often it has to do with what one can afford. architects and (especially?) professors don't often make as much as new custom construction can cost. i've found that making modern modifications to an old structure is tough enough to afford.

an interesting question, though, especially relative to 'star' architects. we all know gehry's house, of course. and flw's studio. paul rudolph's ny apt was in the news section this week. would be curious about rem, too, though he might just live in hotels.

i'd find it hard to believe that rem lives anywhere.

and don't forget about philip johnson...he talked the talk and walked the walk.

libeskind had another architect design his loft in NYC. (even he doesn't want to live with his own work, take note). corb stole eileen gray's house as his own work (although lived much of the year in a penthouse of an apartment building he designed) mies choose to live an older building once he moved to chicago.

it does have to do with what you can afford and the quality of what you want to buy. i had a former classmate who was shocked that i live in the 1925 craftsman. he thought i would have purchased a modern or contemporary home. the problem is finding one that is well built [most contemporary homes are not] and that is within my price range. as i told him, the craftsman was a nice compromise. it is very well built and has very simple detailing which was appealing to me.

my memory is fuzzy but i think the architect that libeskind hired was either alexander or andrew gorlin.

personally i don't know if i'd really want to design my own place. i think it might be better just hire someone i admire. that'd save me a headache...and would also be a nice opportunity to see things from a client's perspective.

eisenman hired resolution:4, the dwell home architects, for his loft.

then eisenman fired them as it was substantially complete so he wouldn't have to make final payments...joe tanney one of the principals of Res:4 worked for peter for a short period of time and idolized him like no-ones business....i don't know if Res:4 got paid anything in the end for their work for eisenman.
why actually spend the time or pay someone when you can count on their undying devotion and abuse it.
i'm sure the libeskind thing is a similar story...i know gorlin was a student of libeskind's at cooper at one time and always idolized him....

I remember a Hugh Jacbosen lecture where "...an architect building (his/her) own house is like a doctor operating on oneself..."

I ain't no Starchitect but hope to move into my house that I designed, detailed and acted as the general contractor. I'm trying to walk the walk albeit I'm walking a shoestring unlike my clients!

Al Pacino's character in Heat lived unhappily in Thom Mayne's house.

I think an architect hiring another architect to design their house is absurd. Something really stinks with that scenerio, and if FLW, Gehry, Schindler, Gropius, Eames, Sarinaan, etc. thought that way it would be history's loss.

i'm just gonna buy some box cars and stack-em up and move when i want.......


b

I bet you could drive yourself insane if you design your own house because you would second guess yourself forever! If someone else makes it, it's like you just have to accept the finished project.

RK lives (lived) in a blackish colored highrise at the foot of the erasmus bridge in Rotterdam. the building is like 20 minutes walk to OMA's office. that was the rumor anyways.

If you're prepared to hire another architect to design your own personal lair/bolthole, you're obviously not in posession of the immense overweaning ego recquired of any self-respecting starchitect.

It was rather odd seeing Mies' house, which was a very traditional neoclassical boards n' shingles place...

Mack Scoggins / Merril Elam (Atlanta)



You can learn more about this house, and see more images of it, on their website: Mack Scoggins Merrill Elam Architects - this project is referred to as 64 Wakefield, but I understand it's their personal residence.

^...Shielded from the street by a translucent glass wall but open to the sky and air, the roof deck and pool challenge the very notion of public/private. ... We know which neighbor is walking their dog by the sound that the collar and leash make. No swimsuit is required.

i read in an interview once that rem lives with his wife in an apartment (flat) in a victorian building in london. he claimed that it was a matter of him not having the means to live in a contemporary house. i also doubt that he spends much time there given that he practices in rotterdam, teaches at harvard and builds and lectures all over the world. actually a few years ago bruce mau put together a questionaire in the application for the institute without boundries where one question asked how many nights did rem koolhaas spend in a hotel in 2001 (2000?); the answer was in the area of 300.

a few other pads architects built for themselves:

Wright's Taliesen(s)
Gropius House in Lincoln MA
Corb's Apt in Paris and Cabin in So. France
Aalto experimental weekend house, and studio
Sert House in Cambridge MA
Johnson House New Caanan CT
Schindler King's Rd.
Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake
Barragon House, Mexico
Eames House & Studio in Pacific Palisades CA
Doshi House in India
Ralph Rapson House in MN
Paolo Soleri's craziness in the desert
Paul Rudolph's Beekman Pace in NYC
Ulrich Franzen House in CT
Charles Moore House(s) Orinda CA and Texas
Kappe House in LA
Ghery in Sta. Monica (obviously)
Utzon House in Majorca
Michael Rotondi CDLT house in LA
Peter Waldman House in VA
Enrique Norton House, Mexico City
Miralles' Barcelona House
Guthrie Buresh Workshop House in LA
Sejima's Small House, Tokyo
David Hertz House in Venice
Pugh Scarpa Solar Umbrella in LA
Lorcan OHerlhy's Vertical House in Venice CA
Atelier Bow Wow House/Office, Tokyo
and there's Gehry's planned new compound in Venice CA

...not many current super star level, and last I knew RK did indeed officially live in a victorian flat in london

plus:

Wright's Oak Park home/studio before the Taliesens
Albert Frey House(s) in Palm Springs
Pierre Koenig House in LA
Barton Meyers House in LA
Steve Erlich House in LA
and Somol x Pollari in LA (though maybe just Pollari now)

-- lot's of em around LA come to think of it. I guess its the drive to experiment in the air...

oh yeah, another LA special:

Thom Mayne's 6th St. House
(though notoriously never really completed, twice!. And actually in Santa Monica -- which has something to do with the difficulty I think, although they have one aging rockstarchitect landmark house, apparently they don't wnat another...).

the apartment refit of my boss (i wouldnt say starchitect - but well known here in the netherlands), does fit his design philosophy, interestingly the project was handled and credited to his GF's office.
claus

i didn't know he was living with (?) moriko kira. too funny. claus and kaan are certainly starchitect-ish...

i saw that flat on a japanese documentary featuring moriko, an hour long devotion to a japanese person making a living in holland (interesting actually, though i think maybe i was the only watching). i don't recall them mentioning that her beau was also a famous architect, nor that he was the more famous of the two...;-)

yeah its a pretty funny situation. moriko gave a lecture recently and was talking about how she dislikes alot of dutch architecture that is just facade design pasted onto standard apartment layouts - she then showed an example - a CKA building, meanwhile felix was sitting in the audience straight faced.
they both are at very different stages of their careers and have very different attitudes towards the business of architecture.

own house is completely indicative of his practice

so elegant.

if my mom aint heard of them they aint stars.

if i used that criteria, only flw would be a star.

oops. and thomas jefferson.

both of whom had ok homes.

well, if i used that criteria, I would be a star.

I like thinking about R.M. Schindler living a semi-communal life in his house at Kings Rd:

i rent an apartment in a renovated 1920's quadraplex.

From bothand's list -- Neutra had it figured out... the VDL stands for the last name initials of the rather wealthy Dutch client who couldn't believe Neutra lived in a small rented bungalow -- so he loaned/gave Neutra money to build his own house... Hmm, a wealthy benefactor...what a fine precedent for all architects to follow...

not a big star but a west side loft expert mark mack's own house on the venice canals. fresh today.

home of William Morgan, FAIA, in Atlantic Beach (Jacksonville, FL). Morgan attended GSD under Sert and worked in the office of Paul Rudolph as a young professional. Into his 70's/early 80's [?], he still practices vigorously, although much of his work is in or near India. His home (pictured above) is one of 7 or so homes by Morgan on that stretch of beach. He owns an earth-bound duplex just next door (the rent from which pays all of his bills, reportedly). On the other side of his house is a home that he designed for his son's family. There's also a triplex just down the street, as well as 4+/- 'tower houses' just around the corner, like this one:



the various homes by Morgan in this neighborhood span at least 20 years (the duplex and his own home being some of the earlier works. His sons home and a couple others have come in the past 5 years. Here's the most recent addition to the Morgan compound:



monograph

I love that Mark Mack house, Right on the canal, it's insanely romantic.

Also love the Morgan houses, AP. Thanks for showing those, I had enver ehard of him (that I recall). Very cool.

the tower houses are on a street that's perpendicular to the beach. they reach up in order to look out to the sea (over the trees and other houses).