Frank Lloyd Wright and Lego

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation together with Lego and Brickstructures have released Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture Building sets in lego.

The line currently consists of six buildings – now including two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous and recognizable buildings, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and “Fallingwater.”

images copyright LEGO, Brickstructures and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

tags: modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, new products, plastic, toys, kids
designers: Frank Lloyd Wright
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The Making of the Guggenheim

Frank Lloyd Wright died on April 9 1959 – six months before the opening of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – his masterpiece.

Fifty years after the realization of Wright’s renowned spiral, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates the golden anniversary with a major exhibition "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward" and with the publication of the first book to explore the 16-year construction process behind this great modern building.

The exhibition brings together sixty-four projects, including privately commissioned residences, civic and government buildings, religious and performance spaces, as well as unrealized urban mega-structures. Presented on the spiral ramps of Wright’s museum through a range of mediums—including more than 200 original Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, many of which are on view to the public for the first time, as well as newly commissioned models and digital animations.

 

The book (to be released on June 1st 2009) The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of the Modern Museum examines the history, design, and construction of Wright’s masterwork.
Filled with drawings, models, and photographs, it includes three major essays by Hillary Ballon, Neil Levine and Joseph Siry that consider the building in three important contexts: Ballon discusses the obstacles Wright faced in getting the Guggenheim built and how his complex relationship with New York City was reflected in his design. Levine explores why Wright's Guggenheim had much greater impact on museum architecture than museums designed by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Siry writes about the museum’s novel construction and how it impacted the work of a later generation of architects including Frank Gehry, Louis Kahn, and I.M. Pei.

Exhibition from May 15 to August 23 2009
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street) - New York, NY -USA

tags: modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, exhibitions, essays, books
designers: Frank Lloyd Wright
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Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner

The Lighthouse, Scotland's National Architecture and Design Centre, is to stage the only European showing of 'Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner', as part of its 10th anniversary season.

Elrod Residence, John Lautner, Palm Springs, 1968 (photo Joshua White)

Over the course of a career spent largely in Los Angeles, John Lautner captured the essence of southern California in more than 150 distinctive structures. Trained by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lautner is best known for his private commissions such as the Elrod Residence in Palm Springs, featured in the James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever, and Los Angeles’s iconic ‘Chemosphere’.

Chemosphere, John Lautner, Los Angeles, 1960 (photo Joshua White)

This large scale retrospective will feature over 70 original drawings and models, spanning a 50-year period, as well as short films by award-winning documentary maker, Murray Grigor.

Marbrisa, John Lautner, Acapulco, 1973 (photo Sara Sackner)

'Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner' was organised by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, in cooperation with The John Lautner Foundation and The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. It is made possible through major gifts from the Dunard Fund USA, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency and Frank and Berta Gehry.

Pearlman Mountain Cabin, John Lautner, Idyllwild, 1957 (photo Joshua White)

The Lighthouse
11 Mitchell Lane
Glasgow G1 3NU
United Kingdom
Exhibition from March 20 2009 to July 26 2009

tags: modern architecture, exhibitions
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Le Corbusier's Cabanon at the RIBA

The Royal Institute of British Architects and Cassina present the exhibition 'Le Corbusier’s Cabanon 1952/2006 - The Interior 1:1' in the Florence Hall of the RIBA.

Le Corbusier Roquebrune-Cap-Martin : Cabanon © FLC/SIAE L3[5]5

The exhibition features the reconstruction of the actual interior of the Cabanon that Le Corbusier planned and built in 1952 for his holidays at Cap-Martin. The Cabanon is an apparently unpretentious sea-side hut, comprising a remarkable example of micro-architecture, full of meaning.

Continuing its research into the work of the Maestri of architecture, Cassina has taken care of this project, now presented with the aim of divulging greater knowledge of the values of the architectural interior.

Access to the reconstructed Cabanon is through a covered area in which images and other material relating to Le Corbusier and his presence in Cap-Martin are on show or projected. The Cabanon conceals a valuable example of architecture by Le Corbusier, who intended to assign its principal architectural value only to the interior of the construction.

The construction reveals a rich, logical and harmonious composition of meaningful resolutions, notwithstanding the more than modest dimensions. It first and foremost teaches us that the problem of the home implies the study of quality choices rather than astonishing details or show. This first approach is sufficient enough to remember that the primary factor of a building accomplished - grandiloquent or basic as it may be - is whoever inhabits and transfers human fervour in it.

Photos Cabanon reconstruction: Andrea Ferrari

The Cabanon, conceived, designed and built by the same architect who was to live in it, comprises the ideal conditions of architectural planning, the dialectic synthesis between the concept and the accomplishment. Whereas the powers delegated on the architect by those who see the house as a projection of oneself or a kind of fetish to emulate, represent the perfect antithesis.

The reason for the reconstruction of the Cabanon - organised specially for touring exhibitions – intends to make more aware, more participative, the responsibility of the client in relation to the designer. It is respectful of the interior’s standards, full of masterly touches, making up an incomparable source of inspiration for whoever is interested in discovering new values and meanings previously unknown.

In addition to this spectacular installation, RIBA will also house a collection of Le Corbusier furniture, which will be a platform to highlight the special Cassina/Corbusier relationship.


Exhibitions:
Le Corbusier's Cabanon 1952/2006 - The Interior 1:1
Le Corbusier – il Maestro: An Exhibition of Furniture from Cassina
from March 5 to April 28 2009
RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects)
Florence Hall and Gallery 1, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD, UK

Book:
Le Corbusier. L’Interno del Cabanon
edited by Filippo Alison, published by Electa
Royal Institute of Architects, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD, UK

tags: modern architecture, exhibitions, wood, Cassina, Le Corbusier, furniture
designers: Le Corbusier
producers: Cassina
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Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future

The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts jointly present this first major museum retrospective of architect Eero Saarinen’s short but prolific career. Saarinen was one of the most celebrated, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture. In many ways he was the architect of what has been dubbed “the American century,” the post-World War II era when the United States emerged as an influential world superpower.

   

Eero Saarinen, IBM Manufacturing and Training Facility, Rochester, Minnesota, circa 1958
Photographer Balthazar Korab © Balthazar Korab Ltd

Although Saarinen’s most iconic and publicly recognizable design is the soaring Gateway Arch in St. Louis, his work spanned many different areas of architectural practice, including the design of airports, corporate and academic campuses, churches and private residences, and furniture. Although criticized by his peers at the time for having a different style for each project, Saarinen rejected the dogma of an orthodox modernism and instead adopted a varied approach to architectural design, letting the subject and site guide his inventive solutions. His resulting body of work includes such masterpieces as the sweeping concrete curves of the TWA Terminal (1956–1962) at New York’s JFK Airport; the grandeur of General Motors Technical Center (1948–1956), dubbed an “industrial Versailles” by the media; and the iconic Womb Chair and Ottoman (1946–1948) or the innovative Pedestal (1954–1957) series of tables and chairs, both for Knoll and all classics of mid-century modernism.

 

Eero Saarinen, TWA Terminal, New York Int. (now John F. Kennedy Int.) Airport, New York, circa 1962 - Photographer Balthazar Korab © Balthazar Korab Ltd.
United States Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, Missouri, under construction, 1965 - From the Collections of Arteaga Photos Ltd.

Featured in the exhibition are never-before-seen sketches, working drawings, models, photographs, furnishings, films, and other ephemera from various archives and private collections. Exploring his entire output of more than 50 built and unbuilt projects, it provides a unique opportunity to consider Saarinen’s innovations in the use of new materials, technologies, and construction techniques within the larger context of postwar modern architecture.

In this collaborative presentation, the Walker Art Center will feature Saarinen’s furnishings and residences as well as his designs for churches and academic and corporate campuses, while the Minneapolis Institute of Arts will present his designs for airports, memorials, and embassies, as well as his early work within the context of its modernist design collection.

Eero Saarinen with A Combined Living-Dining-Room-Study project model, created for Architectural Forum magazine,  circa 1937 -  Photographer unknown - Courtesy Eero Saarinen Collection. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University

Eero Saarinen, Patent drawing for pedestal chairs, June 7, 1960     Courtesy Eero Saarinen Collection. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University
Eero Saarinen, Deere and Company Administrative Center, Moline, Illinois, circa 1963 - Photographer Harold Corsini - Courtesy Eero Saarinen Collection. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University

Eero Saarinen, Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, circa 1957                                   Photographer Ezra Stoller © Ezra Stoller/ESTO


A catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

The Walker Art Center, Target Gallery
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, U.S. Bank Gallery

From September 13, 2008 to January 4, 2009

tags: modern architecture, Eero Saarinen, exhibitions, Knoll
designers: Eero Saarinen
producers: Knoll
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Le Corbusier Le Grand

Phaidon has released a dramatically oversized book, a spectacular visual biography of the life and work of Le Corbusier (1887–1965), one of Modernism's most influential architects, urban planners, and theorists.

With approximately 2,000 images and documents, many previously unpublished, feature his major built works, urban plans, paintings, publications, and furniture as well as sketches, archival photographs, and personal correspondence.

The rarely seen photographs and correspondence shed new light on Le Corbusier’s relationships with Josephine Baker, Eileen Gray, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Prouvé, and many others. 

Le Corbusier was not only the creator of some of the most important and impressive buildings of the last century--Villa Savoye at Poissy, the Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp, the capitol complex in Chandigarh, India--he was also an accomplished painter, sculptor, furniture designer, urbanist, and author. His work and social theories continue to be a dominant force in the world of architecture and design, while his elegant bearing, bow tie, and round black eyeglasses are still today a signature look for architects around the world.

The book includes an insightful introductory essay by France’s most authoritative architectural historian and critic, Jean-Louis Cohen, and incisive chapter introductions by highly regarded Le Corbusier scholar Tim Benton.

All images courtesy Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris 

tags: modern architecture, Le Corbusier, books
designers: Le Corbusier
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Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling

'Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling' is both a survey of the past, present and future of the prefabricated home and a building project on New York's Museum of Modern Art's vacant west lot. Not since the mid-century House in the Garden series has MoMA built occupiable model buildings to demonstrate contemporary issues to the public.

Front cover image: Pieces of a Lustron Westchester prior to installation © Arnold Newman/Getty Images

The fives homes erected on the outdoor space to the west of the Museum building are designed by Kieran Timberlake Associates (Philadelphia); Jeremy Edmiston and Douglas Gauthier (New York); Horden Cherry Lee Architects / Haack + Höpfner Architects (London/Munich); Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Planning / Associate Professor Lawrence Sass (Cambridge); and Oskar Leo Kaufmann (Dornbirn, Austria).

The exhibition, and its accompanying website, display the process of architectural design and production in equal measure with the actual end result. Within the gallery, eighty-four architectural projects spanning 180 years are presented by means of film, architectural models, original drawings and blueprints, fragments, photographs, patents, games, sales materials and propaganda, toys, and partial reconstructions. This diverse collection of material illustrates how the prefabricated house has been, and continues to be, not only a reflection on the house as a replicable object of design but also a critical agent in the discourse of sustainability, architectural invention, and new material and formal research.

Cellophane House designed in 1984 by KieranTimberlake Associates (Philadelphia)
© 2008 Kieran Timberlake Architects

Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans designed in 2004 by Lawrence Sass (Cambridge) © 2008 Lawrence Sass

Burst House designed in 2008 by Jeremy Edmiston and Douglas Gauthier (New York)
© 2008 Floto + Warner

System3 House designed in 2008 by Oskar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Rüf (Dornbirn, Austria) © 2008 Oskar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Rüf

Micro Compact Home designed in 2001 by Horden Cherry Lee Architects / Haack + Höpfner Architects (London/Munich) © 2008 Sascha Kletzsch

Exhibition from July 20 to October 20, 2008
MoMA, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Gallery, sixth floor - New York
West lot (outdoor space to the west of the Museum building)

tags: modern architecture, contemporary architecture, outdoor, exhibitions
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On the Forum

If you are familiar with Design Addict, you surely noticed that there are a lot of talented people who express their opinion and questioning in our Forum. We have decided, every now and then, to draw your attention on subjects which seems to us worthy of interest.

So here are the subjects of this week:

Real Estate and Design

Is High Concept Engineering Eclipsing Design in Architecture?

And another one just for fun: laughably crap replica

 Picture by Brent

tags: modern architecture, contemporary architecture, forum, furniture, essays
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Louis Kahn's Esherick house

Wright Auction house will be auctioning Louis Kahn's Esherick house located just outside of Philadelphia. The house stands as one of the most important houses realized by Kahn throughout his career, and is the first residence to illustrate his mature architectural ideals. The house will be offered in Wright's Important Design sale with an estimate of $2-3 million.

Wright has commissioned artist Todd Eberle to create an original photographic essay that elaborately documents the Esherick house with Eberle's exactness and astounding understanding of architectural spaces. From abstract details that show the perfection of the construction to sweeping shots of the stunning elevations, the images showcase Kahn and Eberle's shared affinities for the subtleties of space and light.

Photos ©2008 Todd Eberle

 

Read More...

tags: modern architecture, auction
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Jean Prouvé's Tropical House in London

 

The Design Museum, in partnership with Tate Modern, brings a house designed by architectural visionary Jean Prouvé to Britain for the first time. The prototype house, designed by the French architect Jean Prouvé (1901-1984), for 1950s colonial West Africa, has been erected outside Tate Modern as an extension of the Design Museum’s current exhibition Jean Prouvé 'The Poetics of the Technical Object'.

Fashion photographer Ben Rayner has taken many pictures of the reconstruction of the modular pre-fabricated house.









 

Visit the 'Maison Tropicale for the Design Museum' at Tate Modern, London
from February 5 to April 13 2008
 


Exhibition: Jean Prouvé 'The Poetics of the Technical Object' at the Design Museum, London
from December 7 2007 to April 13 2008

tags: modern architecture, exhibitions, Jean Prouvé
designers: Jean Prouvé
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Modern gingerbread house

Every bit as edible as the original, this isn't your grandma's gingerbread house. Red Envelope gave the classic holiday treat a mid-century makeover, complete with garage and rock garden. A sure-fire conversation piece.

tags: modern architecture, food, new products, kids
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D+
Paula Grace, 2 days ago:
"These furnishings are so elegant ans sleek. What a wonderful find."

Water Damage Kansas, 4 days ago:
"such a awesome design! <3 Lindsay"

Cabriel Loxley, 6 days ago:
"That is a very nice design for sure!"

George G, on June 28:
"I'd love an original!"

bj, on June 27:
"Does anybody know the guys who did the wall-stickers in the first photo? It's very similar to what w..."

dave, on June 24:
"love the plastic furniture of Slide.it Best regards."

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