farnsworth house.

more photos after the jump.

last week i spent six days in the southern chicago suburbs for work. the saturday that i drove back to wisconsin, i took a detour to plano, illinois to see the farnsworth house, ludwig mies van der rohe's masterpiece of a residence along the fox river.

i was extremely impressed not only with the house, but with the visitor center and the staff. i was running fifteen minutes late for my tour when i got there, but it was absolutely no problem at all to move me over to the next one, and the woman in the gift shop cheerfully put in a documentary about the house for me while i waited.

the house is one of those iconic places that is pictured in every architecture and art history book you'll ever pick up. mies van der rohe accomplished great modernist architecture in this house, and it's no wonder at all that since it was first heard of, it's been world famous.

i'm a big fan of modernist and contemporary architecture, as you might already guess by some of my previous posts. i read dwell magazine to get an idea of the trends, i look at photos in house books and other periodicals... but nothing compares to being able to stand inside the house and experience it for yourself. a house is a 3-D object that can't be appreciated by looking at a photograph, just like a a sculpture can't be appreciated fully until you can walk around it. a house you have to be able to walk around, and walk inside of.

the outside of this house is impressive, but it's when you're inside that you feel you've been transported. standing anywhere inside the house, one cannot see any of the supports holding up the lower porch or any part of the I-beams that touch the ground. you're lifted five feet and some inches off the ground, and with the flawless floor-to-ceiling windows, you feel almost like you're floating through the woods.

mid-century modern = one of my favorite eras in 20th century architecture. this falls into that very broad category, but mostly it's in the international style. theory, of course, being an art history fanatic, is where it's all at. one of my favorite concepts that this house embraces, being an international style home, is the twofold juxtaposition of new-world and old-world. first, it's a modern house in a natural setting. new and old. in the materials of the house, mies used steel and glass along with roman travertine marble and rare primavera wood from guatemala.

it's flawless. i want one. :)

all photos (c) katie mothes 2010

now THIS is a renovation.

via contemporist

you are meant to ignore the above photo. but one has to appreciate having seen it, so keep that dismal, winter ranch in mind when you look at the photo after the jump.

WOW. i have kind of a distaste for the sort of blah ranch in the above photo. so did the owners of that house, apparently, because they turned it into something SO much cooler. but what's great is that the mid-century sensibility wasn't totally lost on it. and while the house is nearly unrecognizable as something having been built out of that, the interior updated and brightened and opened and looks every bit as modern and fresh and groovy as this house was probably hoping to look when it was first built. designed by hufft projects, whose other designs i'm also quite fond of, this "modern w/ ranch" in kansas is serious about the mod.

i love a good makeover!!!

laurie frick and her house.

via contemporist

it's been a while since i've come across a new modern residence in my daily perusing that has had me feel so warm and content as this one in austin, tx by krdb. one thing it has going for it is the warmer climate of texas, where i'm always drawn to the desert plant landscaping and the possibility for more open, airy spaces. what's so exciting about this house (for an artist, laurie frick -- the things one discovers!) is how it seems to combine homey-ness and material collections with gallery-like open spaces and white, modern walls. an obvious choice for an artist, but it still seems full of life -- which a lot of modern houses, in their very concept, are not at all. i love the industrial hints -- the I-beams on the ceilings, mixed in with the rugs and pottery and books! and art! it's great. it's not so minimal; a change.

laurie frick's stuff is pretty cool. should check out the link above; she does collages out of found postcards, books, papers, etc. and makes some really spectacular works out of art out of them.

roa and a water lawn.

via contemporist

this house is the shit. i know that's not technical lingo, but wow, a yard of water!? it's like the pond swallowed up the lawn and made it more awesome. check out the photos of the interior of the house, also, which are just as fantastic. the landscape design along with the house, in this case, is absolutely spectacular. according to the info, the pond and landscaping was preserved from a house that previously sat on the lot and had to be removed. i think they did more than what they could -- they did what they should. it's so beautiful.

the stats: atherton house in atherton, california by turnbull griffin haesloop architects. and as usual, when i checked out their other projects, i was just as astounded and... in love.

via robots will kill

roa. i'm not sure it's possible to be a fan of street art without being a fan of roa. the work is understated in a way: black and white, simple, realistic. but it's profound. there are numerous photo collections of his work on flickr and on other sites. i have to share vandalog (the link takes you to a particularly alive-looking version of this same bird, which you must check out), and the link above features a large gallery of photos of roa's work.

marcio kogan.

via contemporist

it's basically the haute couture of modern residential architecture. marcio kogan's paraty house in brazil, on an island between são paolo and rio de janeiro. basic structure is two concrete boxes, one on top of the other. the above link has some spectacular photographs of both interior and exterior. i just can't get over the stone. i love the stone. this house is practically a modern museum. check out mario kogan's website (it's an awesome site). all of the projects are seriously to die for, plus, there's some other funky stuff to check out on there. i feel like i'd practically exist in an alternate universe if a place like this was my home.

wolfe den by mj neal architects

via contemporist

WOW! 2,400 sq. ft. in austin, tx. by mj neal architects. i love this house. love it. it's my favorite combination of contemporary modern with serious pokes at mid-century. the boxiness reminds me of the eames house. the sand-brick walls are so 1950s i can hardly contain myself. that outdoor fireplace and the wall that the tv hangs on... looks like straight out of an old ranch or something. i'm also big into the wood on the exterior of the house. they took care to construct it out of recycled or responsible materials. a little information is at the link above, or, check out mj neal architects. the ramp house and the twin peaks house projects are two others in their online portfolio that i like quite a lot.