Modern Farmhouse

Modern farmhouse sounds like an oxymoron, but I've seen more than a few great looking modernist takes on the American homestead. One of my favorites is Farmhouse One, by the architecture firm of Durkee, Brown, Viveiros and Werenfels. It's a simple, traditionally inspired Rhode Island farmhouse with modern twists. Take a look.




And if you're in to modern farmhouses you'll also be pleased to know there's a great blog dedicated to the genre - the appropriately named Farmhouse Modern. It's definitely worth a look (I found it on the LiveModern Blog Directory, where Future House Now is also listed).

If you want to completely overdose on cool modern farmhouses, pick up the book Farm Houses: The New Style by Neill Heath. It features the houses I mentioned above, and many more, in 185 full color pages. Great book.



Image credits - Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels site, Amazon.com Listing

Modern North

A week ago or so the good folks at DO Research posted a nice pic of a new weeHouse they drove by. I think it must be the Oeschger house shown on the Alchemy site. Sure looks like it.

I've never been to the Twin Cities but it occurs to me that most of my favorite modernist architecture and related firms and websites are based there:

DO Research - A favorite Minneapolis-based modernist blog
rosenlof/lucas - the hippest modern landscaping duo going, with a cool blog to boot
Alchemy Architects - you cannot resist the appeal of their weeHouses
Flatpak - I drool over these Eamesish beauties
City Desk Studio - recently in Dwell, awesome Skyway Retreat
Bark Design - I'm in love with Doris
Hive Modular - The B-Line is an instant classic modern prefab

What is it about Minnesota????? So much good stuff is coming out of there right now. It makes me want to move. I think a weekend trip to finally see the Twin Cities is in order.

Cool Modern Homes from Bark Design

I have an announcement to make. I'm in love with Doris. Actually, I should point out that Doris is not a woman, Doris is a house. And she's beautiful.

Doris is the work of Bark Design, a firm with a modern bent that FHN reader Mike was kind enough to point out (thanks again, Mike!). Doris is swell gal, with lots of attractive features. In particular, I adore her flat roof, her expansive banks of windows - and she's got a carport! Oh, I really like carports.




Doris also has a wonderful floor plan with possibly the greatest kitchen in the world - made so by the overhead door out to the patio. It incorporates a screen that can be rolled down when the door is up to keep bugs out while letting breezes flow. Perfecto! My wife would love that.





Doris has a brother, Boris, and a good friend in Leroy G. Cooper.




Here are a few pics Bark shared with me of the Burbank, another model that isn't shown on their site yet. I really like the window placement on this house - it looks like it has pretty good solar orientation.





I must say, I find a whole lot to like aesthetically about Bark's homes. There's definitely a signature style with the flat roofs, carports, window arrangements and the way outdoor living spaces are approached. But what I like most is their attitude and approach to bringing modern homes to the market. I e-mailed Bark, and was very impressed with what they had to say about their direction.

"We are a team consisting of a developer, architect, and
contractor who were getting frustrated by the dismissive response to
modern design by clients and real estate professionals in our area,
so we decided to do our own thing with incredibly positive results.

We couldn't understand why people would seek out the latest design
and technology in cars, electronics, etc., but new builder/spec. home
construction seemed to be stuck in the year 1900. How many people
would go to a store for a new computer and happily walk out with a
univac the size of a refrigerator that only did addition and
subtraction? Yet people were making a similar decision every day with
a new home. We just didn't get it.

So, we design and build homes that respond and complement modern
life, are extremely efficient in terms of energy, space, livability,
constructability, and are affordable."

I've had exactly those same thoughts for a long time. I like what Bark is doing, and they must be hitting the mark - they have seven projects "on the board" for 2008!

Very exciting!

Image credits - Bark Design

Felix Jerusalem's Stroh Haus

I complained the other day about not having seen anything really interesting in a while, and then my buddy Justin at Materialicio.us answers the call with this amazing find - the Stroh Haus by Swiss architect Felix Jerusalem. This home has several things going for it that really appeal to me. First, it has a simple, clean plan. Second, that green exterior is my favorite color. Third, I am fascinated with translucent panels, and the Stroh Haus uses them as exterior sheathing to groovy effect. Lastly, the house utilizes a really interesting type of construction material - straw pre-formed into structural elements. That's a slick approach that ought to have some legs.








Thanks Juzz!

Image credits - Stroh Haus site

Greg La Vardera's Dream Will Come True!

Finally, someone is building Greg La Vardera's intriguing Porch House plan. I always pictured this house in my home state, Michigan, as a summer camp on a lake up north, but this one is being built in Texas! It sounds like a neat project, one with some nice green touches, and the possible addition of a Plat House down the road. Nice.



Via Materialicio.us (here and here).

Image credit - LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog

Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office's House t

I hate to say it, but I haven't spotted anything really interesting in a while that I wanted to post on. Yes, things have been going on. I check my feed readers every day, I see them. But I've sort of found it to be more of the same. Nothing really turned my head.

Finally, I saw something that sparked a little daydreaming again, which is really what I'm after. It's "House t" by Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office (HAO) of Tokyo, Japan. Of course, it's Japanese. Is there any place in the world that produces more unique, original, thought provoking houses than Japan? NO WAY!





The approach to a second story and the division of spaces in the home is totally different. I get lost just looking at the roof line and the placement of the windows. It's bright, clean and sculptural in a way that only Japanese houses are.

Via Things Magazine (October 3rd, 2007)

Image credits - HAO site

Bare Hill Barn House

Without question, the coolest thing about doing Future House Now has been hearing from people who share my interest in better family homes, modern design, and greener living. I really didn't expect that when I started blogging but it's definitely got me hooked. And sometimes I'm fortunate enough to hear from someone who already took the plunge and is building their modern dream home.

That was the case again this week when I got an e-mail from Ben, who pointed me to his site, Bare Hill Barn House. Ben's blog chronicles his very cool project of dismantling, moving and then transforming a once forgotten barn into a totally hip modernist house.

What a fabulous study in recycling and reclamation. America is dotted with old barns, full of big hardwood timbers you can only buy at very high prices today. I really enjoy seeing someone make good use of these materials. There's an old barn not too far from where I live and every time I pass by it I look at those heavy oak beams and think "hmmm ... what if." Ben and his family have taken that idea to reality, and with a modernist twist.

Ben's site is really great. He does a wonderful job telling the story of what it's like to take on a project like this. He has lot of thoughtful posts about the nature of the project and some of the choices they've made, as well as the inspiration behind it. And besides seeing pics of the house's progress you'll also find video as well as great links to barn home resources.

Ben and his family should be in before year end. I know I'll be following along on Ben's site, watching as things progress. I can't wait to see the finished home!

By the way, Ben is working with JASONOAH Design Build on this project. The firm does some really unique and interesting work. Their theme is "designing and building for healthy, inspirational living." You can't beat that. Very nice. It's awesome to see yet another firm promoting great green design. Definitely check their site, especially their Chatham House. Really nice.

Image credits - Bare Hill Barn House site and JASONOAH Design Build for elevations and renderings (copyright).

745 Navy For Sale [sigh]

One of my dream homes is for sale. Sadly, it's in California, is listed for $849k, and only has one bedroom and one bathroom - while I live in Michigan with a family of four and a budget smaller than a postage stamp.

The luscious 745 Navy is on the market. Here are a few pics from the real estate site Curbed LA, and a few more from The Value of Architecture - Los Angeles, a site that showcases architectural properties with the goal of raising awareness of the value of good design. For the best pics, though, check out this excellent slide show from Bulldog Realtors.




745 Navy is a bright and breezy little bungalow of just 700 square feet. It's clean and casual. Just look at that translucent wall! Amazing! I just love that. I also like the concrete floors, the funky carpet treatment in the bedroom, and the fact that it's a remodel of an existing home. It's the kind of place I can easily imagine myself living in.

However, it's not quite the kind of place I can imagine my wife and two kids living in with me, although apparently there's an existing, approved plan for a two-story addition! But for now I think I'll just have to be impressed with it's sunny, groovy design and store away a few ideas for another day.

Tom Kundig's Sublime House - "The Brain"

On Saturday I was hanging around the architecture section of my local Barnes & Noble, looking for something new. I found a nice book on houses by Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects. I also just caught this post on Shedworking covering several of the firm's brilliant cabin-like houses.

Tom Kundig: Houses

I resisted buying the book, though I'd really like to have it. It's very nice and Kundig's work is amazing. The house on the cover, Chicken Point Cabin, has been shown everywhere, and for good reason. It's pretty spectacular, and that giant, tilting window and the unusual mechanical folly for opening it are sublime.


Visiting the OSKA site, I found that the house I liked most wasn't one of the groovy cabins I'd spotted in a lot of the blogs and architecture mags. I was taken by the "The Brain," a fascinating concrete monolith built for a filmmaker.

"The form is essentially a cast-in-place concrete box, intended to be a strong yet neutral background that provides complete flexibility to adapt the space at will." - OSKA site

That's wonderful. I love the way the house rests on its site, half hidden, with creeping vines growing all over it. I hate big ugly garages hanging off the side of a house, parasitic, distorting proportions, so I was delighted to see this house with the garages tucked neatly underneath, buried into the slope of the landscape. No yard either - excellent!



The austere concrete exterior belies a more playful space inside: wonderful bookshelves (just look at 'em!), interesting lighting, a fireman's pole, and an amusing custom staircase.




Yes, this is a house I can see myself living in. The only exception I take with it, and with most Kundig houses frankly, is that they all look like bachelor pads. I'm married with children. But I think the wife and kids could adapt. Who wouldn't want to live in a house with a fireman's pole?

_____________________________________________________
Addendum:

I should have pointed out this very good Seattle Times article about "The Brain." I've realized since writing this post that "The Brain" is a garage/studio, not intended to be a residence. Thanks to those who left comments pointing that out. It is also worth noting that Kundig received an AIA award for "The Brain" in 2004.

Oh well, even though it's not technically a house I'm still very inspired by it!

Image credits - Amazon listing (book), OSKA Architects site

More Case Study Love - Rapson Greenbelt by Wieler

As I've said in recent posts, I've fallen really hard for the Case Study Houses. I like the Eames' CSH#8 a lot, yes, but I'm probably most drawn to the simplicity of the never-built CSH#4 by Ralph Rapson. It's just two simple rectangles, one for public spaces and one for private spaces, simultaneously separated and connected by an atrium. Every room is offered a view of nature, and the flow of the occupants is affected by its extreme proximity to the otherwise totally man made industrial space. Rapson named the house "The Greenbelt" after the organic space formed between the two structural boxes.

Look at this illustration of the home, featured on a cover from Architecture magazine (March '05):




I love the commuter chopper. Even in the early post-WWII days, sprawl and the disconnectedness of suburbia were on the architect's mind. I guess back then the answer seemed obvious. A Jeep, the original fashion/lifestyle vehicle, first SUV, toy of new wealth in a prospering nation, resides in the driveway ready for fun weekends. Despite modern trappings, Wifey is hanging clothes to dry on a line outside. I still remember when my grandparents, people of that generation, hung their clothes out. The last time I saw that anywhere was probably over twenty years ago. I bet it would come back into fashion today as a green alternative to the energy consumed by clothes dryers, except that subdivision association bylaws wouldn't stand for it for a minute. Carports should come back in style too. I hate garages.

As I said, the Greenbelt was never built. Was it too weird? I can't believe it was. I wonder what the story was, why it wasn't built, even when so many Case Study Homes were. I like it. It's the kind of simple yet fascinating house I go for.

You can have one now, sort of. Wieler makes prefab "Rapson Greenbelts," in many different versions, inspired by the original CSH#4, and actually designed by the man himself, and his firm, Rapson Architects. Rapson, a native Michigander like me, is alive and active as ever at age ninety-three.

Here are a couple of looks at Wieler's Rapsons:








They're not quite as groovy as the original. The greenspace is toned down considerably, turned into a regular room in the house, and the simplicity of the original is kind of gone. Still, I like them. They look very bright and clean. My favorite is the split level version, though I'd still rather live in the original CSH#4 design.

I suggest that if you build one you also invest in a very appropriate Rapson Rocker. It's almost as cool as my beloved Eames.




And definitely get yourself a "Ralph" model modern birdhouse to place outside your kitchen window. No Wieler Greenbelt would be complete without one. Even a humble sparrow deserves to live in stylish modern digs.




It's great to see the Case Study legacy live on, in any form. It's even better to see the original architect still involved in bringing great design to life. Ralph Rapson does rule!!!!

Image credits - all images from Wieler site

Invoking Eames - Take Two - LaMiDesign's Steel Case House

A few days ago I was daydreaming of the Eames House and posted up some newer homes that give me the same vibe. I mentioned the 6040 and 6030 EcoSteel houses designed by Greg La Vardera, but somehow I overlooked his Steel Case House. I wanted to bring it to the attention of all you Eames fans out there, because Greg directly references CSH#8 as a point of reference for this design:

The Steel Case House has emerged out of requests from early visitors to the site for a steel house that was a "simple box". This request has been repeated many times. For inspiration we turned to the Case Study houses built in the late 1940s and 50s by Arts and Architecture magazine. Case Study house number 8, the Eames House is probably the quintessential "simple steel box" and is a point of inspiration for this design. When the Case Study houses were built it was hoped that the industrial might of the US built up during WW2 could now turn to producing modern houses of standardized industrial components at a scale that would make them affordable. As we all know that industry never materialized, and stick framed houses remain the status quo. We see this design as an evolution of the Case Study goals. By combining readily available residential building components with a simple steel frame we hope to arrive at a hybrid that makes the house easier to realize.

This image of the house takes me right where my mind's eye wants to go ...




... and I like the floor plan too.




The interior spaces are really roomy for a house of 2,000 square feet. It looks like it would live much bigger than its footprint. Not too many houses that size have three bedrooms and a double height living room. There's a more intimate nook off the main living area too, just like the Eames House. And I really, really like the roomy kitchen and dining space. I could go with this plan with very few changes.





With tons of glass on three sides, this house was meant for a site with good views - maybe not urban infill lots. If you think this design might not be appropriate for your cold climate (like mine in Detroit) take comfort in the fact that there's a SIPS version with much more insulating value in the walls - around R30. And if the steel frame isn't your thing there's also a another version called the Timber Case House that utilizes engineered lumber members. Additionally, the Amount of windows can also be varied to suit the climate and site conditions for optimum energy efficiency. A very well thought out home by Greg, and an option I personally would seriously consider.

The legacy of the Case Study Homes and Eames is very much alive and well!

Image credits - LaMiDesign

Thinking of Eames ... Retro Modern Groove In Newer Designs

I'm really in to the Case Study Houses right now. My favorites are the simple ones like CSH#4 (which never got built) and CSH#21. But the more I think about what I want in a place for my family though, the more I start leaning toward something roomier like the the Eames House, CSH#8. I'm also inspired by the sort of retro vibe at DO Research, which always makes me think of the Eames. And I always really dug the Eames furniture, all of it, in a big way.

This documentary short by the Charles and Ray Eames gives you the spirit of the house:





A lot of recent designs evoke the Eames' groove:

Flatpak House from Lazor Office (images from the Flickr set)







EcoContempo 6030 and 6040 by Lavardera (images from LamiDesign Blog) - Greg, leave us a comment - were you inspired by Eames?





Royal Homes Muskoka Modern (images from Royal Homes site). By the way, nice mudroom. My chief gripe about most modern homes - no good entry for muddy feet. Come to Detroit in February and see what I mean.







I'd have said, "build me a house around this ..."

Image credit - Design Within Reach

... but Eames already did. And any one of these three new designs would do the trick too.

Tezuka Architects "House to Catch the Sunlight"

At the suggestion of Jeffrey Pena, who just finished an apprenticeship at Tezuka Architects in Japan, I took a look at the firm's "House to Catch the Sunlight." You can read Jeffrey's comments in this post. He made some great remarks about families staying connected in smaller, smarter homes. He held up this tiny, 282 square-foot marvel as a perfect example of a home that has only what you need, yet lacks nothing, and through great design lives large and well.








This house definitely has that signature Tezuka style - clean, casual, natural. The public spaces are upstairs, while the private spaces are on the lower floor. I love the very simple treatment of the bedroom - meditative. The built-in storage keeps objects out of sight and helps make the space feel larger than it is. The placement of windows for play of light is masterful.

Jeffrey closed his comment with "We need to think about making our homes not keep us captive." Well said. That strikes a chord with me. The reason I do this blog is because I really believe that what we live in affects how we live, and that most American homes don't enhance our living experience, and can actually be a burden to us. I'm a huge fan of Tezuka Architects for creating great homes that function beautifully, with an economy that results in purity of purpose. Truly, in Japanese spirit, the limitation becomes the strength. Brilliant.

Jeffrey, thanks for your comment, and for pointing out this wonderful home.

Image credit - Tezuka Architects site

Soren Korsgaard's Woven House

I was looking at Soren Korsgaard's MySpace page. His mood is "happy," he thinks TV is "all crap!" (except for The Office), and his Zodiac sign is Aquarius. He's single. He's six feet tall. His architecture is brilliant.

Soren's MySpace page showcases his work, and has some things I hadn't seen on his website. In particular, I was immediately taken with his Woven House concept.





I asked him about it. He said:

Concept

A house designed as a showcase to promote bamboo as sustainable building material, must be unusual and eye-catching.

Bamboo has been used for making everything from kitchenware to buildings for thousands of years in most Asian countries. Among the many beautiful methods of treating bamboo, highly sophisticated weaving techniques have been developed. Woven house is an attempt to take this tradition and use it in modern architecture and in a much larger scale than anyone have ever seen before. Birds are using weaving for making their nest from materials in their habitats.

Using the unique flexibility and strength of bamboo for weaving a vacation house, that appears futuristic and dynamic and gives a unique architectural experience, where walls, floors and ceiling is one continuously surface, that also can be shaped into sitting areas and shelves.

The woven bamboo surface can be a closed surface or open to let in light.

Location:

Can be anywhere in south – and Southeast Asia. Vietnam, China, India, Indonesia. Most importantly in an area where there is a tradition of weaving bamboo, and on a site where Bamboo is growing, so less transport is needed, meaning less impact on nature.

Construction:

Heat shaped construction bamboo is used for making the framework of the building.

Roof is covered with bamboo shingles. Internal walls, floor and ceiling is woven bamboo. And in between there is lots of space for insulation.

It's a nest. For people. Soren, dude, you're blowing me away. That's totally cool.

I only hope a Panda Bear won't eat it. The big, bad wolf has nothing on a hungry Panda.

Great Green Home in British Columbia - The Andrew Powter House

Today I got a huge boost - something to get me posting again! I was so excited to receive a nice e-mail from a reader of this blog, Andrew Powter, who has been kind enough to share with me images of his own house. It's being built in British Columbia, Canada, and Andrew is hoping to break ground later this month!

Take a look at how cool this place is:









But the house isn't just a flashy modern pad, it's loaded with environmentally conscious design features, such as:

• Reclaimed cedar siding
• Concrete floors with hydronic radiant heat
• Recessed compact fluorescent lighting
• Ecosmart fireplace
• Double glazed windows
• Construction with insulated concrete forms
  
• Low-flow toilets, faucets and showers
• On-demand hot water heating
• Good passive solar heat gain
  

Nice, huh! This is a very inspiring home. That's such a good list of green features, and all things that can be incorporated into any style home, anywhere. This home is a great model for the way we should be building all homes.

Andrew is the homeowner. He's working with Mark Simone of Dynamedia. Take a look at the portfolio on their site. Some nice stuff. Some real talent there.

Well, I just feel great. Andrew, thanks so much for sharing these pics and letting me post them up! I can't wait to see how your house progresses. It looks great and you've done a fantastic job including green elements in your home.

Image credits - Andrew Powter

Architecture Week on Materialicio.us

Click on over to my buddy Justin's site, materialicio.us, where he's having architecture week! He's been posting up some great houses, many of my favorites, but several I haven't seen before. I really, really, really like this one, the Box House by Nicholas Murcutt.




I can soooo see myself in this picture <sigh>. Nice.

Image credit - NY Times article

Layers Man, Layers - The Amazing Wall House by Frohn & Rojas

I'm so tired of living in a regular American house - 2,200 square feet, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, study, basement - blah, blah, blah . When I see something really different I get excited. I am so blown away by this house in Chile by FAR - Frohn & Rojas that I saw on Your Abode .... Environmentality. The Wall House defies convention in so many ways. It's one of the most impressively different and innovative homes I've seen yet.





I really can't describe it any better than what FAR has written on their site:

"Suburban residence. As opposed to the general notion that our living environments can be properly described and designed “in plan”, this project is a design investigation into how the qualitative aspects of the wall, as a complex membrane, structure our social interactions and climatic relationships and enable specific ecologies to develop. The project breaks down the “traditional” walls of a house into a series of four delaminated layers ( concrete cave, stacked shelving, milky shell, soft skin ) in between which the different spaces of the house slip. From the inside out the layers build upon one another, both materially and geometrically, blurring the boundary between the interior and the exterior and creating, through the specificity of the different materials used (many of which are not common in architectural applications), a series of qualitatively distinct environments. The building's most standout feature, an energy screen typically used in greenhouse construction, constitutes the outermost layer, creating not only a diffused lighting and comfortably climatized zone inside but also, through its folding and sometimes- reflective/sometimes-translucent surface, contributes to the diamond-cut appearance of the structure."

Suburban residence?????? Not in my neighborhood, unfortunately. I applaud the approach, the originality, the materials, the style, the unconventional take. Just out of this world cool.










I love the idea of layers. That's something different for a house. It works for clothing, it should work for a house too. I don't think the outer "soft skin" would last long in a Michigan winter. But I don't know why we can't build a house that can adapt and change more for the seasons with multiple layers, maybe some that are removable/retractable/reconfigurable to respond to different climate conditions for different times of the year. Why just have one wall system that has to do it all, all the time? Something to think about.

The Wall House is something really different and very intriguing. I'm still continually amazed by how many unique solutions there are to the problem of housing, and I'm hopeful that we'll open our minds to the possibilities.

Via Your Abode .... Environmentality.

Image credits - FAR site

Greg La Vardera's Work and Stock Modernist Plans Featured by New York Times

Today is a banner day, as architect Greg La Vardera's work and his excellent Vermont Plat House have been featured by the New York Times in the Great Homes section. It's a nice article about great architects who bring quality design to stock home plans, plans you can buy right on the Internet.

Greg does awesome modernist homes. I've mentioned the Vermont Plat House several times on this site. It's a modification of the standard Plat House plan, shown here. What can I say, beautiful house, great plan, amazing look. Soooo cool. It's little wonder this plan is a huge hit.





Here are a couple of other homes from his stock plans that I really like:

The Tray House - really nice floorplan. Absolutely nothing missing in this plan. I'm super picky about floorplans and yet I can't find any faults with it. This house would easily fit right in any suburban neighborhood, where I think modernist houses actually look out of place because everything else looks so McMansionish (at least here in Detroit), and where they are often - sadly - not welcomed by suspicious and closed-minded neighbors and their evil homeowners' associations. I don't mean to insult the design by saying it could fit in such an environment, I just mean this home has a very universal appeal (and as such is very appropriately categorized in Greg's "Zeitgeist House Group" of plans).






The Cube House - a cool three-story design. Another great plan, packing five bedrooms and a study in 2400 square feet! If you have big family this could be a great option. What kid wouldn't want to have one of those rooms on the third floor? I could also fulfill my Star Trek fantasy of belonging to the Borg Collective (where do I plug myself in?). Just kidding - I really love this house. I think I can safely say it's my personal favorite.






There are many others, and Greg introduces new ones from time to time. Check out his Modern House Plans site to see more. And don't miss Greg's great blog for lots of updates on his projects and many great pics of his work.

Want a totally custom home? Greg does that too. Give him a call or drop him a note. He's a super nice guy and a real talent. I think he'd be great to work with.

Congratulations Greg on the great recognition in the NY Times! Pretty cool. Well done.

Image credits - LaMiDesign

Another Example of the technOrganic Future - C2C Home Winner

Speaking of the