“Suspension House” preserves all the charms of this very special setting but lessens the home’s impact on the creek. The project presented an engineering problem at the outset: how would the architects expand and modernize the home without changing its outline? Their solution was to stack a whole new level on top of the two existing ones and modify the structural supports so they could accommodate the extra weight.

The original 1970s version of the home was built on columns driven into the creek bed. The new structural system uses steel supports under the floors to anchor the home to the bedrock so that no part of it is touching the water. The tranquil flow is unimpeded, and nearly every living space inside the 2,500-square-foot dwelling enjoys a beautiful view. Each level has its own glass-enclosed balcony, and a spacious deck (also following the contours of an existing structure) spills out onto the hillside. From inside, massive new floor-to-ceiling windows create an immersive experience.

Set at a 90-degree angle to the two original floors, the new addition contains the home’s primary suite, bedroom, and flex room. The shared spaces like the kitchen, dining area, and living room are on the middle level, and the spaces closest to the water include a guest room and utility room. The pale zinc cladding and black steel framework coupled with the stacked rectilinear shapes preserve the original home’s modernist feel.

“Transparent materials and carefully considered sight lines merge the home with this dramatic landscape,” say the architects. “The two lower floors stay studiously within the confines of the original building; yet the minimal glass volumes, steeped in the surrounding beauty, feel more expansive than ever. A third floor addition strikes a more slender profile facing east to engage the breadth of the site. The experience is one of being in nature and also humbled by it.”

Of course, the project calls to mind the famous Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, a 1935 home in southwest Pennsylvania built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run creek. But that’s not the only beautiful home that enjoys such unusual surroundings. “Bridge House” by architect Dan Brunn hovers above a small natural stream in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, using lightweight modular steel for a low impact on the natural site. And in rural Australia, architect Max Pritchard built a similarly bridge-like home with recycled corrugated metal siding, set across a seasonal winter creek that divides the property.

The post Modernist Suspension House Spans a Creek Between Two California Hillsides first appeared on Dornob.

Designer and collector Lisa Perry takes up that mantle with her restoration of the iconic Scull House in the Hamptons. Originally designed by architect and urban planner Paul Lester Wiener, the Scull House was designed in the early 1960s for Pop Art collectors Ethel and Robert Scull. It’s a modernist’s dream dominated by sharp lines, stark aesthetics, and plenty of glass — a Wiener signature seen in many of his glass pavilions of the era (many of which were also built in the Hamptons).

Wiener himself had a strong connection to the Hamptons, summering there often before his death in 1967. It’s this history that inspired Perry to take the plunge after seeing the home on Instagram, along with with the fact that “it made me feel like I was home,” as she explained in a recent interview with New York Magazine.

The home was in need of serious restoration, but Perry was definitely up for the challenge. “The qualities of the design, the provenance, and [the house’s] history” made it a worthy endeavor for the creative designer, who ultimately decided to keep much of the original structure intact while still incorporating her own updates for a hybrid of past and present that honors the original while creating a livable space for the future.

This is especially true of the home’s former laundry area and storage room, which Perry has converted into a gallery and artist-in-residency space for women creatives. Dubbed Onna House, the space is yet another way to connect the house to its past as a midcentury haven for Hamptons artists and creatives. Though the Hamptons art scene was a boys-only club in the 1950s and 1960s, Perry’s space is devoted exclusively to celebrating the work of women — women whose voices would not have been heard in the Scull House and Hamptons of the past.

With her creative reimagining of the former Scull House in the Hamptons, designer and collector Lisa Perry has found a way to revitalize an important cultural space almost lost to the pages of history. By forging a connection to the past, she’s also found a way to build a better future by providing a space for women artists to flourish within a former modernist masterpiece that’s been given new life.

The post Lisa Perry Reimagines an Artistic Past With Hamptons Scull House Restoration first appeared on Dornob.

As Portelli’s evolving artistic style morphed from Impressionism to Cubism to Constructivism, he infused such Maltese hot spots as the Whisky a Go-go, La Stella Band Club, the Dragut and Piali restaurants, and the sanctuary of St. Therese of Lisieux with his love for moody color palettes, clean lines, and blocky shapes.

The post-war modernist also designed his own live-work space in Attard, an ancient city nestled within the center of Malta’s main island. Architecture firm Valentino Architects just completed a retrofit of this space, which they call “La Serenissima,” aiming to preserve “the intentions of the artist’s design as a contemporary living space.” The result is an artist’s dream, bright and modern with high ceilings and plenty of windows to let all-important sunlight deep within the living quarters.

Preserving a Sense of History

The original studio is defined by tall geometric windows and strong southwestern light, and Valentino Architects decided to focus on these elements in their new design. The reworked interiors follow the same north-south axis, placing private living spaces at the south and north with a small home office and conservatory at the intersection. At the south end, which gets the most light, they integrated 45-degree skylights and high windows.

Sliding glass doors lead from the kitchen to a covered outdoor space with a raised timber deck and new glass perimeter. The angled skylights above this deck were removed to give the space more exposure to the elements, allowing it to become an external terrace that’s shaded from the summer heat but still capable of being opened to cooling breezes. The deck steps down into the living room to double as interior seating.

This cleverly converted outdoor space also acts as one big sunlight collector. The light bounces off the new brushed concrete flooring, pale countertops, and white walls and ceilings, further transmitted into the apartment by interior windows and glazing. Additional new elements like angular floor mosaics, sharply arched entryways, and a sculptural staircase recall the strong dynamic lines of Portelli’s paintings.

“Throughout the apartment, Portelli’s collection of midcentury furniture and lighting have been restored and integrated into the decor, his original plywood pinup board kept hung in the kitchen,” say the architects. “At the northernmost end of the plan, a bedroom and bathroom flank a central, floor-to-ceiling triangular window. A sliding door provides the option for closing off these rooms for privacy, whilst allowing the central sight-line to remain uninterrupted while open.”

About Valentino Architects

Based in Valetta, Malta, Valentino Architects is a design-led architecture studio with projects spanning residential, retail, and commercial sectors, with an emphasis on tailored solutions. “Our work is a study in form, proportion, detailing, and texture, characterized by an economy of scale, color, and material,” they say. “We have built a design approach that prioritizes collaboration and is driven by social, environmental, and urban impact.”

The post Valentino Architects Transform a Live-Work Artist Studio in Malta first appeared on Dornob.

And this apartment building in New Delhi, India is no exception.

While not designed by Kahn himself, he certainly inspired it. The firm responsible for the over 2000-square-foot space, Amit Khanna Design Associates (AKDA), certainly invoked Kahn as a muse when conceiving the bold and dynamic building. Though located on an otherwise-nondescript residential street, the building’s eye-catching exterior is striking, to say the least, and immediately echoes Kahn’s singular design approach.

Amit Khanna, the founder of AKDA, says that the building “is an ode to Kahn and his idea of how a building should be.” Discussing the late architect’s impact on the architecture of the Indian subcontinent, Khanna adds that “crucial to his form-making was the act of puncturing seemingly vast brick and concrete walls with soaring geometric voids, creating dramatic shadows as the harsh Indian sun made its way through the sky.” This poetic assessment is surely true of such buildings as the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, designed by Kahn and highly representative of his way of “evok[ing] a mystical, yet calm monumentality” in his works.

The facade of the new apartment building is what one immediately associates with Kahn’s “soaring geometric voids”: the cut-out brick, rounded as if to soften the hard lines of the steel it surrounds; the dramatic shape and scope of the brick “screen” itself (it covers the top three stories of the building); and the way it both seems to hover and anchor the building itself. The interior of the building is equally as striking, as the openness revealed by the lens-like brick screen allows for plenty of light to stream through the windows. The upper floor also has an area that’s open to the sky, further allowing light to filter through. The layout itself is almost like a split screen, with bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, a staircase, and an elevator on one side, and the other areas, such as the living and lounge areas, on the other.

The muted colors of the interior decor are the perfect backdrop for the dramatic confluence of more raw materials like brick and concrete, with the exposed brick especially adding a homey and charming feel to the otherwise sharp and angular space. There are surprise bits of light throughout the apartment that peek through and further add a feeling of warmth to the scene, softening it against the space’s more industrial elements.

This striking building in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, with its geometrically attractive brick facade whose thinness belies its strength and whose openness encourages meditation, rises majestically on its stilts and emerges from residential conformity like a great prow of a ship — or like a monument to the late, great architect Louis Kahn. Embodying the monolithic structure and modernist lines and shapes that defined Kahn’s work, this New Delhi space is a fitting homage to one of the most acclaimed architects of the late 20th century—and shows his continuing influence into the 21st century.

The post Modernist, Louis Khan-Inspired Apartment Building Perfectly Evokes the Architect’s “Calm Monumentality” first appeared on Dornob.

Not long after that, the San Francisco-based OPA Architects was commissioned to soften it up. Specializing in designs that impact our perceptions and emotions, OPA wanted to give the house a more personal touch that enhanced its harmony with nature while leaving its modernist spirit intact. Infusing the space with organic shapes completely changes the way it feels, starting with the new front steps, which ooze out from beneath the entrance like fluid. From there, your experience of the home is something like merging with the sky.

Throughout the home, spaces like the living areas, bathrooms, corridors, and bedrooms are enveloped in sculptural white masses that surround you like a hazy embrace. Painted stark white, these forms create new voids and alcoves, softly connecting from floor to ceiling like pillowy stalactites. When you gaze out the floor-to-ceiling glass facing the bay from the higher levels, these spaces feel like an extension of the region’s signature moody fog. Outside, the theme continues with a new cloud-like canopy installed over a second-floor terrace.

The architects ask: “Why can’t architecture be more like nature – changeable, varied, and uninhibited? Our client wanted to return home and feel a sense of private freedom, a release from the conformity of the world outside. In this project, we softened her existing modernist house by infusing it with an atmosphere of clouds. The clouds scatter freely throughout the house, and dissolve and soften it in different ways. The clouds erode and blur the order of the rational modernist grid, creating a sense of space that floats and drifts.”

“Moments of softness are encountered unexpectedly – the interventions are like a mist that has settled unevenly. The softness dissolves the entry, melts the stairs, wafts through the house on all three floors, and a lonely cloud is trapped above a sheltered terrace.”

The result is a home that looks normal (albeit luxurious) from the street and neighboring houses, but offers a sense of release and relaxation as soon as you step inside. The unexpected nature of the renovation is a big part of its charm. The design is reminiscent of the sculptural traditional houses of Greece or the “landscape houses” of 20th century architect Jacques Couëlle, all of which use rounded forms resembling natural shapes.

But you’d never guess that the interiors of “Softie,” as OPA calls it, looked like this if you weren’t invited in for a visit. Couëlle’s cave-like creations embrace irregularity and softness as a whole, looking just as strange and unusual outside as they do within. Maybe what “Softie” shows us most is that no matter what a space looks and feels like originally, it can always be completely transformed.

Does it make you long for a softened-up space of your own?

The post Modernist House Softened with Cloud-Like Interiors by OPA Architects first appeared on Dornob.

Even at first glance, you can tell that this home is one of a kind. The dream retreat features an angular silhouette with a cantilevered upper level clad in dramatic black cedar, the roof extending down on one side to form a protective carport suggestive of a raven’s wing. The glazed lower level is partially enveloped by the rocky landscape, offering sweeping views in some rooms and gazing directly into the cutaway terrain in others.

Naturally, one of the house’s biggest selling points is a glass gallery-style room where luxury cars can be displayed, visible from the adjacent glass-walled wine lounge to maximize opportunities for admiration. Here, the latticed wooden wine rack makes visual reference to Aston Martin’s logo while creating just a little bit of separation between the two spaces.

While S3 Architecture handled much of the design process, Aston Martin had a heavy hand in the interior design and furnishings, outfitting the spaces with parquet flooring, leather details, marble-topped tables, and leather-trimmed seating.

If you’re a fan of contemporary horror films, the Sylvan Rock treehouse is sure to give you a thrill. Its design, coupled with the remote surroundings, is highly reminiscent of the setting for Ari Aster’s nightmarish 2018 film Hereditary. If you don’t have that association in your head, of course, it’s just a lovely addition to the retreat, set on bark-clad log supports and complete with suspended hammocks.

“When designing, we always let the land speak first and respond to it,” says S3 Architecture partner and Registered Architect Christopher Dierig. “The roofline mimics the jagged edges of the rock ledge reaching down into the earth, as if the home is born of and launching from the landscape. The resulting design blends our modernist aesthetic with the privacy and context of the rural location to create a unique luxury experience.”

The estate is “a strong marriage of design sensibilities,” says Cathal Loughnane, head of Aston Martin partnerships. He adds that “creating a luxury residence with warm textures, bold forms, and exceptional privacy is very aligned with Aston Martin’s own vision. We wanted the owner and their guests to experience the three-dimensional feel of the house in an organic way, just like you experience one of our cars — there is no single facade that dominates. Fully integrated into its surroundings and the community, Sylvan Rock is rare example of a complete residential work of art.”

Boasting 8,430 square feet of floor space, the home is accessed by a long driveway leading up to a lower entrance that just happens to pass by the automotive gallery. It will also have multiple outbuildings, including a series of pods that can adapt to multiple uses, like extended guest stays, remote offices, business retreats, and home schools.

Unsurprisingly, Aston Martin has a car recommendation to go along with the home, as if pairing a wine with a fine meal. The DBX, also designed with S3 Architecture, features an onyx black exterior, while the interior includes Oxford Tan leather, black Q brogue stitching, and hardwood inlay.

The post Aston Martin Designs Sleek New “Sylvan Rock” Home in New York first appeared on Dornob.

Mái Apartment embraces and reimagines the aftermath of Vietnam’s fraught colonial history. The country was controlled by France for more than six decades as part of the so-called “French Indochina,” during which time the French believed it was their responsibility to introduce modern Western political, social, industrial, and technological ideas to Asian and African nations in order to “civilize” them.

Northern Vietnam declared independence from France in 1945, but Western influences continued to have a big impact in the ensuing decades. Imported from the United States, Modernist architecture flourished as part of an effort to overthrow the French neoclassicism, introducing a new aesthetic of concrete and terrazzo to the otherwise-tropical environment. Great examples of this style in Vietnam include the General Science Library by Nguyen Huh Then and Bui Quang Hang and Independence Palace by Ngô Viết Thụ.

Take a walk through Ho Chi Minh City and you’ll see evidence of these influences on virtually every street. The style is easy to spot when it comes to exteriors, but less common indoors, especially within residences. Whale Design Lab, led by architect Hanh Le, has brought to life a striking arrangement of minimalist surfaces and monumental forms without making any significant structural changes to the existing apartment.

One significant influence is Louis Kahn, one of America’s greatest 20th-century architects. A master of Brutalism, Kahn created such visionary structures as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California (1959-65), Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire (1965-72), and the striking National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962-63). His work is typified by dynamic geometric shapes, and though most of his structures were made of cold and hefty cement, they never felt static or boring.

Hanh Le saw in Kahn’s work a revolutionary functionality and pared-down elegance, eventually leading him to wonder how could these aesthetics be recreated “in a boring four-bedroom condo apartment.”

The giant circular cutouts seen in the Phillips Exeter Academy appear here in a new way, sliced out of interior concrete walls that allow light to pass between the spacious, open two-level living area and a quiet study with a curving built-in desk upstairs. They’re echoed by the rounded archways subtly separating and defining various interior spaces, including the lip of a gorgeous terrazzo floor, which uses large chunks of white marble inlay instead of aggregate for an updated look.

This terrazzo continues both up the stairs to the second level and into the kitchen, where it forms the counters, central island, and even a backsplash. Custom furniture, like a rounded dining table with a built-in planter for a living tree, perfectly complements the architecture of the space. Tropical greenery and warm wood give it an edge that’s distinctly Vietnamese.

The apartment takes its name, mái, from the Vietnamese word for “polish.” It took three years to complete, but the result meets all of the clients’ needs with a refreshing sense of uniqueness that can’t be found anywhere else.

The post Modernist Apartment Makeover Brings Louis Kahn to Tropical Vietnam first appeared on Dornob.

In particular, buildings that fall under the category of modernist architecture often seem to be “too” unique. Modernism, a movement beginning in the early 20th century in response to large-scale changes in both technology and society, predominantly adopted the use of concrete, glass, and steel to streamline architecture. This resulted in the creation of countless eye-catching and one-of-a-kind buildings throughout the era, but today many of the movement’s most shining examples sit in a state of disrepair — not exactly the most appealing to potential investors.

The Getty Foundation, whose mission is to “advance and share the world’s visual art and cultural heritage for the benefit of all,” recently announced a plan to help conserve 13 of the world’s modernist monuments.

The architectural designs of the modernist era were full of experimentation with both materials and engineering.The Getty notes that these experiments “were often untested and have not always performed well over time.” Many of the buildings have been neglected or even completely abandoned, since restoration is expensive, but the Institute hopes to slow their degradation and keep them from being demolished with a total of $2.2 million in grants.

One remarkable recipient of this funding is the Buzludzha Monument, a saucer-dome of concrete found on a mountaintop in Bulgaria. Built in 1981 to commemorate the founding of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the building — along with the intricate mosaic curving through its interior — has been neglected for decades now. Hugely popular with photo tourists, the funds will protect the mosaic and support a plan to adapt the structure for future use.

The funds, collectively referred to as the “Keeping It Modern” grants, are a result of a program that has dedicated itself to preserving buildings since its inception in 2014. To date, 77 projects in 40 nations around the world have benefited from the program, with this year’s candidates hailing from places like Chile, Kuwait, Nigeria, Portugal, India, and Senegal.

“Modern architecture, with its experimental materials and structural innovations, is a powerful cultural expression that took many forms worldwide,” says Joan Weinstein, Director of the Getty Foundation. “These buildings embody human ingenuity, but many are showing their age and face irreversible damage or even demolition if we fail to act. Our Keeping It Modern grantees across the globe are working to safeguard this modern heritage for future generations, and to produce models of best practice that other stewards of modern architecture can learn from.”

The oldest building in this year’s group is the White Tower in Ekaterinburg, Russia by Moisei Reisher, which began construction in 1929. Another well-aged candidate is the Tecton Buildings at Dudley Zoo and Castle in the United Kingdom by architects Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group, erected in 1937. In the way of more recent projects, several buildings from the 1970s are also receiving grants, including the International Fairgrounds in Dakar, Senegal by architects Jean-François Lamoureux and Jean-Louis Marin (197), the Kuwait Towers by architect Malene Bjørn (1976), and the Oberstufen-Schulzentrum Wedding secondary school in Berlin, Germany by architects Pysall, Jensen, Stahrenberg & Partner (1976).

The post Getty Foundation Invests $2 Million in the Conservation of Modernist Architecture first appeared on Dornob.

First, there’s the fact that Fallingwater came close to literally falling right into the water thanks to a cantilevered design that wasn’t well supported. Erosion of the banks on either side presented a serious concern, and dampness penetrated the house on all sides. Ultimately, it’s cool to look at but not very practical. But could a different sort of design on a different sort of waterway be successful in ways that Fallingwater isn’t?

Architect Dan Brunn didn’t have Frank Lloyd Wright in mind when he designed “Bridge House” over a small natural stream in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles. He was actually inspired by the elongated motor court of the Breakers, the ostentatious waterfront Vanderbilt family home in Newport, Rhode Island, though you’d never guess it from the final result.

The home is true to its name, with a simple form stretching from one bank of the narrow trickling stream to the next. Sleek and modernist, it has no unnecessary frills or complicated floor plans. Serving as Brunn’s full-time residence, the 4,500-square-foot home has a rectangular shape, measuring 20 feet wide by 210 feet long, stretching from the front of the building site to the back instead of side to side like a more conventional residence.

“The idea is to do something extraordinary with ordinary means,” says Brunn.

That wasn’t his first idea, though. When he bought the property, he intended to renovate the existing home, but problems with the foundation soon emerged, so he decided to go in a dramatically different direction instead. Determined to build to zero net energy (ZNE) standards and make full use of passive solar orientation and the beautiful views, the architect saw the bridge plan as a way to have a lower impact on the site.

Usually, the opposite would be true. One good reason we don’t see a lot of residences straddling creeks and streams is all the potential for disruption and pollution, not to mention messing up the views for other people. But the lightweight modular steel structure of the Bridge House, supported by two heavy steel beams, made it possible to set the building in place without making a mess. The fact that the stream is small and flows within a private neighborhood helps, too.

Making extensive use of carefully placed glass, Bridge House gets sunlight streaming in from optimal angles all day long and focuses views on the trees and water outside rather than neighboring houses. Standout features include a Series 980 Double Pivot Door from Western Window Systems, which sets the airy, welcoming mood at the main entrance, and a courtyard centered over the stream so it can really be enjoyed to the fullest.

The post A Stream Runs Under This Modern “Bridge House” in Los Angeles first appeared on Dornob.

The Debut

When the principals of Workstead were pondering the best setting for their new fixtures, they instantly thought of Philip Johnson‘s former “Glass House” property in New Canaan, Connecticut. A Bauhaus-inspired design constructed in the late 1940s, the home has long been hailed as an epicenter of Modernist architecture, packed with multiple remarkable structures accenting Johnson’s incredible selections of art. Since the site seemed to fit right in with the theme of “Archetype,” the Workstead team chose to debut the collection there, installing each fixture in a different part of the house as part of a day-long display.

Robert Highsmith, who co-founded Workstead in 2009 with Stefanie Brechbuehler and Ryan Mahoney, adds: “With Archetype, we were inspired to create a lighting collection through an architect’s lens. I love the idea that Johnson and other Modernists were approaching a lighting fixture as they would a building. Our fixtures embody the same architectural references and proportions — a structure that is fundamentally refined and functional.”

The Collection

To ensure the Archetype project embodied the best and most unique qualities of each architect and designer, Highsmith personally embarked on a research quest. He began with the epochal floor lamps that Philip Johnson had envisioned for the Glass House. He fondly remembers poring over the conversion of signature shapes and proportions from building to lighting fixtures and lamps, stating that he “could see the lineage between their designs of buildings and of lighting. So, when you see a concept like ‘Vault,’ you should imagine Louis Kahn distilling his geometry and grandeur to the scale of a light fixture.”

“Vault,” one of the collection’s three unique fixtures, makes specific mention of Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum. “Block” and “Gable” round out the bunch, the latter of which astute viewers will easily be able to trace back to Johnson’s work. The intertwined volumes of “Block” have many influencers, despite the fact that Highsmith has previously articulated fondness for Alvar Aalto’s kind, ornamental move toward simplicity. The fixture also employs the exact fabrication found in the atypical table lamps of Marcel Breuer. To add even more variety to the mix, all three fixtures are available in sconce, pendant, and floor-lamp styles, each with your choices of a brass, nickel, or bronze finish.

A Year of Growth and Change

The Archetype project marks the end of a very big year for Workstead. In November 2018, husband and wife Highsmith and Brechbuehler moved their permanent home to a Hudson Valley residence they bought in 2010. Two months later, in January 2019, the company opened a fully-staffed showroom in a refurbished historic building in the city of Hudson to showcase its furniture and lighting designs. Mahoney steers the architecture and interiors business from Brooklyn, while Highsmith and Brechbuehler tackle products and special projects, respectively.

The post Fresh Lighting Collection by Workstead Illuminates Genius of Modernist Architects first appeared on Dornob.

Now that building is scheduled for construction, thanks to the efforts of Sidney Eskenazi, who was a student at IU when the proposal was born. He and his wife Lois, benefactor of the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at IU, presented the plans to IU president Michael A. McRobbie a few years back, according to the Eskenazi school dean, Peg Faimon.

The Eskenazis donated $20 million for the construction, which will include many elements of Mies original design. It’s the largest gift ever bestowed by the Eskenazis. The celebrated tribute to Mies has been designated as artistic center for the school, housing both classrooms and administrative offices.

The Architects

Thomas Phifer and Partners, based in New York, has been tapped to construct the monumental building, which it expects to unveil in June 2021. Faimon explained why they chose the firm for the project. “We have a strong and established relationship with the firm, as they are already designing a building directly across the street. We want to achieve a clear and sensitive connection between the two buildings, and this is best accomplished by the same firm working on both projects. The firm is also known for its beautiful attention to detail and its ability to work in a modernist language, making them the perfect partners for the project.”

More About Mies

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a man whose talents were world-renowned. He is probably most famous for his designs of early American skyscrapers including the Seagram Tower in New York City, IBM Plaza in Chicago, and Lake Shore Drive Towers on Lake Michigan. He’s also the icon who created the world’s famous Barcelona Pavilion as well as designed the eminent Barcelona chair.

Also a memorable wordsmith, Mies is credited with coining the expressions “less is more” and “God is in the details,” which are still quoted today. He also went on to become head of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

On a less positive note, Mies will always be associated with the launching the trend of the dull glass tower phenomenon with his early skyscrapers, though he was considered a pioneer in modern design, since he created these modern silhouettes in pre-war Germany.

Presidential Remarks

“The construction of this extraordinary work of architecture will support IU’s growth in one of IU’s newest schools and will serve as an enduring symbol of the legacy of generosity of Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, and an enduring symbol of the very founding of architectural modernism,” U president McRobbie said in a press release. Stay tuned to see the culmination of Mies’ vision for his alma mater.

The post New Mies van der Rohe Building Finally Under Construction After 67 Years first appeared on Dornob.

The Schlumberger Research Center Administration Building, located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, was completed in 1952. Known locally as “The Philip Johnson Building,” the single story structure housed research scientists and the executive team for an oil and drilling equipment company. It’s set atop an underground garage, and designed in a style architecture fans will recognize as quintessentially Johnson.

It’s a shame we don’t have before-pictures. If we did, we could take in the full transformation of the building, which sat empty for a decade and required extensive restoration. It took BassamFellows eight years to complete the historic renovation, keeping all of the steel, glass and brick bones that make the building so special and accenting them with contemporary elements for a fresh update on midcentury modern style.

If there’s one defining feature of the space, it’s the abundance of natural light streaming into the glass and bricked-in spaces. The result is a feeling of connection to the natural world while remaining protected from the weather, traffic, and activity outside. There’s something serene about the simplicity of the pale gray bricks combined with warm wooden trim. The simple lines and stylish furniture from the firm’s collection reinforce this peaceful vibe.

The central courtyard, with its showcased curving evergreen tree, grounds the structure, and gives it a dash of extra personality. Operable panels allow free air circulation when the weather is nice, so adjacent lounge areas almost feel like they’re outdoors.

BassamFellows uses the building as their headquarters, design studio and showroom. To make sure they did justice to the original structure and its primary architect, they researched the building’s original ratings at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University.

From the architects: “By converting areas that were originally designed as secretarial pools, BassamFellows created large lounge areas that serve as collaborative spaces. This minor change gives the building the perfect mix of private vs. public space and feels completely in step with contemporary ways of working. It’s a wonderful testament to good design that the building is as relevant today as it was radical then. The restoration project recently received a preservation award from Docomomo US.”

Prior to renovation, this building was “virtually unknown” as an example of Philip Johnson’s work. Now, it’s a fitting tribute to the American architect best known for his “Glass House” in New Canaan, Connecticut (1949), sculpture garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1953), and Johnson building at the Boston Public Library (1972).

Led by Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows, BassamFellows is a multidisciplinary firm producing architectural projects, modern interiors and high end furniture.

From the firm: “BassamFellows’ pioneering Craftsman Modern aesthetic, which marries architectural authority with a minimal-artisanal philosophy, was introduced with the debut of the iconic BassamFellows Tractor Stool at the 2003 Salone del Mobile in Milan. From its inception, the company has focused on building relationships with some of the world’s leading craftspeople, whilst forging innovative and intelligent collaborations across the worlds of architecture, branding and design.”

The post Abandoned Research Center Reclaimed as a Furniture Gallery first appeared on Dornob.

Located in the southeast seaside city of Nha Trang, where winter tends to be dry with a steady temperature around 82 degrees Fahrenheit, “Timber House” by MM++ architects is a luxury getaway with outrageous views of nearby mountains and Nha Trang Bay. One of three vacation villas in a row, the home is carved into the hillside to take full advantage of the scenery.

For the architects, the biggest challenge in designing the home was anticipating future construction. With its white sand beaches and geography that protects it from major storms, Nha Trang is an increasingly popular place to live and visit as a tourist, and it’s likely to grow much denser in the coming decades. If they weren’t careful, all of those gorgeous sea views could have been obliterated in the near future.

While local building regulations set strict limits on how high homes can be, they also provide clear guidelines for what to expect from new construction popping up on the hillside around Timber House, so MM++ architects were able to anticipate the proportions they’d need to maintain sea views. To lock them in, they built the house up on a “podium” to the maximum height allowed by law.

Outfitted with sliding panels to open it completely to the outdoors, the main living space connects directly to a terraced swimming pool. When swimmers are in the water, they can gaze directly out at the bay, feeling almost like they can transition from one into the other. The pool also provides an additional buffer between the private interior spaces and neighboring residences—a nexus between the present and the future.

The design almost seems to spill down the hillside organically. Materials like teak timber cladding and local stone make the home feel like a natural feature of the landscape. The architects wanted the private bedroom spaces, which overhang the permeable public areas downstairs, to feel like a viewing platform made of wood, with large, operable louvers. The flow of shapes and materials, from the top level down, aim to enhance an effect of “suspension.”

Inside, everything is tailored to provide the ultimate in comfort and hospitality for guests, with plenty of room for entertaining.

From the architect: “Considering the site characteristics with the cliff in the back and the lower street level, the program is spread vertically, along multiple levels… On street level, the garage and a large home cinema in the back of the pool with an underwater window taking natural sun light trough the pool, technical and spa spaces in the back. On an intermediate level, facing the cliff, a bedroom suite with a private garden and outdoor bathroom.”

“Deck level hosts the main space where dining island, kitchen and living room are merged in one unique space in seamless connection with outdoor spaces. The high ceiling level has allowed including a mezzanine floor, turned into a bedroom suite with panoramic view over the kitchen. The timber box hosts the first floor with two bedroom suites.”

Are you ready to book your flight yet, or is it just us?

The post Modern Tropical: Terraced Timber House in Vietnam first appeared on Dornob.

The post Lady Gaga of Architecture’ is First Woman Ever to Win RIBA Royal Gold Medal first appeared on Dornob.

Paul Rudolph is best known for designing the daring and divisive Yale Art and Architecture Building, a brutalist concrete wonder in New Haven, Connecticut, along with many other landmark structures. Now, a 1961 Florida residence that exemplifies his style could be yours for a cool $4.4 million USD.

The Milam Residence, located at 1033 Ponte Vedra Boulevard in Ponte Vedra Beach along Florida’s northeastern coast, was custom-designed for attorney and arts patron Arthur Milam. Named “House of the Year” by Architectural Record in 1963, the structure certainly stands out among the more conventional beachfront homes of the area. Most significantly, its facade consists of a mesh of oversized geometric concrete frames that outline views from key locations inside.

Considered to be Rudolph’s most successful residential work, the 6,800-square-foot Milam House is built for entertaining guests who will be dazzled by both the coastal location and the house itself. It includes five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and an attached three-car garage.

This sale represents the first time the home has been available since it was built, since it remained in the family well after Milam’s death. Original photos of the 1960s interiors were made public by the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, but a new video gives us a glimpse at the inside as it looks today.

Here’s the description from the foundation:

“Its distinctive three-dimensional, window-filled east profile is a landmark for pilots, boaters, and beach walkers. Rudolph designed intersecting conversational areas perfect for entertaining. He placed his windows to capture the grand ocean views. Set on 200 feet fronting the ocean, rising over 28 feet above the sea, with secluded entry from Ponte Vedra Bouvlevard, the main house (4/4/2) and guest house (1/1) open to a spacious courtyard. This home is known all over the world. It is the only Rudolph design in northeast Florida. Live in style in the way Florida was meant to be enjoyed!”

In Rudolph’s own words, the house features floors and walls “extended in elaborated forms toward the views, thereby making of the facade a reflection of the interior space. The brises-soleil also serve as mullions for the glass, turning the exterior wall into a series of deep openings filled only with glass. The exceptional wild Florida site 60 feet above the Atlantic Ocean is a counterfoil to the geometry of the structure.”

It’s easy for concrete structures, particularly those of the brutalist persuasion, to look dated to contemporary eyes. But somehow the Milam House looks as fresh as ever, a testament both to the clean, unfussy lines of the design and society’s enduring love for 20th-century modernism.

When Paul Rudolph died, he gave us all a gift that extends beyond the structures he created, donating all of his intellectual property rights to the American people. That gift helped establish the Center for Architecture, Design, and Engineering at the Library of Congress, where you can also view Rudolph’s entire archive.

The post Classic Geometric House by Paul Rudolph On the Market for $4.45M first appeared on Dornob.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Kientruc O is a young firm led by both an architect and an industrial designer, with a mission to create architecture “that facilitates and embraces a coherent symbiosis between humans and the environment.” TTC Elite Saigon Kindergarten, TTC Elite Ben Tre Kindergarten, and Chuon Chuon Kim 2 Kindergarten all illustrate this philosophy.

Each building’s appeal to children is obvious upon first glance. The newest school, TTC Elite Saigon, is a fusion of childlike and modernist elements that never feels patronizing. Its monolithic, rounded white mass is punctuated by windows in all sorts of shapes and sizes, each one framed in a vivid color. Enormous pink, orange, and fuchsia blobs seem to float randomly across the facade.

Located close to the city’s railway station, the kindergarten is built upon an existing foundation inherited from the previous building, which gave the architects their starting point but clearly didn’t limit them. The firm says they wanted to provoke a sense of curiosity from the kids as they approach it each day.

They explain: “The windows are apertures that peer the view from inside to outside, stimulating emotion, imagination, and curiosity, establishing a direct relationship between the kids playing inside and the living, ever-changing external environment. Through the openings, light runs along the colored windowsill, highlighting and washing over the interior space with its dyed color, reciting an enchanted and fairytale-like atmosphere.”

TTC Elite Ben Tre, completed in 2017, aims for a peaceful atmosphere emphasizing the mild, pleasant tropical climate and interaction with nature. The architects implemented principles from traditional Vietnamese architectural language, including an open plan, but the coolest part is the rounded, grassy roof that creates an elevated playground.

“In its presence, the hill is the cornerstone that helped found the architectural identity of the school. It was conceived as a place that juggles the senses and tickles the curiosity inside each kid, leaving them wondering and anticipating of what excitement is awaiting them beyond the hill.”

Chuon Chuon Kim 2 Kindergarten, located in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2, looks only slightly more conventional than the others thanks to its brick facade. But there’s nothing ordinary about it, particularly when it comes to the protruding, telescope-like volumes on top and the window openings shaped like archetypal gabled houses.

“Like a giant LEGO building, the kindergarten is constructed entirely in bare brick forming patterns and openings that are playful to the eyes, conveying a unique aesthetic value and promoting natural ventilation. Classrooms and utility rooms are organized around a playful core. Each floor is arranged in an alternating pattern to enhance vertical interaction, encourage children to be more receptive to their surroundings, and stimulate their inner creativity.”

Don’t they make you wish all schools were so thoughtfully designed?

Of course, the firm didn’t necessarily set out to be a designer of kindergartens. Their other work includes homes, offices, and restaurants that are no less creative than their school designs. See it all at KientrucO.com.

The post 3 Imaginative Kindergarten Designs by Vietnamese Studio Kientruc O first appeared on Dornob.