture critic Inga Saffron writes in the article.

The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

2018-11-07T15:10:00-05:00

After purchasing the Brady Bunch home in August, HGTV is moving forward with plans to remodel the iconic Studio City ranch house seen in nearly every episode of the 1970s sitcom. The network announced Thursday that the home’s overhaul has officially begun, with six original cast members and some of HGTV’s most recognizable hosts gathering at the house to kick off renovation work.

The Brady Bunch home will return to television once again: while the midcentury house in Studio City, CA actually only served for exterior shots when the show originally aired in the 60s and 70s, it will now be the raison d'être of HGTV's upcoming home-makeover series, A Very Brady Renovation, the network announced last week.

View this post on Instagram The grooviest HGTV project of the year kicked off in a big way with a very Brady renovation day.
A post shared by HGTV (@hgtv) on Nov 2, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

"In the coming months, HGTV will execute a show-stopping transformation by adding 2,000 square feet to its original footprint—all without compromising its instantly recognizable street view," a company statement announces. "HGTV home renovation stars also will reimagine the popular show’s interior set design, working to ensure that the final renovation results stay true to the spirit of the Brady Bunch family home that everyone loves and remembers. From the unfor...

Brady Bunch house sold to HGTV for undisclosed amount

2018-08-07T16:15:00-04:00

Discovery Inc.'s HGTV network has won the bidding for the California house that served as the exterior for the home of the family in The Brady Bunch, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday. "I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder and will restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can," he said on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call [...].

The midcentury house in Studio City, CA served as the make-believe exterior of the Brady TV family's home from 1969 to 1974. It was listed for $1.885M last month, and for a brief moment it appeared that 'N Sync star Lance Bass had placed the winning bid—only to wake up to the news that HGTV had in fact become the new owner with the declared intent to get the house "at any cost" and "outperform any bid" (according to Bass).

The Brady Bunch home could be yours for $1.885M

2018-07-23T13:39:00-04:00

Now on the market for the first time since 1973 is the Studio City residence known the world over as the Brady Bunch house. Built in 1959, the property was discovered by location scouts a decade later and appeared in every episode of the hit TV show except the first. [...] Sited on a .29-acre lot that abuts the LA River, the cultural icon is listed with an asking price of $1.885 million. Due to the intense interest expected, no open houses will be scheduled.

Curbed LA quotes the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz, explaining in an 1994 interview why this particular house was chosen for the Brady Bunch exterior shots from 1969 to 1974: "We didn’t want it to be too affluent, we didn’t want it to be too blue-collar. We wanted it to look like it would fit a place an architect would live."

Interested? Dig into the listing here.

Win a copy of “Making LA Modern: Craig Ellwood—Myth, Man, Designer”!

2018-06-14T11:58:00-04:00

An icon of California midcentury modernism, architect Craig Ellwood exemplified refined decadence — whether it was his lifestyle or the luxurious spaces he designed throughout Southern California in the 1950s and '60s. “MAKING L.A. MODERN: Craig Ellwood—Myth, Man, Designer”, edited by designer Michael Boyd, is the first book in over a decade to examine the architect's glamorous life and design legacy. Thanks to publisher Rizzoli New York, Archinect is giving away five copies to our readers!

Featuring Ellwood's photographic collaborations with Julius Shulman and others, this hardcover, 240-page book explores the architect's brand of “playboy architecture”, depicted in the nostalgic, dreamy paradise of midcentury Los Angeles — palm trees, Herman Miller furniture, the Pacific Ocean, fashion models. His minimalist, glamorous designs suggested the coveted laidback lifestyle of ...

Planned demolition of SOM-designed JPMorgan Chase HQ draws criticism

2018-02-22T13:48:00-05:00

Earlier today, news broke that the De Blasio administration has hashed out a deal with JPMorgan Chase to demolish its existing headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, and replace the structure with a shiny new 70-story building. The deal was negotiated in the wake of the Midtown East rezoning, which loosened zoning regulations for the area in exchange for developers providing street-level and infrastructure improvements.

Not so fast! said architecture critics and preservationists when news broke that the midcentury 270 Park Avenue tower in Manhattan's East Midtown, currently home of banking giant JPMorgan Chase, had quietly been selected—not for landmark designation—but for the chopping block.

Designed by SOM's Natalie de Blois as Union Carbide Building, the 50-story skyscraper was completed in 1961 and is considered an important example of female-led midcentury corporate architecture.

Bloot Architecture refurbishes rundown 1950s villa into the charming Patio House

2017-10-25T19:41:00-04:00

Located at the edge of the National Park Veluwezoom nature reserve in the Dutch town of Velp, the Patio House was formerly a rundown 1950s villa. Just this year, Bloot Architecture successfully refurbished and expanded the building into an inviting, spacious new residence.

The architects limited the use of partition walls and added larger windows and passage ways to create better connectivity between the different spaces of the home and to allow natural light to filter in. As a zero-energy building, the house has solar panels on its roof to provide energy for heating and electricity, eliminating the use of gas.

The architects also added a new concrete extension with a patio. “The concrete beam in the façade of the original house still defines the characteristics of the villa. Parallel with this beam is the unde...

Win “Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: West Coast USA” by Sam Lubell!

2017-07-06T13:10:00-04:00

Any design maven is aware that America's West Coast is chockfull of historic mid-century modern architecture designed by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Rudolph Schindler, John Lautner, and Richard Neutra. Of course, there's more than just the most infamous icons, but where to begin? Whether you're planning a big West Coast excursion or want to brush up on your midcentury modern history, “Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: West Coast USA” by architecture critic Sam Lubell can help.

Thanks to publisher Phaidon, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers!

Read on for more, and find out how to enter the giveaway.

Authored by Sam Lubell, this handy travel guide features over 250 Mid-Century Modern projects all neatly organized into color-coded chapters that cover the Pacific Northwest region of Washington and Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and San Diego. Each entry is accompanied by historic tidbits from Lubell, project data, and ...

Designer Trina Turk turns 'forgotten' John Lautner house into midcentury jewel box

2017-06-07T18:42:00-04:00

News of the “long-lost” Lautner echoed around Los Angeles and the world. The architecture community marveled at how a home designed by a modernist genius could go unnoticed for decades. [...] Somehow, the Salkin Residence, which was completed around the same time as more acclaimed Lautner projects like the Desert Hot Springs Motel, was left out of the architect’s list of works when it was assembled by his devotees years later.

The NY Times portraits the 'long-lost' John Lautner-designed Salkin Residence, built in 1948 in LA's Echo Park neighborhood and, over the last three years, painstakingly restored to renewed beauty by designer/business woman Trina Turk and her husband, Jonathan Skow.

The Parker Center is set for demolition, what other midcentury icons are next?

2017-05-22T20:12:00-04:00

The Parker Center, depending on who you ask, is either a midcentury icon, or a powerful symbol of Los Angeles' racist past. Located downtown, the building was home to the LAPD up until 2009 when they relocated due to expensive retrofits needed on the site. Designed by Welton Becket—the architect behind some of LA's greatest identifiers such as the Capitol Records Building, the Theme Building and the Cinerama Dome—the former LAPD headquarters is seen by historic preservationists, particularly the LA Conservancy, as a historical landmark due to its midcentury stylings. However, beyond being an architectural landmark, the building, as home to the LAPD during an era of racist policing, also serves as a sobering reminder of LA's troubling past. The land upon which the center was constructed had been seized from Japanese property owners less than a decade after Japanese Internment and William H. Parker himself, whom the building was named after, was associated with ushering in policies of...

How Esther McCoy's writings connected Mexican and LA design in this Museo Jumex exhibition

2017-03-15T17:02:00-04:00

Esther McCoy is best known as the architecture writer who helped shape the story of Modernism in Los Angeles. Less known is the nearly year-long period she spent in Mexico in 1951. During this time, she wrote about key architectural developments in the country... “The [“Passersby 02: Esther McCoy” exhibition] presents [McCoy] as this kind of bridge,” says Esparza, “from L.A. to Mexico and from Mexico to L.A.”

Architecture historian and critic Esther McCoy is the spotlight of a micro-exhibition called “Passersby 02: Esther McCoy”, which closes this Sunday at Museo Jumex. The exhibition investigates how McCoy's writings on key architectural developments in Mexico during her extended stay in 1951 had an influence on the architectural styles that developed in Los Angeles. It explores the exchange of ideas and references between Mexico and Los Angeles, and how McCoy became an important connection between the two places.

A cottage from a midcentury-modern fairy tale

2016-12-26T14:01:00-05:00

It takes a certain audacity to move to rural-nowhere and erect a house from found materials, to grow your own food and carve, kiln or create whatever else you need. And the house itself, in its porous approach to its natural surroundings, exhibits a typically Californian philosophy of design.

Back in November Amanda Fortini profiled The Blunk House. Designed/built by the late multidisciplinary artist-craftsman J.B. Blunk in Marin County, the cabin is a holistic expression of an artistic life.

Feast your eyes on these sci fi-inspired photos of Belgrade's Brutalist buildings

2016-04-13T19:20:00-04:00

These buildings aren't from a distant galaxy far, far away. They're here on Planet Earth, specifically in Belgrade, Serbia. Locally based photographer Mirko Nahmijas wanted to give a new perspective to some of his hometown's historically-loaded Brutalist structures in his photo series titled “Minimal Belgrade” — which Nahmijas has also nicknamed “Star Wars City”.

The series depicts the structures as concrete giants, showing off their depth and sharp geometric forms that pop against a stark sky-blue background. Encountering the buildings on a regular basis, Nahmijas wanted to discover a newfound appreciation for his hometown.

Although he carefully staged the photos, there were the inevitable perfect moments of spontaneity that made the process all the more enjoyable. “I most enjoyed taking photos of the VMA Military hospital [the Military Medical Academy] because of its bold lines, and the Western City Gate — especially in the picture I like to call The Pigeon Gate, because the pigeon...

Eye candy: enjoy these freshly digitized, gorgeous contemporary photos of Southern California's finest midcentury modern architecture

2016-03-25T18:29:00-04:00

No longer confined to collecting dust in storage rooms, over a thousand slides documenting modern architecture's emergence in Southern California have been digitized by the USC Library, and are now available to view for free online.

The approximately 1300 slides were culled from the collections of Fritz Block and Pierre Koenig, which both belong to the USC Libraries. Koenig himself chose which slides he wanted digitized in the late 1990s, for a project that never fully came to pass, but from which a delightfully dated prototype website is still accessible. The slides feature work by various architects, mostly within Southern California.

Check out the full collection here, and a few select images below:

↑ John Lautner's Foster Residence in Sherman Oaks, from Pierre Koenig's collection.

↑ Frank Lloyd Wright's Millard Residence in Pasadena, from Fritz Block's collection.

↑ Pierre Koenig's Schwartz residence in Santa Monica (1996), from Pierre Koenig's collection.

↑ Albert Frey's Frey Residen...

Why we blame buildings

2015-08-28T12:40:00-04:00

Accepted wisdom has it that the continuing social unrest in the banlieues, as these suburbs are called, is a direct result of their built form: repetitive slabs and blocks of modern housing, often in large isolated estates. [...] In fact, environmental determinism accompanied the very making of the French suburbs in the postwar period and the development of modern urbanism more generally. Why is it that we assign so much power to buildings?

Josef Albers's Manhattan mural could return to New York

2014-11-25T13:26:00-05:00

Josef Albers’s Manhattan, a mural that enlivened the lobby of New York’s Met Life (previously the Pan Am) Building from 1963 until its controversial removal in 2000, could make a triumphant return to the city. Possible sites include the World Trade Center Transit Hub, The Art Newspaper understands. Finding a suitable home for the work is not the only obstacle: the original mural is in a landfill site in Ohio.

Welton Becket-designed Hollywood Cinerama Dome Marks 50 Years

2013-11-07T19:05:00-05:00

The only geodesic dome movie theater in the world, Becket’s design was inspired by Buckminster Fuller—and the nation’s midcentury obsession with landing on the moon. Built to resemble a giant spacecraft, the Dome boasted futuristic floating stairways—a first for any movie theater at the time. Simultaneously projected images using three 35mm cameras were so cutting-edge, the Dome’s own original projector—the Norelco Universal—would win a Technical Academy Award in 1963 [...].