“Houses are works of art […]” These are the opening words of an article from 1962, in which I advocated for the liberation of the house from the limited perspective of Modernism and Functionalism.1 Kazuo Shinohara The architects of the generation before Sejima were influenced by one of the two leaders of the 1970s: Arata …
In 1937, Charlotte Perriand began experimenting with the concept of “prefabricated mountain shelter” as housing for the enjoyment of free time, coinciding with her leave from the Atelier Rue de Sèvres. Previously, she had successfully participated in the Weekend House competitions organized by the magazine L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui between 1934 and 1935. However, in the wake …
The trend of leaving the city on short weekend excursions began in Germany in the 1920s.Initially reserved for a minority, that activity induced the development of prefabricated andmass-produced small constructions intended for a wealthy clientele. In France, the magazine L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui encouraged the production of structures oriented to individual leisure between 1934 and 1935, through …
“Marta’s dubbed the unconventional furniture and elemental cabins designed with so much panache ‘Petite Architecture.’ And she clearly demonstrates why we’ve all been idiotic to overlook the value of these early efforts. It turns out small things are not unimportant. In fact, inside these covers is the inspiration we all need today.” Dana Buntrock, UC …
Petite Architecture is conceived at the level of detail and small-scale furniture design, but its implications and reach are ultimately urban in scale. Petite Architecture blurs the frontiers between building (immeuble) and furniture (meuble) and questions the autonomous implications of monumentality and technology in architectural innovation. Chairs have always been the pioneers of change […].1 …
Rebuttal to Deborah Richmond: Originally published by JAE, the online Journal of Architectural Education, April 4, 2015 Deborah Richmond’s recent account of her experience attending the Parsons School of Constructed Environments conference, “Feminism and Architecture,” featured in last month’s Journal of Architectural Education made several interesting conclusions based on what she perceived as the weakness of the conference …