Micro home invades NYC

Micro Compact Home at MOMA - part of the upcoming exhibition - HOME DELIVERY: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling which opens in 9 days. Here's what the house looks like in a rural setting

Candy Coloured Palace

In an Oxford garden

Zaha Hadid Architects designs for an extension to the Middle East Centre at St Anthony’s College, in the garden plot that separates 68 and 66-64 Woodstock Road, Oxford, UK.

The Middle East Centre was founded in 1957 and it is focused on research on humanities and social sciences with a wide reference to the Arab World and its geographic adjacencies. The Centre research core is a specialized library and substantial paper and photographic archive covering material from 1800’s onwards.

Khan unsold

Whilst the Neutra Kaufmann house sold for it's lowest estimate of 15 million (no where close to it's high of 25 million) the 1959-1961 Louis Kahn designed ESHERICK HOUSE located in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania failed to reach it's $2-3 million estimate. A relief surely to Mr. and Mrs. Burnap Post who bought the house from from Margaret Esherick in 1964 - after only four years in it ! and sold it in 1981 to a doctor for a sum far far lower than it's estimate.

David Adjaye said of the house "As a student I was always mesmerized by its playful graphic geometry of the windows and the deceptive simplicity of its plan. It was a real surprise to see the care and joy of the materials still very much intact and it being lived in as I’m sure Kahn would have approved. There were two particularly ecstatic moments for me. Firstly was ascending the beautifully crafted, Japanese- or Shaker-esque, staircase with its simple timber balustrade, which overlooks the living room. The second was opening the shutter of the window in the library where knowledge and nature seemed to freeze into one image. The Esherick House is definitely one of Kahn’s most important works which defined lessons he’d go on to use in later projects."

Unbuilt Adjaye

Continuing our architectural Sunday here's some pictures of Adjaye Associates unbuilt house for Brad Pitt's New Orleans project Make it Right.

Neutra's Kaufmann House hits the block

Architect Richard Neutra’s 1946 Kaufmann House, in Palm Springs, California is seen as an icon of modern houses built for the same Pittsburgh department-store magnate who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build Fallingwater. No surprise then that the house is probably going to sell to another over-stuffed wallet (and sadly not a museum) with Christie's Auction house tagging the home with a $15 million to $25 million estimate. Square footage:3,200 / Lot size:2.1 acres / Bedrooms:5 / Baths:5.5. Above photos are by Julius Shulman (seen in the last photo above) and Juergen Nogai. Below are some less stylized shots. Really digging that yellow shelf.





In 2003 Sotheby's sold Mies van der Rohe’s 1951 Farnsworth House for $7.5 million. In June 2007, Jean Prouvé's 1951 Maison Tropicale sold at Christie's for $4.97 million. Personally I feel this house should become a museum rather than be sold to the highest bidder. A funny fact about the Kaufmann house is it was once owned by Barry Manilow. The current version of the house was revitalized by Architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner (see Radziner's own kitchen in the post below)





"Shaping man's surroundings entails a lot more than spatial, structural, mechanical, and other technical considerations—certainly a lot more than pontificating about matters of style. Our organic well-being is dependent on a wholesome, salubrious environment. Therefore exacting attention has to be paid to our intricate sensory world." Richard Neutra

Desert Life

Abandoned five-star hotel developments in Egypt - from the Vienna exhibition Sinai Hotels curated by Haubitz+Zoche

Outdoor In

House A (2005)
Ryue Nishizawa

80 sq m in Shibuya

The Yoyogi house designed by two-year-old practice frontofficetokyo. Check out the building process