AJ Logo
AJ HOME AJ BLOGS

PIXEL POINTS
Nancy Levinson on architecture


ARCHIVES

September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
December 2005
January 2006
March 2006
July 2006
November 2006
PIXEL POINTS

PIXEL POINTS home
PIXEL POINTS archives

About Nancy Levinson
I like to think of architectural journalism as an extension of architectural practice. More


About Pixel Points
Pixel Points is a reference to an influential magazine called Pencil Points More

Write Me:
nlevinson@artsjournal.com



(syndicate this AJblog)

DESIGN FILE

PREFAB
Prefab seems always to be the next big thing—the solution to our chronic shortage of middle-class housing, a means to making contemporary design affordable. It's been around for a while, of course, from the "Modern Homes" that Sears, Roebuck sold via catalogue to Buckminster Fuller's curvy Dymaxion prototype to recent experiments in shipping-container chic. But lately there's been a lot to look at, and much of it's good-looking.

The LV Home, by the Chilean-born, Missouri-based architect Rocio Romero, is an effort to make "high-end modern design" not only affordable but unintimidating too. The kit-of-parts—basically the exterior shell—starts at $32,900, and Romero's web site features testimonials like this, from a Wisconsin homebuyer: "the closest I could ever get to the aesthetics of the Mies van der Rohe Plano house."


For the manufacturer Kannustalo, Ltd., the Finnish firm Heikkinen-Komonen Architects have created the Touch House. First exhibited at a housing fair, the 2,000-square-foot house hasn't been yet been widely marketed, which seems a shame.


Austrian architect Oskar Leo Kaufmann designed the SU-SI House in the mid-'90s, for his sister Suzy. A couple of years ago, the 1,400-square-foot house was constructed—or rather, assembled—on a rural site in Sullivan County, New York, for about $300,000, for a Manhattan photographer and his family.


Marmol Radziner Prefab, a division of the Los Angeles firm, designs "factory-made modules shipped ready to occupy." The architects, known for design/build work, both manufacture the modules and supervise construction. So far one house has been built, in Palm Springs—near Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House, which the firm restored—and a few more are underway.
More

PRINT RUN

HOUSES
Some mostly recent books on houses, some posh, some not.

The Green House
Authors Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne argue that green design is not just ecologically responsible but also high style— "camera ready." They make a good case, using projects like Georg Driendl's Solar Tube, in Vienna, Brian MacKay-Lyons's Howard House, in Nova Scotia, and Lahz Nimmo's Casuarina Beach House, in northern New South Wales.


Prefab Modern
A well illustrated and gracefully written survey by Jill Herbers showcasing some designers who are making prefab both affordable and stylish. Besides the projects listed elsewhere on this site, these include Adam Kalkin, Jennifer Siegal, Michelle Kaufmann, and Resolution: 4 Architecture


The Very Small Home
The subtitle says it: "Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space." Author Azby Brown has compiled a collection of houses most of which are so diminutive they'd fit into the master bath of a McMansion. These include Tadao Ando's austere 4 x 4 House, just 243 s.f., and Architecture Lab's White Box House, a comparatively roomy 559 s.f.


David Adjaye Houses
A handsome monograph featuring a dozen of the houses that have made Adjaye a rising star of London architecture. These include Elektra House and Dirty House, plus the residences he's designed for Ewan McGregor and Chris Ofili. More

WEB CITE


Architecture + Design

A Daily Dose of Architecture
Archinect
Architectural Record
Architecture for Humanity
Architecture News Now
Archlog
Arcspace
City Comforts
Design Feast
Design Observer
Docomomo
Environmental Design and Construction
Eye
Gabion
The Gutter
Icon
I.D.
Life Without Buildings
Metropolis
That Brutal Joint

Art + Culture

Adbusters
Cabinet
Center for Land Use Interpretation
Museum of Jurassic Technology
Society for Commercial Archeology
sounds & fury

OTHER AJ BLOGS

AJBlogCentral

Architecture
  Pixel Points
    Nancy Levinson on
    Architecture
Culture
  About Last Night
    Terry Teachout on the arts in
    New York City
  Artful Manager
    Andrew Taylor on the 
    business of Arts & Culture
  blog riley  
    rock culture approximately
  Straight Up |
    Jan Herman - Arts, Media &
    Culture News with 'tude
Dance
  Seeing Things
    Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
Media
  Serious Popcorn
    Martha Bayles on Film...
Music

  Adaptistration
    Drew McManus on orchestra
    management

  Sandow

    Greg Sandow on the future of
    Classical Music
  Rifftides
    Doug Ramsey on Jazz
    and other matters...
  PostClassic
    Kyle Gann on music after the
    fact
Visual Arts
  Artopia
    John Perreault's 
    art diary
  Modern Art Notes
    Tyler Green's modern & 
    contemporary art blog

AJBlog Heaven
  Beatrix
    A Book Review review
  Critical Conversation II
    Classical Music Critics
    on the future of music
  Tommy T
    Tommy Tompkins'
    extreme measures

  Midori in Asia
    Conversations from the road
    June 22-July 3, 2005
 

  A better case for the Arts?
    A public conversation
  Critical Conversation
    Classical Music Critics on the 
    Future of Music
  Sticks & Stones
    James S. Russell on
    Architecture
   In Media Res
    Bob Goldfarb on Media
   RoadTrip
    Sam Bergman on tour with 
   the Minnesota Orchestra


AJ BlogCentral

Home | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©
2002 ArtsJournal. All Rights Reserved