The House of the Century is falling apart

2019-07-12T15:59:00-04:00

When the so-called House of the Century rose from the swampy earth back in the early 1970s, it arrived as a vision of the future, a biomorphic experiment in modern living. Back then it was a bright white jumble on the shoreline, and depending on your angle of approach, it looked like either a man's erect genitalia or a giant schnoz. Today, this futuristic house is a decaying relic of the past, and its future is a subject of concern and conjecture.

Though Ant Farm, the experimental architecture firm founded by Doug Michels and Chip Lord in 1968, is not among the most well known firms of that era, they produced a number of projects both famous and deserving of fame. They are perhaps best known for their early experiments with inflatable buildings or their art installation of 10 half-buried Cadillacs in the Texas desert (titled 'Cadillac Ranch'). Less publicized, however, is the House of the Century, an indescribably-strange lake house.

"The light beam entry to the House of the Century, shown in 1973." Photo by Chip Lord.

Built in 1973, the house was built for wealthy art patron Marilyn Oshman and her family as a weekend getaway. According to Mark Lamster, Oshman let the architecture firm conjure anything that came from their wildest dreams. The design was inspired by "Automotive styling; the Apollo program; the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi; and above all Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome and honorary capta...

Editor's Picks #356

2014-02-25T05:28:00-05:00

Amelia interviewed Jason Pomeroy an architect, academic and urban planner based in Singapore, about his new travel show City Time Traveller.

His travels through Asia have convinced him "What transcends culture though is an indigenous civilisation’s understanding of basic environmental and social needs, embodied in many of these historical buildings. Shelter from the elements, natural light, natural ventilation, locally sourced materials and a spatial ‘encoding’ as to who can come in and occupy a particular space, and who must stay outside, can be found in all".

Plus, the seventh edition of Screen/Print featured Bauhaus-University Weimar, Horizonte 's Ausgabe 08. Specifically an essay authored by Tyler Survant’s titled 'Biological Borderlands: Ant Farm’s Zoopolitics'.

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The House of the Century is falling apart

Editor's Picks #356