A plea for moderism

A Plea For Modernism from Evan Mather on Vimeo.

Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture

Treehotel, Sweden

An eco-based design hotel concept, each “room” is wonderfully individual with stunning design and even better views. With the plan to build 24 new treehouses over 5 years, a handful are already in place, and miles from civilisation offering the perfect, isolated getaway, just a touch south of the Arctic Circle. Although the nearby Britta’s Guesthouse, run by the owners of Treehotel, will serve up breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offers a spa, TV, internet, and a bunch of other home comforts you probably should go without. Pick of the bunch, the Mirrorcube, will set you back SEK4200 (around £420) a night, for two, which is somehow worth it.

Turkel House, Detroit

With the Turkel House we come full-circle in Usonian design, Wright considered La Miniatura the first Usonian home. The group of four California block houses were all two or more stories high, but the homes most historian call Usonian are, with rare exceptions single–story dwellings. Thus, this, the only built example of a two–story Usonian house is of special interest. It features a square block, twice the height of the Kalil house, preserving a proper sense of scale for the larger structure. Many different block forms were required, including a special fascia block and a fascia corner block used only for that purpose. The living room which Wright called a music room, is a full two stories in height and has pierced, light-admitting blocks on two sides, each 16 inches or two-thirds the 24-inch grid.

Mrs. Turkel’s study, the master bedroom, and four other bedrooms, plus three bathrooms and a balcony fit over the lower level workspace, dining laundry, utility, and playroom plus exterior terrace in what was originally an in-line configuration. Six months into the planning Mrs. Turkel wrote to Wright saying she needed another bedroom. The L shape was added. As built, the L was shortened and made two stories high. The main level was extended into an L with a playroom on the lower level and a boy’s bedroom and maid’s room on the second floor. The use of these two rooms is now a dressing room and master bath suitable for modern living, but true to the Wright style. Robert Pond supervised construction from drawings prepared by John H. Howe. The house took two years to complete and Mrs. Turkel moved in February 1958.

Following Dorothy Turkel’s departure in 1978, the house was sold to Loretta Benbow. Mrs. Benbow was responsible for getting local historic designation known as the Turkel-Benbow historic district. Turkel House is also on the State of Michigan Register of Historic Homes. After Mrs. Benbow the house passed into the hands of several owners and fell on hard times, going through long periods of vacancy and years of deferred maintenance.

The current owners plan to return the Turkel house to it original 1955 appearance with improvements to mechanical systems allowing for modern living. For more about this remarkable residence see this article

Turkel House, Detroit

We love Gio Ponti

I have built a hotel in Sorrento” wrote Gio Ponti “And, although there wasn't really any need, I wanted each of the hundred rooms to have a different majolica pattern on the floor". Besides, architects, especially the more imaginative ones like Gio Ponti, never do anything out of need, but are guided by a stronger and less tangible instinct. And so, inspired both by the legend of Villa Cortchacow and by the breathtaking countryside and seascapes, Gio Ponti conceived and created that jewel which is the Hotel Parco dei Principi on the enchanting Sorrentine coast, between the blue sky and the azure sea: white and blue outside and... white and blue inside, with white and blue fabrics, walls, glasses and tableware, the colours of the sky and the sea, and one hundred splendid majolica floors in the same colours but all different from one another.