I’ve been thinking a lot lately about tall. Tall is problematic. You realize this when you’re even just three stories up trying to lay a roof and the wind blows sand into your eyes and you almost fall off said roof. Yes I was wearing my safety glasses! So, much for safety practices working. Me climbing through the rafters half blind was so not the best time ever.

Anyhow, tall can be an issue and not just for freak accidents. There are structural issues, wiring, plumbing, and view codes. If you want to piss off some neighbors go ahead and build tall. All kinds of things. However, if you build just a little tall it can be advantageous. The point is to reduce our uptake of land and if you can build up, right there you save some land if you plan it correctly.

Anyhow this building is tall and old so I figured I’d make a speech. Now that I’m done here’s the awesome home. Zecc Architecture did this amazing restoration and conversion of a Netherlands water tower into an actual home. As materialicious put it, “These guys are good.” Which is the perfect thing to say.

Front door below.

Want to see how water tower home interiors look? You can, after the jump…

Many more amazing interior shots and the roof patio to see at materialicious.

We are at the second to last day of our Fall Harvest Scavenger Hunt — time to play catch-up!

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Water Tower House

Take a peak.

Friendship’s Octagon House: super preserved and beautifully painted.

The Octagon Glass House rental: (I love this one — it’s nice and simple but still has that unique shape). This rental is located in Waitsfield VT; so imagine how beautiful it must be in the autumn time.

Hate the tablecloth but LOVE the fridge! All the windows are great too.

But… Jennifer… do you have a favorite octagon house? Why yes I do. I thought you’d never ask!

The Octagon House–Allen Potter Residence: This 1855 tree-lined treasure is a Kalamazoo classic. The sad part is that their are hardly any photos. Although, you can see a few small interior shots at the Kalamazoo Public Library site.  

It’s beautiful.

Houses that utilize unique shapes are cool and the octagon might be one of the best; in fact, you may want to build your own.

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Octagon Homes

[vid via youtube found Google Blog]

If you are like me, I found a great reason why to (re)download Google Earth. They have added an architecture layer. In association with and help the AIA celebrate it’s 150th Birthday they released two layers of Americas Favorite Architecture and Blueprint America. The video explains all it’s geeky coolness. More to follow I am sure. All links are below.

[found via Lifehacker]
[Official Google Blog]

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Tech: Architecture Earth

Taliesin West, located in Scottsdale, AZ is the only Frank Lloyd Wright creation I have been able to visit. Although it is not his most popular work, I am glad I got the chance.

Approaching the site, you are not hit by it’s grandeur, but by it’s minimal impact. All the buildings are low lying and colored by nature making it camouflaged. This wasn’t accidental, since all the stone and mortar was made onsite from the site. So much so, you see an imbedded hammer in one of the walls.

My favorite section of the complex, the drafting room. The feeling is overwhelming, the history, what was created in that room. I believe the Guggenheim Museum being one of them. Not just the creations of FLW himself, but the other architects and their creations. Taliesin West was not just a winter residence but also a Prairie School.

Wright Wednesday’s is winding down. Be sure to go elsewhere to find out more about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie Style.

PrairieMOD, FLW News Blog, FLlW News Update

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Wright Wednesday: Winding Down

I know if FLW was alive, and knew me (not an architect), he would be furious I would be questioning him at all. All true, however I am a practicing “home designer” and am confronted by the “facts” a budget presents. I was confronting a jealousy I have had toward architects. The fact AIA carries so much credibility.

Budget follows beauty.

I was gracious that PrairieMod joined the conversation. In fact they made me think, and I realized, a budget is just a number. The customers hired Frank Lloyd Wright to create something great. They believed in his abilities, and if that requires more money, then they trusted the new direction. For me question the budget, not being the customer, is petty.

My favorite Wright Home, The Pope-Leighey House, because it was the start of his Usonian designs. Which were created to provide an affordable alternative to the rambling ranch. This inspires me to create affordable alternatives to the cookie cutters we all live in.

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Wright Wednesday: Reflection

Everyone agrees that a structure that stirs the emotions of anyone who experiences it is what good architecture is. Is that emotion the influence that makes a great architect. Well I don’t! It is the majority, but I think the architect still needs to be responsible. That is the conflict I have when anyone talks about how great an architect Frank Lloyd Wright was.

One of the biggest responsibilities I believe an architect has, is to the clients budget. When a client hires an architect to create a home or even a skyscraper their budget shouldn’t just be a consideration.

Two examples, and the most blatan, of how Frank Lloyd Wright used the clients budget as a consideration are Falling Waters and The Johnson Wax Headquarters. In both cases the clients budgets were blown away in order to create what FLW wanted. Falling Water was designed within two and half hours while the client was driving to the initial presentation meeting. FLW also chose to disregard the clients wish to save a boulder they frequently picnicked on to build on top of it. This created the need and expense to blast into the boulder to create a footing. Making the Kaufman’s vacation home cost twice as much as they expected.

The Johnson Wax Headquarters followed a similar path. FLW’s design revolved around a unique support structure that was costly and time consuming. The Johnson Wax Headquarters would not be the architectural icon without the lilly pads but were they really the responsible option for the client? NO! and FLW was known to have said so.

Am I way off? Where am I going wrong? I really would like to have this conversation, so please leave a comment and see where this goes. Also, keep sending me your experiences at a FLW site.

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Wright Wednesday: Part 2

For the month of March we will be focusing our “Wed Arch” on Frank Lloyd Wright. This is also the month Chicago celebrates the famous architect. PrairieMod has dubbed it the “Wright-apalooza”.

This month I hope to learn more about FLW, but I want to learn from YOU! I would like to hear about your experiences touring a FLW creation. I will share those that I collect on the last week of the month.

Next week I hope we can start a conversation about what almost made Frank more infamous than famous. The video above is the perfect lead in, so watch. Then go out and visit a Frank Lloyd Wright property and tell us about it.

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Wright Wednesday

[picture via Pritzker Prize]

I’m not sure what it is about the glasses, but those thick framed round glass are worn by another favorite architect of mine. Can you guess who the other is? Today we are talking about Phillip Johnson AIA. His “Glass House” is the definition of Off Beat Homes. This is also were the cliche “bringing the outside in” began when describing why you would live in a home with transparent
exterior walls. The home sits on a large private acreage. So if you are one to sleep in the buff, you’d have your privacy. I could see me living in that home, but like tonight at 10:00 pm sitting on my sofa writing this post, If I were to look up I wouldn’t see anything but my reflection. That freaks me out. Someone could be out there. Johnson lived to be 98 years old and I believe he lived in the house, with his partner, until his death.

This April the home will be opening to the public. Until then, see a video tour.

Technorati Tags: Architects

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Wed Arch: Phillip Johnson

CONTEST ALERT!

The first TEN people who can name the President, who was also an Architect, I will send you the monetary amount his face also graces.

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Happy Presidents Day!

Arguably the most bizarre home in Sydney (they say), Loggan Rock was built by an equally bizarre architect named Alexander Stewart Jolly in 1929.

Aside from building bizarre abodes, Jolly was a part-time poet and writer of children’s fiction, whom allegedly cut off his own finger in punishment for his bad drinking habits.

So really, what could you expect from a curious man, but a curious home?

Logan Rock is actually three homes in one, with the oldest part being a log cabin. The second part is actually a tower based off of a Scottish castle. Two bedrooms are located within the tower. The third part of the home, was actually built in the 50s and has nothing to do with Jolly himself. So, it’s not as interesting.

The home’s current owners Regina and Gerry Sutton bought the home for $2.05 back in 2003, and though they love and appreciate the history and originality of their home, they admit that it comes with a few setbacks:

“The cabin, as romantic and special as it is, has no facilities and is exposed to the external world. We share it with a possum family and several other critters that sneak in to party and leave their droppings everywhere.”

Hehe, well yes, droppings are very romantic.

As for the stone tower, only the top storey – housing the Suttons’ bedroom – is habitable. Potential guests are usually shocked when they discover the only access to the second bedroom is via a trapdoor in the master bedroom. “You have to slide on your butt down a steep flight of the carved stone steps,” Sutton laughs, pulling up the trapdoor to the dungeon-like guest quarters. “We don’t have too many people wanting to stay the night.”

I wouldn’t mind! I think trapdoors are cool. Regular doors are overrrated. Of course, how do you move furniture in and out, I wonder?

Via | SMH

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Loggan Rock: The Most Bizarre Home In Sydney