With extraordinary modernist homes constantly under threat, the area of Studley Park in the Melbourne suburb of Kew is exceptionally rare. So too is its landscape, thick with gullies, steep hills, and escarpments, surrounded by wattles, gums, and pines. Remarkably, the native bushland setting is just five km from inner-city Melbourne.

Tour Australia's Studley Park and its modernist legacy

Long enamoured with houses of this era, architect Jake Taylor and accomplished architectural photographer Jack Lovel have documented the area and its houses with transparency and sensitivity for their new book, 'Riverside Modern: An architectural legacy in Studley Park.' Lovel and Taylor astutely refer to the peaceful locale as a 'reclusive suburb' and beautifully capture its handsome architectural treasures in this engrossing tome.

Adding to the allure of the neighbourhood is its lack of development and, in some cases, restrictive covenants and front fences. As a result, the streetscape has barely changed since the 1950s.

Lovel’s photographic style is sharp and clean, but the subject softens when it comes to the interiors, which depict the domestic life of its inhabitants without artifice. 'The houses are clearly loved by each unique owner, and we wanted to provide an honest look at these homes without any additional elements for the purpose of enhancing the visuals,' says Lovel, who reached out to owners via mailouts and letterbox drops. Word got around the tight community, which ultimately led to access.

Editorially discerning, the book only includes projects that are in original condition or renovated sympathetically in the spirit of the times. And each chapter attributes works done by subsequent architects, almost all of them still practising today. 'A key point of difference is that all the interiors were captured exactly as they are, featuring the owners' personal belongings, including artwork, antiques, and book collections. No additional styling was used; showing these homes honestly and authentically was a primary driver for the project,' adds Lovel.

Context is critical to the book, which tracks the history and development of the Studley Park enclave that is now populated by over 100 modernist homes constructed from the 1940s to 1970s. Largely agricultural until the postwar period when allotments were subdivided into residential blocks, Studley Park’s challenging slopes and Birrarung (Yarra River) made it difficult to reproduce the classic Edwardian and Victorian styles that had, until then, dominated Melbourne’s architectural landscape.

Together with advancements in materials, these constraints opened the door for innovation, with a wave of pioneering names such as Roy Grounds and Guilford Bell, and visionary émigré European architects leading the charge. 'Riverside Modern' highlights incredibly impressive mid-century projects, including the Bell House by Russian-born Anatol Kagan and Milston House by Ernest Milston, a Czechoslovakian architect who built the cul-de-sac property for himself. The humble house, with its butterfly roof form, sits below street level, and its lightweight construction reflects the frugality of the postwar era.

Formatted in chronological order, Riverside Modern opens with the 1946 Pettigrew House by iconic architects Robin Boyd, Kevin Pethebridge and Frank Bell, its construction completed in stages due to material shortages at the time. With its floating upper volume and slim roof eave, blank brick walls and high clerestory windows, it’s demonstrative of one of the earliest postwar houses in Melbourne.

A number of practicing architects’ private homes are showcased too, including the 1958 Williams House which surrounds an internal courtyard, the rear built at ground level and the front cantilevered outward into a tree canopy. Rescued from demolition by the current owner-architect Albert Mo, recent works involve a near-original restoration and a vertical expansion of the rear with a custom-designed drawbridge.

Among other featured homes is McGlashan Everist’s Guss House (1963), known for its floating glass-box form. Built from a thin steel structural frame and linked glazed pavilions, it’s evidently influenced by the minimalist work of Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe.

'Our objective was to celebrate the breadth and diversity of this enclave rather than focusing on a single architect,' says Lovel. 'It is rare to find so many significant modernist homes in such close proximity.'

'Riverside Modern is on sale from 1 September 2026

AU $85

www.thamesandhudson.com.au

Sidell Pakravan have completed a family house refurbishment in a Berkeley Hills neighbourhood, taking an existing mid-century house and sympathetically upgrading it without compromising its essential qualities. House Vert arose out of a desire for more space, more than the traditionally low-slung largely single-storey mid-century archetype could provide. Originally built in 1963, the house was subject to strict site conditions that precluded any extensions due to the area’s zoning and waterway restrictions.

Sidell Pakravan, a firm founded by Sidell Pakravan and Kristen Sidell in 2014, were up to the challenge. The house is located in a creek, with a site that slopes steeply away from the road and provides verdant views out of every window, preserving all the existing trees.

By adding two new vertical elements to the floorplan, including the expansion and revision of the single upstairs room, the architects have brought light into the heart of the plan as well as expanded the available floorspace to a total of 2,000 square feet.

The existing structure was substantially altered and upgraded, with a new kitchen from Henrybuilt, as well a bespoke drainage, erosion and stormwater plan developed to ensure the newly updated house had no additional effects on the creek below the site.

The dark new exterior cladding uses traditional Sho Sugi ban treated timber, far more attuned to the deep greens and browns on the landscape, in place of the more generic varnished timber cladding of the original. Sharp edges and neat junctions emphasise the geometric structure and give the house a bolder presence.

In addition to the Henrybuilt kitchen, the interior has been lightened throughout, with a combination of white walls, timber floors and bespoke elements like the new walnut panelling in the entrance vestibule, above which the original lean-to porch has been replaced with a fourteen-foot volume equipped with high level roof lights.

The new principal suite is located in the second vertical volume, reached by a slender but sculptural staircase that leads into a bedroom, large walk-in closet and a bath set amongst the tree canopies. Located at the rear of the property, the main bed overlooks the creek in the backyard.

Two more bedrooms are located directly beneath it, along with a family bathroom. Henrybuilt was also responsible for the floating bench and console unit in the living room, while the custom mantel was supplied by Montana Timber Products.

‘The neighborhood in Berkeley where House Vert is located has a wide range of untouched and eclectic mid-century homes, many of which have not been touched since they were built,’ says Sidell Pakravan, ‘Our vision revolved around keeping the elements of the spirit of the original house while creating a better sense of cohesion. The refined interior contrasts with the wild landscape, which we kept intentionally untouched to integrate the updated home into its original context.’

SidellPakravan.com, @SidellPakravan

Los Angeles’ roadside architecture is famous the world over but even modern iterations have roots in the ‘Googie’ style of the 1950s and 60s. Defined by space-age motifs, sloping roofs and sky-high neon signs, Googie architecture responded to a time of great change in America.

After World War II, people from all over the US flocked west, prompting a boom period in California. LA’s freeway system, which connects much of the city, was near completion and a new type of mid-century architecture emerged: one that represented the 'futuristic' advancements of the time, inspired by the space race and rise of car culture, Googie borrowed the visual language of rockets, satellites and atomic orbits, turning the era’s fascination with scientific progress (and science fiction) into architecture. Crucially, Googie buildings needed to be visible from the road, alerting drivers to restaurants, entertainment complexes and pit-stops en route.

The first example of Googie architecture was a John Lautner-designed café of the same name. Googie’s coffee shop, formerly at 8100 Sunset Blvd (sadly demolished in 1988), was a frequent hang-out for the likes of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe – likely due to its proximity to famed Sunset Strip hotel, Chateau Marmont.

In a 1952 issue of House + Home magazine, the writer Doug Haskell described Googie’s coffee shop as starting 'off on the level like any other building. But suddenly it breaks for the sky. The bright red roof of cellular steel decking suddenly tilts upward as if swung on a hinge, and the whole building goes up with it like a rocket ramp.' He likened the work of Googie architects to that of Antoni Gaudí, creating fantastical buildings that would influence generations to come.

The Googie style symbolised a newfound freedom, both in its design and use of materials, blending glass and steel with plastic and cement. To purists, the Googie style was seen as a blight on LA’s great modernist legacy established by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright and more. But others embraced its inventive and distinctly modern and colourful aesthetic.

Googie’s influence was far-reaching. Across pop culture, TV shows such as The Jetsons (1962) drew on the same space-age optimism, from its angular typography to vivid colour palette. Throughout the rapidly expanding landscape of postwar America, Googie hallmarks started appearing in motels, bowling alleys, petrol stations and drive-in restaurants, as well as the fantastical architecture of theme parks. Disneyland’s Tomorrowland (1971) channelled a similar vision of a technology-driven future, while restaurant chains including Denny’s adopted dramatic rooflines and oversized signage.

Over the years, many early examples of LA’s Googie architecture have been knocked down but a few remain. Join us on a tour of the city’s remaining Googie gems.

Norm’s

Perhaps one of the most famous remaining examples of Googie architecture in Los Angeles is Norm’s diner on La Cienega in West Hollywood. Designed by local architects and Googie pioneers Louis Armét and Eldon Davis in 1957, it was immortalised in the Ed Ruscha artwork, Norm’s La Cienega on Fire, (the original of which hangs in LA’s The Broad museum). The restaurant's low, elongated structure is punctuated by a sharply pitched, faceted roof that rises above the main frontage and a towering, angular sign to attract nearby motorists.

LAX Theme Building

Touching down at Los Angeles' international airport, you'll be met by a perfect Googie specimen. LAX's Theme Building, built between 1957 and 1961, resembles something from a Steven Spielberg movie. The building's flying saucer-shaped core is supported by four spindly legs with two sweeping, stucco-clad steel arches crossing above the former restaurant and viewing deck.

Multiple designers and architects were involved in the project, which was named a historic-cultural monument in 1993. The plan was overseen by Los Angeles practice Pereira & Luckman, with architect Gin Wong leading the design. He was joined by a team that included architects from fellow LA firm Welton Becket & Associates and the celebrated Southern Californian architect Paul R. Williams.

Unfortunately, visitors can no longer go inside the Theme Building, but be sure to gaze at its exterior as you leave the airport.

Pann's

In many ways, Googie was architecture for the masses – developed to attract workers grabbing a slice of pie at lunchtime or on their way home from a night shift. Another Armét & Davis-designed Googie gem was the Ladera Heights restaurant, Pann's. Though the firm, responsible for over 4000 Googie designs, was behind the building, its design was the work of lesser-known female architect, Helen Liu Fong. Located on a traffic island, Pann's sky-high sign has all the hallmarks of a Googie classic. The restaurant is still fully operational today.

Cinerama Dome

The Cinerama Dome is an LA icon. Designed by Welton Becket Associates in 1967, it shares many Googie traits while being a distinctly original offering. The building was the first concrete geodesic dome in the world, designed to use a three-projector system across a curved movie screen. The plan was to create more all across the US, but it never happened – leaving the LA Cinerama Dome the only one of its kind.

After closing for business in 2021, it was recently announced that the Cinerama Dome will reopen as an Alamo Drafthouse – a chain of cinemas originating in Austin and one of the first where customers can order food and drinks to their seat. The news was met with delight by most Angelenos, thrilled to see The Dome reopen in any capacity – although many would rather it remain independent. Alamo Drafthouse have confirmed they will preserve The Dome's original signage and exterior.

Bob's Big Boy

David Lynch’s favourite diner became a place of pilgrimage for fans after the director’s passing in 2025. But Bob’s Big Boy has been an LA staple for decades. The Wayne McAllister-designed building opened in 1949 as a shining example of Googie architecture, blending Streamline modern and mid-century influences. Its 70-foot sign – and cheeky, cowlicked mascot – helped put Bob’s Big Boy on the map. The diner’s broad roof canopy projects boldly over a glazed dining room, while curved windows, angled forms and a tall freestanding sign give the modest restaurant a somewhat theatrical presence – perhaps one of the things Lynch loved about it.

Every Friday, Bob’s hosts a classic car night, paying homage to its mid-century past.

Cindy's Restaurant

Something of a proto-Googie example of roadside architecture, Cindy’s opened in 1948, placing it a little before the Googie boom. The diner’s towering sign was almost lost in 2014 after owners struggled to raise the $16,000 needed for repairs but the local community came to the rescue, responding to a crowdsourcing campaign to restore it to its former mid-century glory. The restaurant’s low-lying, modernist structure and Jetsons-adjacent signage make it an interesting example of early Googie – if not mimicking the angular form and freewheeling use of materials of many buildings that followed.

Union 76 gas station

How could we forget gas stations in the Googie canon? This striking example by architect Gin Wong is one of the finest surviving examples. Its sweeping, cantilevered red roof and neon-lit underbelly look as though they are about to take flight. Originally designed as a companion to LAX’s Theme Building, Wong’s futuristic gas station was not selected for the airport, but the design was ultimately realised in Beverly Hills for Union Oil.

There is one name almost inextricably bound to Palm Springs’ mid-century architecture: the American architectural firm Palmer & Krisel. The partnership between architect William Krisel and developer George Alexander produced thousands of homes that came to define the clean lines, indoor-outdoor living and innate optimism of the region’s famous desert modernism. Yet what many people don't realise is that the architectural language that transformed Palm Springs was first explored not in the desert, but in California's San Fernando Valley – more commonly known as, simply, ‘the Valley’.

Now on the market is one of the earliest examples of Palmer & Krisel's collaboration there. Completed in 1954, this home in Corbin Palms, Woodland Hills, belongs to a neighbourhood that served as an important testing ground for the design principles that would become synonymous with California modernism. Today, Corbin Palms remains one of Southern California's most significant – yet often overlooked – mid-century modern enclaves.

This renovated post-and-beam residence expresses many of the architectural ideas that would soon define Palmer & Krisel's celebrated communities. An exposed timber structure, soaring vaulted ceilings, clerestory glazing and an open-plan layout fill the interiors with natural light, while expansive walls of glass beckon the outdoors in. The emphasis on openness, climate-responsive design and economy of means – achieving the greatest architectural impact with the fewest necessary elements – would become hallmarks of the firm's later work in the desert.

The home’s recent renovation honours that legacy. Contemporary materials and modern systems have been integrated without compromising the original architecture: a kitchen with custom white oak cabinetry, quartz countertops and polished concrete floors sits easily within the home's framework, while a restrained material palette keeps the focus on the expressive post-and-beam structure at the heart of the design.

Outside, the integration of architecture and landscape – central to Palmer & Krisel's vision of California living – is evident. A swimming pool, outdoor kitchen, dining terrace, mature citrus trees and landscaped gardens extend the home's living spaces into the open air.

While Palm Springs will always be most closely associated with Palmer & Krisel, Corbin Palms deserves recognition as the place where many of the ideas that would define California modernism first took shape. For the home’s next custodian, this is not just any mid-century residence – it is an opportunity to own a chapter in one of the most influential stories in American residential architecture.

The Palmer & Krisel home is listed with The Value of Architecture for $995,000.

The canyons of Mission Hills, one of San Diego's most sought-after neighbourhoods, are home to the Bone Residence, one of Southern California's finest expressions of midcentury modern architecture. Commissioned to architect Richard Lareau by Jack Bone and completed in 1961, the residence is a symphony of warm cedar, glass walls and indoor-outdoor living. It is now on the market for $2.59 million.

The home embodies the philosophy that defined Lareau's career: that a house should do more than occupy its setting – it should engage with it. At the Bone Residence, a cascading series of decks and patios steps down the canyon, framing views of the downtown skyline, San Diego Bay, the Pacific Ocean and even Tijuana to the south. Inside, nearly every living space looks towards the canyon and the city beyond, while the post-and-beam structure – a hallmark of midcentury modern design – creates open, light-filled interiors.

The house also showcases many of the defining characteristics of California modernism: exposed structural framing that celebrates the building's construction, broad roof overhangs, strong horizontal lines and a restrained palette of natural materials, including timber and masonry.

Lareau is one of the architects most responsible for shaping San Diego's post-war identity. Completed only a few years after he established his own practice in the late 1950s, the Bone Residence helped define that architectural language, and is widely regarded as one of the finest-preserved examples of his work. Lareau would go on to design numerous custom homes throughout San Diego, as well as major institutional projects including much of the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University and the Mission Bay Visitor Center.

Although less celebrated than some of Lareau's later commissions, the Bone Residence remains one of the defining works of his early career and a landmark of San Diego's architectural identity. It distils the qualities that came to define California modernism: expressive yet lightweight structure, an effortless openness to nature and an architectural approach that treats dramatic topography not as a constraint, but as the foundation of the living experience.

The Bone Residence is listed with Keith York at Agents of Architecture.

If you love vintage furniture and British heritage design, this one's for you. Pre-loved furniture marketplace Vinterior is joining forces with British design house Liberty London on a five-piece capsule collection, launching today (1 July 2026), which pairs meticulously sourced midcentury and modernist furniture with fabrics drawn from Liberty's archive.

The collaboration is led by Liberty's head of design for home and interiors, Genevieve Bennett, who selected each furniture piece with specific fabrics in mind. The result is a tightly curated edit that bridges the design philosophies of both brands: Vinterior's commitment to circular furnishing and Liberty's century-and-a-half tradition of textile innovation.

Our favourite pieces from the collection include a ‘Cassina Maralunga’ two-seater sofa, originally designed by Vico Magistretti for the Italian manufacturer Cassina, now upholstered in Liberty's ‘Shadow Stripe Weave’ in ‘Amalfi’, a pattern drawing on Futurist and Vorticist influences. Equally covetable is an early 1970s ‘Alky’ chair, designed by Giancarlo Piretti and produced by Anonima Castelli, finished in Liberty's ‘Zig Zag Velvet’ from the ‘FuturLiberty’ range, a jacquard velvet referencing early 20th-century design and the energy of jazz-age dance.

The collection also features two 1960s Vico Magistretti ‘Carimate’ chairs, sourced from Vinterior's archive and dressed in Liberty's densely embroidered ‘Mount Stitch’ fabric in ‘Acacia’, a woodland and mountain-inspired print that pops against the chairs' red frames. A 1960s Swedish ‘Lamino’ footstool is covered in Liberty's ‘Cravat’ fabric in ‘Scarab Lacquer’, chosen to complement its curved silhouette, while a vintage 1960s beech standard lamp is finished with a bespoke Liberty lampshade in ‘Ottoman Spot’ velvet, a design inspired by a 19th-century artwork unearthed in the Liberty archive.

‘[Liberty’s] designs have outlasted trends for over 150 years, and the pieces in this collection have done the same. That's the spirit this partnership is built on: timeless design, beautifully made, built to last,’ says Vinterior founder and CEO Sandrine Zhang Ferron.

‘We were naturally drawn to fabrics from our FuturLiberty and The House of Liberty collections, inspired by the same 1960s-70s periods as the selected furniture pieces – each fabric felt perfectly aligned in history and aesthetic,’ adds Bennett. ‘Sculptural, curved silhouettes juxtapose dynamic geometrics, charming scenic landscapes and bold textures.’

With just five pieces available, this collection is unlikely to stay on the market for long. Shop the furniture below for a rare opportunity to own a timeless piece of design history, reimagined for the present.

Shop the pieces

This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.

Nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Sierra Madre, a 1947 adobe home – a traditional building method using sun-dried bricks of organic materials – has been reimagined. Removed from the noise and polish of Los Angeles, this neighbourhood is shaded by California oaks, eucalyptus and pine, and shares its hillside with bears. It's an unusual setting for a design story.

The home’s transformation began with a fire that destroyed much of the structure, leaving only the original adobe brick wall standing. Rather than rebuild from scratch, designer Kirsten Blazek of A1000XBetter chose to work with what remained.

‘The overall vision was to maintain as much of the original character and style of the home as possible, while making it more functional for modern living,’ she explains. New rooms were added – a kitchen, a primary suite, a family room – though the expansion was restrained. ‘We worked mainly within the original footprint,’ the designer notes, ‘only adding a small amount of square footage for the primary closet.’

On the original adobe side, the layout was left untouched. The hallway windows, original to the 1947 build and ‘one of [Blazek’s] favourite features’, were preserved. ‘I wanted the house to feel like a modern California hacienda,’ she says of her guiding aesthetic, ‘and embraced that through every colour choice and finish.'

That palette draws directly from the landscape. Dunn-Edwards paints in warm, grounded tones – including an exterior shade named ‘Wild Horses’ – echo the surrounding terrain and scrubland. ‘I very much gravitate to an earth-based palette,’ says Blazek, ‘and the location at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains made that feel completely natural.’

Recreate the mood

The interiors, meanwhile, speak to a lifelong passion. ‘I have a deep connection with the American Southwest and have long collected Native American and western-influenced art and objects,’ she says. Yet the rooms never tip into pastiche. Midcentury furniture – sourced from MidcenturyLA, Amsterdam Modern and Lawson-Fenning – grounds the collected pieces with clean, modern lines. Rugs from Pampa and Salam Hello add warmth underfoot; drapery by Zak and Fox frames the windows. ‘I never want my work to feel too referential,’ Blazek reflects. ‘I love midcentury lines, so there's a pleasing blend of both genres throughout.’

Among her favourite moments is the dining room fireplace – original to the house, but updated with dimensional tile from Lofa Tile. Nearby, a framed print by artist Mark Maggiori anchors the wall. ‘It's one of my favourite pieces,’ she says. ‘I was grateful to finally find the perfect place for it.’

Between the ancient craft of adobe and the clean geometry of midcentury design, this renovation represents both preservation and reinvention – a modern hacienda rooted in its land, its past and the strength of Blazek’s vision.

One side of California architect Wallace Neff's practice was designing mansions for Hollywood A-listers like Groucho Marx and Judy Garland. Another was was designing wildly innovative houses. One such home is for sale right now in Pasadena, California for $1.95 million, the last of eight 'Airform' houses. Neff designed this two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in 1946 for his brother Andrew.

As a sideline to his tony mansion-crafting work Neff (1895-1982) conducted a number of experiments starting in 1932 with what were known as 'balloon' houses. What is that? Well, in this case, industrial-strength neoprene nylon was inflated to a desired dimension and then topped with Gunite, a type of concrete sprayed from a hose. Add a layer of insulation and another layer of concrete and you’d have an Airform house. They could be completed in as few as 48 hours.

Gunite enables easier curves than casting or pouring concrete does and is most commonly used in swimming pools. A number of architects made use of it, from Richard Neutra to Jacques Couëlle and John Covert Watson. In the case of Neff's Pasadena house, city officials were unsure it would hold up; Neff found a Caltech professor to vouch for its stability, and it stands as a futuristic presence still today.

The dome makes for a dazzling interior, 12 feet high at its apex with partitions for the two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. Neff observed in Architectural Forum in 1946, 'The absolute absence of girders, columns and jigsaw trusses startles the imagination.' The rooms are about half of the slices of this circle, rotating around a remarkable cantilevered chimney.

The owners, Priya Girishankar, a media executive, and Damon Cleckler, a Carvana product executive, were well familiar with the 1,204 sq ft house from two decades of visiting a friend there who died in 2023. Cleckler tells Wallpaper*, 'The moment you walked into the home, you knew how incredible and special it was. It blew our minds.'

They suffered another loss of their own when their Gregory Ain house was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton fires. Girishankar notes that this work was 'our path forward after losing the Ain house. The decision to buy and restore the Neff bubble was a labour of love. It allowed us to bring back the house to a place that we hope and believe Neff envisioned when he built it.'

The house required a little work, with electrical, heating, air, and plumbing updates, as well as concrete repairs. Their most consequential restorative act was healing a decades-old dent from an HVAC unit. With technological advances it was now possible to remove these and utilize a ducted mini-split. Cleckler says, 'This would allow for the shell to return to it's original glory as a standalone unit, unencumbered by the steampunk-like barnacles of big aluminum tubes, conduit and metal boxes.'

The property sits on a 9,000 sq ft lot and also contains a 1,000 sq ft detached studio space with its own living area, bathroom and bedroom. Fifteen feet beneath that is another atomic era surprise: an Airform bomb shelter.

Cleckler explains, 'It's not showy. It's not a statement. It's a type of solution that came with affordances not typically found in a rectilinear box. It's more organic than organic architecture, and therefore it has a kind of unusual purity to it.'

Before there was a West Elm or a Williams Sonoma in every major city, Robert Stilin was selling furniture from his Palm Beach concept store in the 1990s. 'It was definitely ahead of its time,' he recalls. The interior designer later opened a similar space in the Hamptons, but after moving to New York City and finding success crafting aspirational residential interiors, the dream of reopening a shop was put on hold.

Over the years, Stilin waited for the right moment – and the right space – to present itself, continually collecting furniture and home décor in the meantime. This month, a curated selection of those pieces has finally become available at the newly opened Robert Stilin Shop, dedicated to custom upholstered furniture, antique and vintage pieces, 21st-century design, collectible furniture, as well as lighting, curated objects and art.

The gallery is conveniently located in the same building – and on the same floor – as Stilin’s interior design office in NoMad. The corner space within the St James Building, which has plenty of pre-war charm and is flooded with natural light during the day, serves as an extension of his creative vision and brand. 'The concept of this space is that people can walk into a Robert Stilin environment, and everything’s for sale,' the designer says. 'It makes an impact, and it has a great vibe and feeling. I could sit in here all day.'

The wide variety of pieces on display were sourced during Stilin’s travels around the world and reflect the strength of the relationships he has built over the past 30 years with American and international dealers, as well as artists and designers. Examples include a sculptural bronze coffee table by contemporary designer Diego Villarreal Vagujhelyi positioned beside custom-upholstered sofas, while everything from a Scandinavian midcentury desk to Stilin’s own sconces and vintage crystal finials is on view. 'We find a lot of things that are anonymous,' Stilin says. 'They don’t necessarily have a big name, but they’re extremely high quality, unusual and different.'

The space will also host several exhibitions each year, spotlighting artists and personal friends of the designer. The first will debut in May 2026 with works by Alessio Boni, an Italian photographer based in Paris whom Stilin has followed for the past two decades. Future collaborations with other galleries and emerging curators are also in the works.

The opening of the Robert Stilin Shop coincides with a boom in contemporary design spaces across New York City, reflecting both renewed interest in residential furniture and growing digital fatigue with online shopping. 'People want to reconnect with reality, rather than just looking at a picture online,' says Stilin. 'Also, I think a lot of people have realised that those pictures don’t always tell the truth.'

At the same time, he notes a shortage of vintage dealers – particularly in New York and across North America – many of whom closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of his aim with the Robert Stilin Shop is to help fill that gap.

The space and its contents reflect Stilin’s brand values of 'authenticity, comfort and function'. This deeply personal project allows him to further demonstrate his eye and taste, offer clients a place to view pieces in person and interact with his team, and finally sell a portion of the vast collection he has amassed over the years. 'I’m a collector, and I’m an acquirer, and I’m a shopper,' Stilin says. 'I can’t stop myself, and now I have to share it with the world because I can’t afford to keep all this and not make any money.'

This newly listed property in Thousand Oaks brings together two of the most influential figures in midcentury modern design: developer Joseph Eichler (1900-1974) and architect A Quincy Jones (1913-1979). Eichler is widely credited with bringing modernist architecture to middle-class America, commissioning forward-thinking architects to design homes that prioritised openness, light and a closer relationship with nature (check out another Eichler home, in Concord, California, which we explored last year). Among his most frequent collaborators was Jones, whose work helped shape the architectural language of post-war California through residential communities that balanced modernist principles with liveable, family-oriented layouts.

This home is a compelling example of that collaboration in practice. Built in 1964, it reflects the defining principles of Eichler’s architecture: post-and-beam construction, open-plan living areas, floor-to-ceiling glazing and a deliberate blurring of boundaries between interior and exterior.

The property sits within the Eichler-304 subdivision – also known as Lynn Estates or Conejo Village – a neighbourhood of approximately 102 homes that represents one of the final tracts of single-family Eichler houses ever built. While the community has never been formally landmarked, it is widely recognised by historians and preservationists as an important example of midcentury residential planning, offering a remarkably intact snapshot of the architectural optimism that defined California suburbia in the 1960s.

The house has recently undergone a careful reimagining. Originally designed as a five-bedroom model, the property was expanded in the 1960s and further refined by the current owners, who added approximately 800 sq ft. The layout has been reworked around two distinct wings connected by open central living spaces. In total, the home now offers 2,460 sq ft of living space, with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, set on a generous 13,068 sq ft lot – one of the largest in the development.

Crucially, the renovation has retained many of the architectural elements that define Eichler homes. The ceilings were hand-sanded to reveal the warm tones of the original redwood tongue-and-groove, a detail that underscores the craftsmanship of the period. Radiant heating embedded in the slab foundation – another signature Eichler feature – remains intact, preserving the building’s original construction logic.

Where contemporary updates have been introduced, they have been handled with restraint. Solid oak interior doors incorporate rain-glass detailing, while Venetian plaster adds texture to the fireplace and sections of the hallway. Handmade Porcelanosa Bottega tiles from Spain ground the interiors with a tactile finish. Sculptural lighting fixtures – many drawing inspiration from midcentury brutalist forms – were selected by the seller’s partner, a former associate designer to Kelly Wearstler (who guest edited Wallpaper* magazine in October 2022).

The kitchen acts as the social and visual centre of the home. Custom cabinetry is paired with Taj Mahal leathered quartz slabs, while a built-in espresso station and wine bar adds a luxurious touch.

Outdoors, the property extends the Eichler philosophy of indoor-outdoor living. A redwood pergola paired with Brazilian ipe-wood decking creates a shaded area, while the saltwater pool and spa have been fully renovated using Italian Stella Bianca marble. A fire pit and mature landscaping frame hillside views, and the garden includes more than 40 varieties of roses and fruit trees.

Through the combined vision of Eichler and Jones, homes like this redefined suburban architecture. This latest reworking respects that legacy while gently elevating it – proof that, when handled with care, midcentury modernism can feel as relevant today as it did six decades ago.

The Thousand Oaks property is listed for $2,395,000, ninakurtz.com

Nearly two decades ago, Wallpaper* correspondent Paul McCann and photographer Laura Wilson took a tour of the Kappe House in Pacific Palisades, along with another of the architect’s projects, the 1972 home and office of psychotherapist Dr Esther Benton in Brentwood.

Kappe, who died in 2019 at the age of 92, co-founded the Southern California Institute of Architecture (better known as SCI-Arc) with the architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis.

A pioneering architectural educator as well as a practising architect, many of his houses have featured in films and TV shows over the decades, helping shape the public perception of Californian modernism (the Benton house featured in Californication, One Hour Photo, Cruel Intentions, among others).

Kappe’s wife, Shelly, died in early 2025 at the age of 96. A prominent architectural historian and academic, Shelly Kappe used her role as a writer and curator to showcase some of the key players in modern LA’s architectural history.

Of all the architect's projects – including the Triesch Residence near Berlin – Kappe's own residence is perhaps his most famous. Designated a Cultural Historical Monument all the way back in 1996, the LA Times once called it ‘The Greatest house in Southern California’, and it's easy to see why the architectural legacy of this particular project has been so enduring.

Set on a sloping site in Rustic Canyon, the Kappe House is arranged over no less than seven levels and covers some 4,157 square feet. Kappe’s spatial genius is in evidence from the get go, with steps leading up from the road, threading past mature trees to the front door, set beneath a cantilevered canopy – which doubles up as a balcony for the floor above.

Formed from vertical concrete supports criss-crossed with vast redwood beams, the house is a true interlocking puzzle. The entrance level houses Kappe's glass-walled office, reached by a bridge above the carport.

From here, stairs lead up another level to the centrepiece, a double-height living room flanked by a raised den on one side and the kitchen on the other, each overlooking the sunken living space in the middle, furnished with distinctive blue seating in the house’s heyday.

A multiplicity of views up, down and across are available from this one space, with low level voids, vast frameless glazed and high-level clerestory windows maximising the interplay between the beams and the walls.

Rich detailing abounds, from the built-in kitchen with its timber worktops, exposed concrete walls and terracotta flooring, and the primary bedroom, with its sunken fireplace, desk and recliner, flanked by views out to the canyon vegetation beyond. Natural planting is offset by rock gardens, as well as a lap pool with spa, sauna and cabana.

The house has five bathrooms and another four bedrooms, with walkways that take a vertiginous path across the sloping site as well as huge windows that are filled with a view of abundant greenery.

The main suite occupies the house’s northeast wing, with a further collection of three bedrooms in the more private south-east wing. Throughout the house, much of the furniture is built-in, custom-designed by Kappe himself.

As luck would have it, the realtor in charge of the sale, luxury estate and architecture specialist Ian L.Brooks, had the pleasure of assisting the late, great Julius Shulman when he shot several homes for Wallpaper* back at the turn of the century. Now Brooks has come full circle, offering this spectacular home to the market for the first time since it was built.

Priced at $11.5m, Brooks tells us that ‘we went into multiple offers within three days of being on market... [The house] a work that is disciplined and deliberate, yet seemingly free and effortless, where traditional spatial boundaries are erased,’ he enthuses, ‘it’s been described as a work of art that is both essay and poem.’

For once, the realtor hyperbole is justified, and Brooks’ contention that the Kappe House delivers a ‘continuous symphony of direct and indirect dappled light that animates the house from sunrise to sunset’ is no exaggeration. The Kappe House awaits its new custodian.

The Kappe House is being sold by Ian L.Brooks, Berkshire Hathaway Santa Monica, IanBrooksEstatesGroup.com, @Sir.IanLBrooks, DesignerEstates.com

Artist Sussy Cazalet has followed an eclectic path. A background studying printed textiles and interior architecture at New York’s Parson School of Design led to a career in theatre design, before Cazalet began to create her own handwoven works.

A love of mid-century modernist design lies at the heart of her artistic practice, with her travels across India, Africa and the Middle East inspiring her textile works. In 2023, Cazelet unveiled nine woven silk-and-wool tapestries at London’s Tristan Hoare Gallery, the culmination of a close, collaborative project with weavers around the world.

Cazalet is building on these foundations with her second show at the gallery, Ascendance, here translating watercolour studies into fourteen handwoven tapestries. The results are bold and contemporary, juxtaposing instinct with studied form to create hypnotic works.

Despite the modern feel, Cazalet draws on traditional methodologies. She begins with watercolour on paper, which become richly layered and tangible tapestries created using flat-loom weaving and organic dyes. By painting in fibre, Cazelet imbues each piece with a raw edge, calling on cyclical symbols, such as the sun and moon, for an abstract and geometric celebration of materials. Works, displayed alongside watercolour studies and vintage furniture chosen by Cazalet, become immersive mediations on form.

Ascendance is at Tristan Hoare Gallery from 6 February - 20 March

If there’s one thing that Wallpaper* does well, it’s houses – spotlighting architecturally arresting gems from around the globe and spanning the spectrum of modern design. Our inboxes are overflowing with news of the world’s most boundary-pushing architectural projects, and we strive to bring you the very best.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’ve launched a monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

A Williamsburg loft

Brooklyn studio Of Possible has completed 103 Grand Street, a loft-style residential building containing two duplexes and a triplex. Each unit is defined by triple-height spaces, tall windows and abundant daylight, evoking the neighbourhood’s industrial-conversion past. Architect Vincent Appel prioritised not just floor area but vertical volume, seeking to elevate spatial quality. Meanwhile, interiors feature tactile materials – timber, stone and linen-like textures – for an organic, minimalist feel. While the street façade adopts classic Brooklyn brick, the rear reveals playful stacked volumes clad in custom fluted terracotta, creating terraces and outdoor rooms that encourage neighbourly interaction.

A Czech studio

Päivä Architekti’s Studio Above the Golden Canyon extends an existing home in the Czech village of Luka pod Medníkem with a new timber structure woven into a steep, wooded site. The addition, which overlooks the Sázava River, includes an open studio with mezzanine, an en-suite bedroom and a utility zone, linked to the original house by a covered walkway that incorporates a mature oak tree. Constructed from steel, tanned larch cladding, engineered spruce interiors and concrete flooring, part of the studio cantilevers over the landscape, with large sliding glass panels dissolving the boundary between interior and nature.

An Australian sanctuary

Amongst the Eucalypts by Jason Gibney Design Workshop is a New South Wales holiday home that sits lightly on its site, following the natural contours to form outdoor rooms and sheltered courtyards. Despite its serene minimalism, the house is engineered for bushfire resilience – developed with bushfire specialists and local craftspeople. The design incorporates pivoting façade panels, retractable mesh shutters and durable materials that allow the building to shift from openness to full protection. Its concrete and fibre-cement shell creates an ‘armoured’ yet contemporary aesthetic, demonstrating that fire-resistant architecture can be elegant and sustainable.

A Miami retreat

A couple in Miami commissioned Brillhart Architecture to create a home immersed in a lush, jungle-like double lot in historic Morningside – an approach inspired by the neighbourhood’s garden origins and Florida’s tropical modernism. Rather than clearing the hundreds of mature trees on site, the architects mapped the vegetation and arranged a 4,100 sq ft residence as four pavilions connected by glass corridors and open walkways. Elevated 30 inches above ground, the home appears to float among strangler figs, live oaks and gumbo-limbo trees, while shou sugi ban siding and ipe shutters merge with the greenery, and calm interiors of pale stone and wood frame continuous garden views.

A mid-century icon

The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism perched in the Hollywood Hills – was listed for sale for $25 million this month. Designed by Pierre Koenig and immortalised in Julius Shulman’s 1960 photograph, its glass-walled design and cinematic views helped define California modernism. Though modest at 2,200 sq ft with two bedrooms, it has remained largely unchanged since completion, and retains its original open-plan kitchen, unrenovated bathrooms and legendary pool. The home has remained in the Stahl family for 65 years and was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1999; it requires thoughtful stewardship, and the owners hope to find a buyer who appreciates its architectural legacy.

A renovated winery

Near Lisbon, Quinta do Álamo transforms the ruins of an old winery into a minimalist retreat for two musicians. Atelier Matteo Arnone organised the plan around symmetry, driven by the need for two identical recording studios. The long, linear structure is carved with voids and internal patios that draw daylight deep inside, while gentle curves introduce softness. The ground floor houses a combined living room, kitchen and bedroom; above, the twin studios are embedded within the building’s thick perimeter walls. Patios and passages thread through the home toward the pool, resulting in a serene, balanced composition defined by rhythm and light.

An Indian farmhouse

On a two-acre site in Karnataka, Taliesyn Design & Architecture’s House by the Grove reimagines a farmhouse as a porous, nature-immersed dwelling. The 5,400 sq ft home uses verandas, open walkways and sliding glass partitions to merge the indoors and out, while materials such as hand-finished cement, steel, Sira stone and Kota stone root the architecture in its boulder-strewn landscape. A soaring great room with operable façades forms the social heart, flanked by long verandas beneath a pitched roof clad in Mangalore tiles. Bedrooms feature open-to-sky bathrooms, and a second floor – accessed via an external stair – contains a library, another en-suite bedroom and walkways overlooking the great hall.

A London rooftop

Studio Felicity Bell has transformed a Clerkenwell rooftop into a minimalist home with sweeping views across London. Built atop a former industrial building once inhabited by the owners, the addition is set back from the street façade to form a wraparound terrace and reduce visual impact. The new structure’s columns align with the original building’s piers, creating a grid that alternates between open, pergola-like bays and glazed panels. Inside, a generous open-plan living space surrounded by glass frames views of the City and BT Tower. The adaptable interior to shifts between working, living and hosting, with a stained-oak monolith conceals a studio, desk and guest bed.

It’s one of the most emblematic images of California modernism ever taken: a black-and-white photo depicting a glowing glass, cantilevered volume jutting out of the Hollywood Hills. Two women, clad in full-skirted dresses, converse inside, floating above the glittering street grid of Los Angeles.

The photo, captured in 1960 by architectural photographer Julius Schulman, forever immortalised Case Study House #22, a striking residence designed by architect Pierre Koenig built for clients Buck and Carlotta Stahl. The house has remained in family hands ever since.

This week, 65 years after the home was completed, the Stahl House has hit the market. The asking price is $25 million.

‘This is not merely a sale; it is a passing of responsibility – a search for the next custodian who will honour the house's history, respect its architectural purity and ensure its preservation for generations to come,’ the listing by The Agency real estate, says.

While the house is modest in scale – it contains just two bedrooms and comprises 2,200 sq ft – it is, in every sense of the word, an icon. It was built as part of the ‘Case Study’ house program, a challenge put forth by Arts & Architecture magazine in 1945 that tasked architects with devising elegant, low-cost homes to address postwar housing shortages. Twenty-five were built, including structures by Richard Neutra, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, and others.

The Stahl residence, though, is arguably the most famous, due to the enthusiasm of its photographer and the evangelism of its clients. Buck and Carlotta regularly hosted architecture buffs and students, while, for the last 17 years, two of the Stahl children kept the house open for tours.

‘Our parents allowed people to come in for photo shoots, filming, and tours and allowed visits from colleges and universities. Having Julius’ photograph seen around the world and opening the house up continuously has brought it to the level [of popularity] it has now,’ Shari Stahl shared in a 2015 interview with LA magazine.

After more than six decades of ownership and the increasing challenge of keeping up with an aging building, the Stahls felt it was time for a new owner. ‘This home has been the center of our lives for decades, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become increasingly challenging to care for it with the attention and energy it so richly deserves,’ Shari and her brother Bruce wrote in a statement on the Stahl House website.

‘The time has come to identify the next steward of Case Study House #22—someone who not only appreciates its architectural significance but also understands its place in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles and beyond,’ they added.

Indeed, the Stahl House’s future buyer will essentially be purchasing a living museum. The home has remained virtually unchanged since Koenig completed it in 1960. There’s the open-plan kitchen, complete with original plywood cabinets; three unrenovated bathrooms; and radiant heating. The lucky owner, though, will undoubtedly enjoy the in-ground swimming pool, the cinematic views and the quarter-acre lot.

The house was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument by LA’s Cultural Heritage Commission in 1999, meaning that – while the house isn’t entirely protected from demolition – any significant changes are subject to review.

But the Stahls are holding out for just the right buyer, one that will respect their parents’ legacy and Koenig’s ambition alike. According to the listing, which is held by William Baker, architecture director at The Agency, ‘For the right buyer, this is a legacy to carry forward.’

Once a niche corner of the internet, the furniture resale market has surged over the past decade. Part of its appeal lies in a growing awareness that we need to consume less and value longevity over novelty. But there’s also something magnetic about a vintage Knoll credenza or Le Corbusier sofa – objects that carry the patina of time. There’s a particular appetite for modernist icons: the interior-sphere is positively brimming with Togo sofas, Eames lounge chairs and Arco floor lamps. Thankfully, a crop of online platforms has emerged to satiate the hunger for, perhaps, authenticity in an increasingly mass-produced world. As lovers of all things 20th century, we’ve compiled the best places to shop for vintage furniture online – marketplaces where interior designers and homeowners alike source second hand treasures that combine aesthetics with sustainability.

The best places to shop for second hand furniture online

1stDibs

One of the largest global marketplaces connecting collectors, designers and dealers with rare pieces, 1stDibs offers everything from mid-century modern furniture to designer decor and museum-quality antiques. The platform places a strong focus on provenance, partnering with galleries and experts to ensure authenticity, making it the go-to destination for investment-grade design rather than casual resale.

Chairish

Shoppers can browse everything from Hollywood Regency dressers and mid-century sideboards to art prints, mirrors, rugs and lighting on this curated resale marketplace. Chairish caters to both design professionals and design-loving consumers, positioning resale as a sustainable and stylish alternative to new production.

Etsy

Always a reliable resource for, well, almost anything, Etsy connects independent makers, collectors and vintage sellers with buyers worldwide. Among its vast inventory of decor, art, furniture, textiles and more, you can find everything from retro lamps to handmade ceramics – a marketplace that blends creative craftsmanship with accessible vintage resale.

Pamono

This Berlin-based platform Pamono specialises in vintage and contemporary design furniture, lighting and art, with a catalogue spanning iconic 20th-century designers, studios and decor. It’s a veritable treasure trove for quality-curated classics like Eames chairs, Murano glass lamps, Bauhaus-inspired desks and Scandinavian teak tables.

Curiouz

A contemporary resale platform for pre-owned design furniture, Curiouz offers listings of modern classics – think Knoll tables, Vitra chairs and sculptural lighting. Its clean, meticulous curation makes it a favourite among professionals and design aficionados alike, bridging sustainability and design through pre-loved furniture.

LOT

LOT positions itself as a modern resale gallery, offering design enthusiasts crafted and heritage furniture and objects. Its inventory includes mid-century seating, collectible ceramics, minimalist lighting and contemporary art, bridging design, sustainability and storytelling.

2nd Home

UK-based 2nd Home connects quality-conscious consumers with pre-owned pieces from the likes of Flos, Knoll, Carl Hansen and much more. Expect premium, designer furniture, lighting and accessories ranging from sofas and dining sets to floor lamps and statement décor.

Whoppah

This Dutch resale marketplace for pre-owned designer furniture, art and décor handles logistics, quality check and delivery, making it easy to trade contemporary European design at accessible prices. At Whoppah expect to find high-end interior icons like Ligne Roset sofas, Moooi lighting and Vitra chairs.

Vinterior

Vinterior is a UK marketplace connecting independent furniture dealers and vintage sellers with buyers on the hunt for the antique, retro and everything in between – with all pieces being fully authenticated and quality-checked. The platform focuses on extending the life of furniture through resale, helping consumers furnish their homes uniquely and sustainably.

Selency

France-based online marketplace Selency’s selection spans farmhouse tables, rattan chairs, mid-century storage and more – championing a cosy, character-filled home while promoting conscious consumption. Every vintage and second-hand item is hand-verified and sourced from private sellers or small boutiques.

Cherry Cargo

Cherry Cargo is a resale platform for high-end, second-hand modern classics. It specialises in design-led furniture and accessories, from sculptural seating and minimalist storage to artistic lighting and unique décor pieces.

IntOndo

This Italian vintage furniture marketplace connects European dealers and private sellers with global buyers. IntOndo's catalogue includes mid-century seating, art deco dressers, brass lighting, decorative glassware and much more, with an emphasis on Italian and continental design.

MCF Select

You’ll find design-forward pieces such as Italian sofas, marble tables, brass lighting and statement art at MCF Select – an online destination that serves design-discerning customers with a pre-owned luxury selection. With an emphasis on timeless design and craftsmanship as well as sustainability, it is a platform for collectors and homeowners alike.

AptDeco

This US-based marketplace simplifies the buying and selling of pre-owned furniture with secure payment, pickup and delivery. AptDeco users can shop for pieces from brands like Pottery Barn, Herman Miller and Article, spanning sofas, office chairs, tables, beds and decor, making good design sustainable and attainable.

Chrome is having a moment, and with good reason. There’s something irresistibly sleek about its high-polish finish – delightfully minimalist, yet boldly statement-making. Echoing the aesthetics of early industrial design (chromium plating first gained popularity in the early 20th century) and later midcentury modernism, chrome feels both timeless and cutting-edge.

The appeal that made chrome and other metals such as stainless steel so coveted decades ago remains relevant today. They are ‘modern’-looking, but also durable, corrosion-resistant and easy to clean – qualities that make them perfectly suited to a dining environment. The pieces below bring a chic, industrial edge to crockery, drinkware and serveware – gleaming accents that contrast beautifully with matte ceramics and warm wood.

This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.

Magical year-round, New York takes on a particular charm in autumn (or should that be ‘fall’?), and there may be no better place to watch the seasons turn than from a Brooklyn brownstone.

Just one block from Prospect Park sits this three-story home, originally built in 1888 by architect William Flanagan. Today, it has been thoughtfully reimagined by Enso, the design studio founded by Yuria Kailich and Joel Harding. Their renovation is guided by softness, restraint and the quiet intelligence of things made with care.

Enso’s overhaul included an eclectic mix of furnishings, blending high and low vendors, with a special emphasis on vintage finds from 1stDibs, Amsterdam Modern and Chairish. Although not explicit, a thread of mid-century nostalgia runs through the space, evident in details like a paper lampshade, a geometric coffee table, flashes of chrome, a modular wall unit, Nordic Knots rugs. These touches are set against a backdrop of period mouldings, cornicing and, in the living area, stained glass transoms, lending a timeworn elegance to the eclectic style.

The redesign also required tackling the quirks of a historic home, which was handled by architecture firm Practical Arts. A number of bespoke pieces were created for the home: in the primary bedroom, a wall-to-wall upholstered headboard composed of three striped fabric panels was designed not only to visually expand the space but also to hide bedside cords, sparing the need for electrical work.

Another challenge involved the home’s immovable standing AC units. Enso addressed this with custom millwork: in the living room, a credenza crafted from solid white oak with woven rattan panels and top slats allows for both storage and airflow. In the dining room, a sideboard inspired by Jean Prouvé features sliding doors with rhythmic circular cutouts, providing both ventilation and visual interest.

The studio draws from the Buddhist principles of enso: zen, transience and the quiet passage of time. This home embodies those values. It’s a space defined by natural materials, tactile finishes and an unhurried sense of calm. There’s nothing overly polished or precious here, and yet the overall impression is exquisitely elevated.

If there’s one thing that Wallpaper* does well, it’s houses – spotlighting architecturally arresting gems from around the globe and spanning the spectrum of modern design. Our inboxes are overflowing with news of the world’s most boundary-pushing architectural projects, and we strive to bring you the very best.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’ve launched a new monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

A Neutra landmark

Perched in the Pacific Palisades, this landmark of Californian modernism went on the market in September. It was designed by Richard Neutra in 1948 for Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study Houses programme – an experimental post-war housing initiative. Neutra’s only contribution to the series embodies midcentury ideals with natural materials like birchwood and mahogany, and encompasses forward-thinking features including a prefabricated utility core for plumbing and heating. The original owners lived here for over five decades, commissioning additions such as a guest house, but the property retains its original finishes, integrated glazing and indoor-outdoor flow. Located near Will Rogers Beach and the Eames Foundation, Case Study House #20 presents a rare opportunity to own an authentic piece of Neutra’s legacy and California’s architectural history.

A midcentury gem

The Norton House by Buff, Straub & Hensman – key figures in Southern California’s postwar residential boom – has also come on the market. Built in a wooded gully in Pasadena in 1954, the house exemplifies the era’s lightweight, nature-integrated architecture: it features terraces, decks and bridges suspended over a central stream, while a post-and-beam Douglas fir structure enables open-plan living. Finally, large glass panels flood the space with light and frame woodland views. Still-present original details include cork flooring, built-in seating, and a concrete block fireplace that separates living spaces. While the kitchen has been updated, the home retains its authentic midcentury character.

A cottage transformation

The Black and Stone project by London-based Mallett reimagines a derelict 1930s farmer’s cottage in Perthshire, combining heritage conservation with contemporary design. Rather than demolish, the team restored the stone shell before inserting a new timber-framed structure inspired by Norwegian hytter (cabins). The dark-stained larch exterior contrasts with the pale original stone, while salvaged material has been repurposed – most notably in a kitchen feature wall – and existing window openings realigned to frame key views. The former three-room cottage has been transformed into a four-bedroom family home, blending rugged Scottish charm with modern architectural sensibilities.

A clifftop retreat

Casa Piscina del Cielo, a dramatic coastal retreat by Zozaya Arquitectos, is perched high above the Pacific near Zihuatanejo. The private residence includes two bedrooms, a guest wing, and multiple indoor-outdoor living zones – from a cinema and gym to breezy lounges. The showstopper is a 27m-long pool that extends over the cliff edge, with a transparent floor panel giving swimmers the surreal experience of floating above the ocean. The home is carved into native rock, with a palapa-thatched roof and lush landscaping. Inside, the open-plan layout connects directly to the pool terrace, offering sweeping sea views and a profound sense of place.

A Le Corbusier icon

Though it was snapped up quickly, a duplex apartment in Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille recently hit the market – offering a rare glimpse inside one of the 20th century’s most important Brutalist buildings, now a Unesco World Heritage site (Wallpaper* was also recently invited to meet residents in their homes). Completed between 1947 and 1952, the building is based on Le Corbusier’s 'modulor' system – a scale of proportions derived from the human body and the golden ratio. This 100 sq m, two-bedroom unit spans two levels, with an open-plan living and dining space illuminated by a glazed façade. The current owners have embraced Le Corbusier’s signature palette, using primary-coloured panels on walls and doors.

A concrete sanctuary

Stealth House by Apollo Architects is an enigmatic residence in Tokyo defined by its monolithic concrete exterior – which conceals a surprisingly lush and luxurious retreat. Designed with privacy and security in mind, the home features an expansive infinity pool and terrace that flow from the main living area. Inside, the design embraces Japanese minimalism with airy volumes and refined materials. A built-in garage accommodates eight cars, with a dedicated car lounge that doubles as a gallery, while the basement is home to a gym, golf room and karaoke lounge, all lit by a sunken courtyard.

A coastal monolith

Designed by McLean Quinlan, Bay House is a robust and elegant modern home nestled into the North Devon coastline. Curving gently along the site’s natural contours, the structure blends into its landscape with a resilient, monolithic presence. Clad in Dorset Purbeck stone, the 550 sq m residence unfolds over three levels, with expansive windows and balconies framing views of sea and farmland. The design prioritises energy efficiency, featuring high-performance insulation, airtight construction, a ground source heat pump, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and photovoltaic solar panels. The result is a rugged yet refined residence, blending environmental consciousness with contemporary design.

Desert architecture is an architecture born out of harsh, unforgiving environments, where buildings need to contend with intense heat and sunlight and low humidity and water supply. They adapt using passive design techniques: materials like stone absorb and release heat slowly, for example, while overhangs can provide shade.

California's indigenous and vernacular buildings were climate-responsive from the start, with Spanish and Mission influences developing this tradition. A defining wave came during the midcentury modern movement, however; now, when people think about architecture in this part of the world, they tend to think about California modernism.

California modernism blends the simplicity, clean lines and minimal ornamentation of modernism with an indoor-outdoor lifestyle suited to the state's hot temperatures and natural beauty. The epicentre of the movement was Palm Springs, which became a playground for architectural experimentation. The buildings that popped up here during the midcentury were rooted in both the city's desert setting and resort lifestyle, as well as the fashions of the Hollywood elites and wealthy retirees who lived here.

Today, desert architecture in California continues to combine minimalism with climate-responsiveness, creating buildings that embrace nature both visually and functionally.

Kaufmann House, Palm Springs

Architect: Richard Neutra (1946)

Designed by Richard Neutra in 1946 for Edgar J Kaufmann Sr (who also commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater), the Kaufmann House is a striking example of modernist architecture, while also incorporating desert pragmatism. Designed in the International Style (the dominant force in modern architecture throughout the midcentury), the home features geometric forms, open layouts and a connection to its environment via materials like steel, glass, concrete and Utah buff sandstone, as well as landscaping with native boulders, cacti and desert flora. Deep overhangs provide shade, while the U-shaped floor plan wraps around a central courtyard, harbouring a cooler microclimate.

Frey House II, Palm Springs

Architect: Albert Frey (1964)

Albert Frey selected the site of Frey House II – on the slopes of the San Jacinto mountains – specifically for its orientation before spending a year considering sun exposure to determine the optimal placement of components. The minimalist desert retreat seems to emerge organically from the mountainside (it was, at the time of completion, the highest residential structure in Palm Springs), and a massive boulder juts into the living room, both dividing the space and grounding it in the landscape. Elsewhere, Frey used colour to connect to the environment: turquoise panels mimic cholla cacti and yellow curtains recall desert brittlebush.

The Integratron, Landers

Designer: George Van Tassel (late 1950s)

One of California’s most unusual pieces of desert architecture, The Integratron was designed in the late 1950s by ‘ufologist’ George Van Tassel, inspired by alleged instructions from extraterrestrial beings. This architectural oddity is a wooden dome built without nails or metal fasteners, instead using traditional wooden joinery, which helps regulate internal temperatures by reducing thermal conductivity. It also produces remarkable acoustics, making the structure ideal for the sound baths it is known for today. The Integration’s minimal footprint and off-grid location also reflect a low-impact approach suitable for a desert ecosystem.

Invisible House, Joshua Tree

Designer and architect: Chris Hanley and Tomas Osinski

Designed by Tomas Osinski in collaboration with film producer Chris Hanley (of American Psycho and The Virgin Suicides), the Invisible House, which is available to rent, is clad entirely in mirrored glass, causing it to ‘disappear’ into the Joshua Tree desert. While strikingly modern in appearance, the building observes many of the same design principles of traditional desert architecture: the 225ft structure is elevated off the ground, minimising environmental disruption, and its mirrored façade reflects sunlight, reducing solar heat gain.

Black Desert House, Yucca Valley

Architect: Oller & Pejic Architecture (2012)

The Black Desert House in Yucca Valley (also available for stays) is distinctive for its obsidian exterior – conceived by Oller & Pejic to be 'like a shadow' – constructed from dark cement panels, quartz aggregate and blackened steel. The property is a visual resting point in the arid Yucca Valley; inside, the design deliberately reduces visual distraction from within, focusing attention on the landscape. While its colour might seem ill-suited for the desert, the materials used in the Black Desert House are durable and heat-tolerant, and paired with cooling measures such as deep overhangs and strategic openings.

Edris House, Palm Springs

Architect: E. Stewart Williams (1954)

Unlike the more flamboyant homes of California modernism – which became popular among Hollywood clientele around the mid-century – the Edris House is understated and honest in its materials and intention. Situated on a rocky knoll in Palm Springs, the structure uses locally-sourced stone and wood and floor-to-ceiling glass to blend into the rocky landscape. Indeed, E Stewart Williams wanted the home to seem like it 'grew out of the ground rather than falling out of the sky'. A flat roof with wide overhangs protects interior spaces from the sun, while the layout supports cross-ventilation.

Elrod House, Palm Springs

Architect: John Lautner (1968)

Unlike Edris House, Elrod House is a brillitant example of the cinematic drama that could come out of California modernism. Perched on a ridge in Palm Springs, the most striking feature of John Lautner’s building is its massive domed roof. But the structure fuses this drama with nature: the roof is sculpturally segmented with cutaways that allow light and ventilation to flood the interior, while curved, floor-to-ceiling sliding glass walls dissolve the boundary between indoors and out. Finally, outdoor elements such as giant boulders are brought into the living space, anchoring the structure in the landscape.

If there’s one thing that we at Wallpaper* do well, it’s houses – spotlighting architecturally arresting gems from around the globe and spanning the spectrum of modern design. Our inboxes are overflowing with news of the world’s most boundary-pushing architectural projects, and we strive to bring you the very best.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’ve launched a new monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

A pink desert house in Mexico

Casa Cardona, designed by Sensacional Dinamica Mexicana, stands out in the arid landscape of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, with its pink façade. Architect Sergio Padilla Contreras drew inspiration from the shades of the desert, but the home's vibrant exterior – which evokes the hues of prickly pear cactus fruit – is more than aesthetic: it reflects light and shadow throughout the day, echoing the natural shifts of its environment. Casa Cardona embraces the architectural principle of ‘mass over void’, forming a protective, introspective shell that prioritises interior experiences of silence, light and shadow. Strategically placed openings allow sunlight to filter across the interiors, while a tree, integrated into the living space, completes the sensory ambience with texture and scent.

A coastal Kent cabin

Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama of Studiomama transformed a modest chalet on the Kent coast into a warm retreat for their friends, chefs Sam and Sam Clark of London restaurant Moro. The 33 sq m cabin makes the ever-changing sea view its focal point – the coastal light enters through a north-facing picture window framing the water, a glazed rear door, and skylights. Wrapped entirely in thermally-treated pine, the interior feels simultaneously minimal and inviting. Every detail has been meticulously designed for functionality and harmony, from bunk seating and under-bed storage to a built-in, curved kitchen that recedes into the timber walls. The result is a calming space that feels much larger than its footprint.

A floating modernist villa

Villa Kogelhof, designed by Dutch architect Paul de Ruiter, is a striking modernist residence in Kamperland, the Netherlands. It may sound counterintuitive given its concrete, glass and steel construction, but Villa Kogelhof was designed to blend seamlessly with the landscape and sky. Suspended on two concrete supports, the villa appears to float above a 25-hectare nature reserve. This land was once farmland, but has been rewilded as part of a national ecological initiative (permission to build on the site was only granted if it was restored to its pre-agricultural state). Featuring floor-to-ceiling glazing offering sweeping views of the flat Dutch scenery and North Sea, Villa Kogelhof’s minimalism is both dramatic and non-intrusive.

A midcentury bungalow

Osler House is a midcentury Vancouver bungalow originally designed by Canadian architect Ron Thom in 1951. It was renovated by Scott & Scott Architects in 2024, a project which aimed to preserve its original spirit while updating it for contemporary living. This was done with a full frame-up rebuild, along with the addition of a terrace, swimming pool and pool house. That said, much of the internal layout was retained, with only the 1982 staircase reconfigured. A concrete brick hearth provides privacy from the street, while cedar decking and Douglas fir interiors reflect both the home’s location and its midcentury roots. In fact, Scott & Scott was inspired by archival images of the home and used local wood construction techniques to echo Thom’s original design approach.

Donald Wexler’s Palm Springs home

The Wexler House, designed in 1954 by renowned Palm Springs modernist Donald Wexler, was both a family home and a design laboratory. Originally built for the architect and his wife Marilynn, the post-and-beam structure explored architectural concepts that would later influence his steel-framed prefabs. Despite its architectural pedigree, the home eventually fell into disrepair – until Daniel Patrick Giles, a fashion and fragrance entrepreneur, bought and restored it in 2007. Working with Wexler (before his 2015 passing) and architect Lance O’Donnell, Giles led a meticulous restoration. Although he sold the house in 2015, he bought it back six years later, and continued his project.

The last Alvar Aalto building in France

Technically, Maison Louis Carré, Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s only remaining building in France, is now a museum, having been recently restored and reopened in this capacity. But it used to be the home of French art dealer Louis Carré, who commissioned it in the 1950s. It was completed in 1957, overseen by Aalto’s wife, Elissa, and local architect Marcel Roux. Located in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, about 40km from Paris, the home was designed as both a private residence and a space to exhibit Carré’s art collection, and exemplifies Aalto’s holistic design approach, which integrates architecture, furniture and landscape.

A home of Indian modernism

The Kanade brothers – Shankar and Navnath – crafted a quiet but powerful legacy of modernist architecture in India, rooted in material honesty, contextual design and social consciousness. Their shared home in the village of Nagaj is an embodiment of these values. Designed by Navnath, the house is built from local laterite stone, with minimal finishes and clever spatial sequencing. It is a modernist structure that is deeply Gandhian in ethos – simple, with exposed materials and minimal ornamentation. Navnath, who passed away in 2024, believed air and people should move freely through space. The home reflects this, with fluid transitions between areas and human-scaled courtyards.

Osler House, a refreshed midcentury Vancouver home by Scott & Scott Architects, is nestled under a cascading canopy of maples, cedars and dogwoods, perched on a slope of one of the city's southern neighbourhoods. It is also one of the last remaining bungalow-scale homes in this part of Vancouver.

Inside Osler house, a quaint midcentury Vancouver home

Canadian architect Ron Thom designed the original, one-and-a-half-storey home in 1951, and renovated it in 1982. During this last redesign, he kept the residence’s bungalow style – an unusual move at the time, when larger plots and the construction of bigger houses were most desirable in the area.

This decision helped retain the midcentury essence of the original home, which is present to this day. It was something David and Susan Scott, founders of Canadian architecture firm Scott & Scott, wanted to pay tribute to in their own design for the residence – a frame-up reconstruction and renovation of the 240 sq m house, with the addition of a terrace, a swimming pool and a pool house.

Their works on Osler House were completed in 2024. Its original spirit was the main inspiration for the design, alongside its context of mature trees, the unusual lot shape and its south-side yard aspect. ‘We wanted to ensure we maintained the feel and essence of the original house,’ say the architects.

Going into the project, the Scotts aimed to deliver three objectives. They sought to create a sense of calm, a separation from city life, and a quiet sanctuary. This is rooted in the building's core, with its materiality reflecting its context. Cedar wood decking shelters the living spaces, while privacy is maintained as a priority, with a concrete brick hearth shielding the home from the street.

The general internal layout remained unchanged. The 1982 staircase, which was reconfigured to allow more natural light to flow seamlessly through the home, is the only exception.

The home's original midcentury flair was well preserved, as the architects had pored over archival images to distil its identity. They decided to use local wood techniques, which reflected the make-up of the old structure and Thom's 1950s choices.

More design gestures to this end include the incorporation of Douglas fir and concrete bricks that add texture and a warm, 1970s tone, which midcentury design harnesses.

The architects’ favourite part of the design, they say, is ‘the double-height volume that connects the kitchen, living space, stairs, office and den, and brings light into the centre of the house’.

The living-room hearth was extended as an inglenook with added concrete seating. A second concrete-base sofa is situated outside, providing seating between the pool house and the main home – a tranquil hideout to enjoy the Osler House's magical seasonal context.

The line between office and domestic space has been blurring for some time – a shift we’re happy to embrace, especially when the domestic side has a mellow mid-century mood. That atmosphere pervades the latest office conversion by Los Angeles-based design and architecture studio 22RE.

Created for local creative agency Day Job, the space is wrapped in warm materials such as cherry wood, terracotta tiles and carpet, tempered by green concrete flooring and stainless steel countertops and hardware – a palette more typically found in residential interiors. 'We tried to make the space feel domestic, almost like an apartment,' says 22RE founder Dean Levin, pointing to the sunken 'piazza' that serves as a dedicated workspace, with custom cherry-wood desks and green leather desk chairs. 'There’s also a living room setting, a dining room setting, and the conference room we thought of as a bedroom,' he continues.

From the outside, the 1,800-square-foot building in the city's Glassell Park neighbourhood – formerly the studio of artist Ed Ruscha – is austere, clad in locally sourced Douglas fir and stucco. Yet inside, the mood lightens. 'It was in poor condition when we first encountered it,' recalls Levin. 'Like a lot of older L.A. buildings, there were multiple extensions and add-ons from different decades – it wasn’t cohesive.' Given carte blanche by Day Job, the studio peeled back the layers and reconfigured the layout to create a greater sense of space – which included the addition of a wall of pivoting timber-framed doors that open out onto a terrace area. They also considered how someone of such creative significance as Ruscha might have occupied the space. 'One of the artworks that was purchased for the office is actually an original Ed Ruscha print. We really wanted to get it back to being a space that inspires creativity.'

22RE is known for referencing the mid-century movements that shaped Los Angeles’ design language – Italian, French and Japanese Modernism – so it’s no surprise that these influences are bound into the renovated interior. 'To me, the best examples of design are mid-century modernists and futurists – the likes of Shiro Kuramata, Gae Aulenti, Pierre Chapo and Schindler,' Levin tells us. In Day Job’s office, there’s a nod to Italian town squares and the playful forms of Soviet modernism in the sunken piazza, while in the kitchen, orange cement tiles are paired with a backsplash by legendary Californian brand Heath Ceramics, founded in 1948. The lighting scheme is another standout – a mid-century design enthusiast’s dream, combining classics by Charlotte Perriand, Sophus Frandsen and Motoko Ishii with contemporary pieces by Anthony Dickens.

Many of the furnishings were designed in-house – from desks and dining sets to the sculptural conference table. 'Custom furniture plays a key role in the ethos of our studio,' says Levin, who worked as an artist before setting up his interior design practice in 2021.

Through the furniture, the studio pulls together and expands upon the material palette and design language, such as the circle motif that appears in door cut-outs, skylights and chair backs, adding to the space’s soft, inviting ambience. 'We used wood, fabric, and metal to produce custom door handles, cabinet pulls, and other small pieces that help to elevate the project down to the small details,' Levin adds. 'We enjoy working at the tactile scale, including as many custom and hand-built elements as possible. We want each project to be a distinctly '22RE space.''

If there’s one thing that we at Wallpaper* do well, it’s houses – spotlighting architecturally-arresting gems from around the globe and spanning the spectrum of modern design, to be precise. Our inboxes are overflowing with news of the world’s most boundary-pushing architectural projects, and we strive to bring you the very best.

To ensure you don’t miss a thing – and to showcase the scope of residential architecture today – we’re launching a new monthly series: The Architecture Edit. Each instalment will highlight our favourite houses of the month: buildings that demonstrate creative planning, innovative methods and, of course, aesthetic excellence.

Here are our standout houses for July.

A 1970s Japanese summer house

Architect Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage, designed in 1974, posed a counterpoint to the dominant Japanese architecture of the time. Rejecting the techno-futurism of his peers, Miyawaki infused traditional ideas with geometric experimentation. This Nasu home resembles a concrete treehouse, with bold, primary forms and a raw material palette. Inside, interiors are minimalist – a compact living room, a tatami tea room, and an attic bedroom accessed by ladder. Recently, collectors Noboru and Yuka Tanaka restored Fukumura Cottage, preserving its architectural legacy while integrating it into a modern design compound that also includes a gallery and office.

A Victorian villa turned eco-home

Studio Bark transformed a neglected Victorian villa in Tunbridge Wells into a sustainable family home using its modular U-Build system – a flat-pack timber method for self-build construction. The retrofit restored original Victorian features while introducing sustainable systems like an air-source heat pump and MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery), reducing energy usage by 75 per cent, as well as adding a 50 m sq extension clad in timber and insulated with cork over wool, two bedrooms, and a kitchen-diner.

A Wyoming mountain sanctuary

This contemporary retreat was designed by CLB Architects as an off-grid escape for a New York family. Nestled on a 49-acre site with panoramic views of the Teton mountains, the home is anchored to the hillside, formatted to meet local height restrictions. Its materials echo its natural surroundings – Montana stone, cedar ceilings, walnut flooring and blackened steel – as does a muted colour palette. A high-performance envelope and geothermal systems ensure that the home treads lightly on the land it draws from.

A midcentury modern masterpiece in California

A mid-century home in Berkeley, designed in 1956 by Chinese-American architect Roger Lee, was updated by Mork-Ulnes Architects for its new owners. Retaining the original warm wood structure, the renovation focused on subtle edits – improving light flow, concealing utilities and updating finishes. The continuation of Lee’s vision was key, and can be felt in the addition of a rectilinear central volume and playful red tile bathrooms. The kitchen remains galley-style, and new furniture selections respect the home’s historical warmth.

A clifftop house in Crete

The Rethymno House by Gkotsis Serafimidou blends into its rugged Cretian surrounds through materials and form – think local stone, timber shutters, matte plaster interiors and a cement screed floor. Its clifftop architecture also responds to environmental challenges like strong winds by embedding itself into the slope and using strategic orientation, while native vegetation and framed views enhance the immersive connection to nature.

A revived Rudolph Schindler gem

Originally built in 1925 by modernist master Rudolph Schindler, the How House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, was recently restored by Spencer Velasquez. Comprised of intersecting L-shaped volumes, the house features cantilevered rooms in poured concrete and redwood. Velasquez, with the help of interior designer Taska Cleveland, made sensitive updates, including new built-ins, brass lighting and concealed audio systems. The result is a living architectural relic that balances design history and daily life.

Wherever Stephanie-Dolores Henkle and Jordan Crane have lived, they’ve gone all in. In the once-industrial Jersey City, New Jersey, they shared a small warehouse. When they bought in the historic town of Hudson, New York, they purchased a property dating back to the 1840s.

Ten years ago, a job opportunity brought the couple westward to the San Francisco Bay. In order to part with their life on the East Coast, their home of more than two decades, the house had to be good.

Henkle and Crane found a front-runner in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom mid-century modern, perched on a sloped parcel in the Berkeley Hills. ‘When we walked into the house and saw the views, it was like, 100 per cent – we love this place,’ remembers Henkle, who works as a recruiter.

The couple had reason to fall head over heels: The home was designed in 1956 by Chinese-American architect Roger Lee for noted biochemist Clinton Ballou and his wife and professional collaborator, Dorothy. The two-level house, with its simple floor plan, warm timber-panelled walls, and stunning views across the bay, was virtually untouched; The Ballou’s cherished the house so much that they lived in it for more than 50 years.

‘Because there were so few owners, that meant fewer things we had to undo,’ says Crane, a designer and creative director.

They scored the house after beating out 13 other bidders. Before diving into a renovation, though, Henkle and Crane wanted to determine exactly what they needed. So they spent a few years living there to get acquainted with the landscape, the light and the building’s quirks. They loved its warmth, midcentury feel and architectural significance, but felt, with a few tweaks, it could feel contemporary. The ‘70s-era appliances also would have to go.

For help, they called Casper Mork-Ulnes, an award-winning, Norwegian-born architect with offices in both San Francisco and Oslo. Though Mork-Ulnes’s firm was well-versed in historic projects, particularly Victorian conversions, this would be his first time working in the shadow of a modernist. ‘I was immediately a little bit frightened, because it was such a great house,’ the architect admits.

Both Mork-Ulnes and the clients knew that any design intervention would need to be a light one. ‘We wanted to keep his original intent,’ says Crane. ‘We kept saying, if Roger Lee came in today, would he approve of the things we did?’

The solution, therefore, was an edit as opposed to a gut.

Mork-Ulnes found a kindred spirit in Lee, who died in 1981. ‘He made modernism approachable and not just for the rich, which is something we've also done with a lot of our projects,’ the architect explains.

Working with Lee’s original drawings for the home, Mork-Ulnes sought to bring the home even more in keeping with the architect’s original design intent. ‘We tried to distill the concept and make it more clear with some very simple, highly-surgical moves,’ Mork-Ulnes explains.

First, he wanted to improve legibility between interior and exterior. ‘The Modernists of that time were really about blurring the interior and the outside, in particular in California,’ explains Mork-Ulnes. So he carefully cut away some of the interior walls so that, from the front door, you can see through the house and out to the bay beyond.

The most significant design move came by way of a central rectilinear volume, to which the architect moved storage, the pantry and the house’s two bathrooms. Clad in meranti timber, it virtually disappears. But the bathrooms hide a fun surprise: open the door and you will find yourself surrounded by floor-to-ceiling tomato-red tiles, a hue inspired by fiery sunsets over the bay.

‘I think people are almost, like “What did they change here?”’ says Mork-Ulnes. ‘It was that surgical.’

The remainder of the project was in the details: outlets were concealed in the floor, dated trim was removed in favour of crisp shadow gaps, the original floors were sanded. Even the HVAC vents were designed to disappear. ‘So much of the project was what not to do,’ says Crane of the design brief. ‘Do less, hide things, take away.’

‘I think Roger Lee would have appreciated that,’ adds Mork-Ulnes.

A favourite space is the timber-clad, galley-style kitchen. Like the Ballous – who earned a reputation for cooking gourmet meals and serving hand-cranked ice cream to the biochemistry department at UC Berkeley – Henkle and Crane love to entertain. But instead of replacing the galley-style midcentury kitchen with an open-concept one, they decided to lean into the cosiness. A small dining room is tucked into a corner behind it, while a cocktail bar is hidden behind a door in the central storage volume.

Because of the pandemic, construction on the home got off to a slow start and wrapped up in 2022. In the years since, though, Henkle, Crane and their American pitbull terrier, Shotsi are enjoying everything the home has to offer. ‘It’s so warm and comfortable, especially in the evening when the fireplace is on and the sun is setting,’ Henkle says. ‘You can see the city lights and it’s really cool.’

‘It has this sexy, late-night Tokyo vibe,’ adds Crane.

Mork-Ulnes, for his part, hopes to have dinner with his clients soon. ‘I haven't had one of their cocktails yet,' he jokes.

So would the project earn Lee’s stamp of approval? Says Ulnes, ‘I think he would be very happy because we tried our absolute hardest to reinforce his concept and the aura of this place.’

Modernist architecture emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction against the ornamental styles of the Victorian era and Art Nouveau. Rejecting decoration, modernism prioritised function, embracing new technologies and materials that arose from the Industrial Revolution. It also responded to the growing need for housing as a result of urbanisation. This was architecture for a new century, employing new construction methods and a fresh aesthetic that addressed social, technological and cultural shifts.

A whistle-stop introduction to modernist architecture

Throughout the 20th century, modernism spawned distinct regional variants. Le Corbusier's five points of architecture (more on this below) came to define the International Style, which is probably what most people think of when they think of modernism, characterised by clean lines, a ‘truth to materials’, and hallmarks such as flat roofs, glass curtain walls and steel frames.

In Europe, the Bauhaus School emerged as a prominent source of modernist thinking, with offshoots including brutalist architecture. The United States became a major centre for modernism, developing variants such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School, California modernism and midcentury modernism. In Brazil and other equatorial regions, tropical modernism adapted the movement’s principles to local climates, while, in India, the quest for a postcolonial identity gave rise to its own iteration.

In the post-war period, modernist styles became the dominant aesthetic for institutional and civic buildings – known as late modernism (1950s-1970s). With the rise of minimalist modernism, which provided the blueprint for skyscrapers, and brutalism, which was often used in urban planning, the style faced mounting criticism for being sterile and monotonous. The architectural pendulum, as ever, began to swing back, sparking a renewed interest in complexity that heralded the rise of postmodernism.

Famous modernist architects

To tackle the long list of famous modernist architects, we have organised them by their continent of origin. This list is by no means exhaustive – modernism's vast and diverse nature means there will be many more – yet this is a strong starting point for the movement's most influential proponents.

Further, it reflects the societal imbalances of the 20th century – for instance, in terms of gender. Architecture has historically been a male-dominated profession, with women often pigeonholed into interiors or furniture design rather than building design. Recognition and attribution biases further obscured their contributions, frequently reducing their roles to collaboration or assistance.

Eurocentric aesthetic standards have also shaped the history of modernism, with Western movements often elevated as universal benchmarks, which is why we have chosen to represent a geographically diverse selection. That said, we have started with Europe, where modernism originated.

Europe

Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Style: International style
Famous works: Villa Savoye; Unité d'Habitation; Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, all France; the city of Chandigarh, India

Swiss-French architect and urban planner Le Corbusier viewed architecture as ‘a machine for living’, and was one of modernism’s most influential figures. He developed the ‘Five Points of Architecture’ – a set of principles advocating the use of pilotis (stilts), open floor plans, free façades, horizontal windows and rooftop gardens – which essentially constitutes the familiar modernist aesthetic. Le Corbusier is also known for the pivotal role he played in designing the Indian city of Chandigarh.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969)

Style: Bauhaus
Famous works: Bauhaus Dessau, Germany; Gropius House, USA

Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus School in Germany in 1919 (later forced to close by the Nazis in 1933). The movement embraced key modernist ideas such as form following function and simplicity in design, while also introducing distinctive concepts like the fusion of art and industry and the use of materials such as steel and glass. The Bauhaus building in Dessau, the art school’s HQ, is an iconic example of this architecture.

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)

Style: Humanist modernism, organic architecture
Famous works: Paimio Sanatorium; Finlandia Hall, both Finland; Viipuri Library, Russia

Alvar Aalto was a Finnish architect and furniture designer who embraced functional modernist principles while humanising them through the use of natural materials – especially wood – and organic forms. His career coincided with Finland’s rapid industrialisation in the early 20th century, helping establish the style that he developed with his wife, Aino Aalto, as a blueprint for the Scandinavian modern aesthetic.

Eileen Gray (1878-1976)

Style: International style
Famous works: Villa E-1027; Tempe à Pailla, both France

Irish designer and architect Eileen Gray struggled to establish herself in a male-dominated field, but is now celebrated as one of the most important figures in 20th-century design. Her style blended art deco elegance with modernist functionality, exemplified in the E-1027 house in France, a minimalist villa featuring built-in furniture and sliding panels, which was incorrectly attributed to Le Corbusier for many years.

Lisbeth Sachs (1914-2002)

Style: Organic architecture, humanist modernism
Famous works: Summer House Strauss, Switzerland

The work of Lisbeth Sachs, one of the first registered female architects in Switzerland, is marked by an organic sensibility, with curvilinear forms, expressive materials and structural clarity. She created spaces where interior and exterior boundaries blur, exemplified in her 1976 project, the Summer House Strauss. Her long-overdue recognition culminated with a dedicated showcase at the Swiss Pavilion during this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale (2025).

Africa

Hassan Fathy (1900-1989)

Style: Vernacular modernism
Famous works: New Gourna Village, Egypt

Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy blended modernist principles with traditional building techniques, using indigenous materials such as mud brick and vernacular methods like Nubian vaults and passive cooling to achieve climate-responsive design. Culturally, Fathy sought to develop community-centered, affordable housing for rural, economically disadvantaged Egyptians. This philosophy is exemplified in New Gourna, a planned resettlement village near Luxor, designed in the 1940s.

Demas Nwoko (b. 1935)

Style: African modernism
Famous works: Dominican Institute, Nigeria

Demas Nwoko, a Nigerian architect, artist and designer, integrated indigenous African motifs, materials and crafts into modern architectural practices, challenging Western conventions. He viewed design as a force to positively shape the environment, seeking to create meaningful cultural and social spaces for African communities, such as the educational Dominican Institute, built in the 1970s.

Asia

Charles Correa (1930-2015)

Style: Contextual modernism
Famous works: Gandhi Memorial Museum; Kanchanjunga Apartments; Jawahar Kala Kendra, all India

Although he was born in Mozambique, Charles Correa is primarily associated with Indian architecture, with much of his work addressing urban planning challenges in the country and helping redefine national architecture in the post-independence era. His style fused traditional elements with modernist principles while adapting to local climate and culture. The Gandhi Memorial Museum in Ahmedabad showcases Correa’s signature use of open spaces, natural light and ventilation.

Balkrishna Doshi (1927-2023)

Style: Humanist modernism, brutalism
Famous works: Indian Institute of Management; Aranya low-cost housing, both India

Balkrishna Doshi was profoundly influenced by mentors Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, but forged his own Indian interpretation of modernism. His work often featured elements suited to India’s climate, such as open courtyards, shaded terraces and natural ventilation. Awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2018, Doshi was celebrated for his humanistic approach, which focuses on low-cost housing, communal spaces and sustainable urban design.

Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003)

Style: Tropical modernism
Famous works: Kandalama Hotel; Lunuganga Estate; Sri Lankan parliament building, all Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa is widely regarded as the father of tropical modernism – an architectural style that merges modernist principles with the demands of tropical climates. His designs frequently blur the lines between indoor spaces and lush natural surroundings, featuring open plans and natural materials. Bawa’s work is climate-responsive, with examples including the Kandalama and Lunuganga hotels, where you can stay today.

Tadao Ando (b. 1941)

Style: Minimalist modernism
Famous works: Church of the Light; Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum; Chichu Art Museum; the Koshino House; the Water Temple, all Japan

Tadao Ando buildings are generally minimalist sanctuaries crafted from exposed concrete with plenty of natural light and water features. His work reflects the Japanese Zen philosophy, with a focus on calm, contemplation and harmony with nature. Iconic projects like the Church of Light in Osaka and the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum redefined contemporary Japanese architecture.

Minnette de Silva (1918-1998)

Style: Tropical modernism
Famous works: Karunaratne House; Pieris House; Watapuluwa Housing Scheme, all Sri Lanka

Minette de Silva was the first Asian woman elected as an associate of RIBA. She blended modernist principles with crafts, materials and forms suited to the tropical climate of her native Sri Lanka, using, for example, methods such as rammed earth and wattle-and-daub and features like open courtyards, passive ventilation and adjustable partitions. De Silva’s work was largely overlooked due to the gender biases of the 20th-century architectural establishment, but her influence on figures like Geoffrey Bawa is being increasingly recognised.

North America

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)

Style: Organic architecture, Prairie style
Famous works: Fallingwater, Pennsylvania; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Robie House, Chicago

Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionised American architecture over his 70-year career with his philosophy of organic architecture – buildings that harmonise with their natural surroundings. His Prairie style, prominent between 1900 and 1917, sought to create a distinctly American aesthetic inspired by the landscapes of the Midwest, featuring cantilevered roofs, open floor plans and horizontal lines. Beyond his Prairie homes, Wright’s celebrated works include Fallingwater, a masterclass in environmental integration.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)

Style: International Style, minimalist modernism
Famous works: Seagram Building (with Philip Johnson), New York; Crown Hall, Chicago

Though he was born in Germany, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe made his mark in the US after emigrating there, helping to define the glass-and-steel aesthetic that laid the foundation for the modern skyscraper. The Seagram Building became, in many ways, the global blueprint for corporate architecture. Credited with popularising the phrase ‘less is more’, van der Rohe’s designs are characterised by clean lines, open floor plans and light-filled, transparent spaces. Read more about Mies van der Rohe's life and works.

Richard Neutra (1892-1970)

Style: Mid-century modernism, California modernism
Famous works: Kaufmann Desert House; Lovell Health House, both California

Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra was a key figure in midcentury modernism, particularly in Southern California, where buildings such as the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs helped define the California modern style. His designs are sleek, light-filled and open plan, emphasising health, lifestyle and a connection with the outdoors through the use of glass and natural materials.

Louis Kahn (1901-1974)

Style: Monumental modernism
Famous works: Salk Institute, California; Kimbell Art Museum, Texas

Louis Kahn, recipient of both the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal, was renowned for his monumental, monolithic buildings that showcase their weight, materials and structure rather than concealing them. Kahn’s designs blend modernism with classical influences, characterised by geometric forms and materials like brick and concrete.

Charles and Ray Eames (1907-1978 and 1912-1988)

Style: Mid-century modernism
Famous works: Eames House, California

Perhaps two of the most influential figures in 20th-century design, married couple Charles and Ray Eames are renowned for their contributions to architecture, furniture and industrial design. Their use of new materials like moulded plywood and fibreglass combined functionality with aesthetics. The Eames House, built in 1949 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, stands as a landmark of midcentury modern residential architecture.

South America

Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012)

Style: Brazilian modernism, sculptural modernism
Famous works: Civic buildings of Brasília; Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art, both Brazil; United Nations Headquarters, US

Strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer’s use of free-form concrete, often cast in sinuous curves that echoed the natural landscapes of Brazil, led some to dub him a ‘sculptor of monuments’. Along with urban planners Lúcio Costa and Joaquim Cardozo, Niemeyer helped design the new capital of Brasília in the 1950s, including the National Congress, the cathedral and the Palácio da Alborada.

Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992)

Style: Brazilian modernism, humanist modernism, brutalism
Famous works: SESC Pompéia; Glass House; São Paulo Museum of Art, all Brazil

Born in Italy, Lina Bo Bardi is celebrated for her contributions to Latin American architecture, particularly in Brazil, where she navigated challenges as both a foreigner and a woman. An advocate for architecture’s social potential, she created buildings marked by cultural and material sensitivity, blending brutalist forms with Brazilian vernacular influences.

Carlos Raúl Villanueva (1900-1975)

Style: Regional modernism, brutalism
Famous works: Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas; Olympic Stadium, both Venezuela; Aula Magna, Mexico

Venezuelan but raised in Europe, Carlos Raúl Villanueva brought modernist ideals to Latin America, where he fused them with local cultural and climatic contexts. A defining concept in his work was the idea of ‘synthesis of the arts’, a belief that architecture should be integrated with painting, sculpture and other visual arts. Villanueva also drew from brutalism, with extensive use of reinforced concrete, and his projects often had a social dimension – he played a major role in shaping the urban fabric of cities like Caracas and Maracay.

There’s something oddly satisfying about watching well-known hotels evolve. On London’s South Bank, Sea Containers is doing just that, marking its tenth year with the addition of four new suites. Set within the iconic 1978 Sea Containers House – originally designed by Warren Platner and later home to the Mondrian Hotel – the building was taken over by Lore Group in 2019, also behind Pulitzer Amsterdam and Riggs in Washington, DC.

Sail through the decades at Sea Containers London

Nodding to the building’s maritime past, Lore Group’s in-house creative director Jacu Strauss designed the new suites with his usual narrative-led approach, drawing on transatlantic travel through the decades. Each suite takes cues from, and is named after, a different design period in cabin history: Edwardian, Art Deco, Mid-century, and – a reference to 1980s maximalism – ‘Dynasty’. To give each space an authentic feel, the team partnered with vintage furniture specialist Vinterior to track down pieces that suit the character of each theme.

There’s a sense of theatre to staying in these suites, partly due to the thoughtful detailing throughout. From playful bathroom additions – a period painting here, a deep-sea diver sculpture there – to decorative objects that anchor each room in its chosen era, the nautical influence is always present without feeling heavy-handed.

All four new suites are located on the 15th floor, where you step out of the lift to a red-walled, red-carpeted corridor, and each suite's door – through the choice of hardware and adornment – hints at the design period that lies within.

Each suite spans approximately 47 sq m, and features a generous living room with a kitchenette, a king-size bedroom, a marble bathroom with a separate powder room, and an additional toilet. Panoramic views over the River Thames complete the picture – ideal for taking in while you enjoy the included in-room champagne breakfast. You will also find a well-stocked minibar (including Laurent-Perrier and gourmet snacks), and can request tickets to the in-house Curzon cinema on Friday and Saturday evenings.

In the Art Deco Cabin Suite, glossy lacquer and burl wood nod to the streamlined elegance of the 1930s. Deep neutral tones and brass finishes reinforce the confident, structured look of the period.

The Edwardian Cabin Suite features standout vintage pieces, including a remarkable antique mahogany kidney desk. ‘We used a palette of rich greens and dark wood finishes, with traditional wall panelling and heavy textiles to evoke the formality and detail of early 20th-century interiors, with period artworks rounding off the space,’ notes the designer.

The Mid-century Cabin Suite offers warm wood floors, soft pastel details, and the clean silhouettes of USM Haller furniture. Then there’s the Dynasty Cabin Suite, a bold embrace of 1980s-era maximalism, anchored by a reupholstered Maralunga sofa by Vico Magistretti. Here, mirrored surfaces, glass accents and flashes of gold channel the drama of the decade, all held together by a confident, saturated colour scheme.

Which era will you check into?

Sea Containers London is located at 20 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PD, UK.

The storied Wave House in Palm Desert, known for its distinctive curving roof, begins a new chapter as ‘Desert Wave’, a bookable escape. Following its restoration by Stayner Architects, the midcentury modern masterpiece has undergone an interior refit by Design Within Reach (DWR) in partnership with design-led vacation rental operator Boutique.

The property was built in 1955, designed by Southern California-born architect and inventor Walter S White (who had previously worked under Rudolph Schindler and Albert Frey) as a modernist getaway and sculptor’s studio for Miles C Bates. The home is still a standout among the many lauded midcentury homes in the Coachella Valley community.

In 2018, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and purchased by Los Angeles-based Stayner Architects, who fully restored the dwelling. Its recent interior makeover leaves it filled with a curated selection of DWR’s Paul Smith Collection furniture, which celebrates Smith’s longstanding collaboration with Maharam. It includes limited-edition Herman Miller and Knoll classics dressed in Paul Smith x Maharam textiles, such as the ‘Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair’ and Eero Saarinen’s ‘Womb Chair’ in striking ‘Dots’, along with made-over DWR bestsellers, like the ‘Terassi’ outdoor chaise upholstered in ‘Concord Stripe’

We spoke exclusively with Christian Stayner, principal of Stayner Architects, on the home’s next chapter and that groundbreaking roof design.

Stayner Architects on the Desert Wave

Wallpaper*: How did your purchase of the iconic Wave House come about?

Christian Stayner: We purchased the house from the City of Palm Desert. With [funds] from a state programme that has since been discontinued, they had acquired the property – which included a dilapidated house and an apartment building – with the intention of building affordable housing. [But] there was no money to build the housing, so things just sat there. When they went to demolish the house, the local historical society, which understood [its] architectural significance, raised hell and got the National Parks Department to list [it] on the National Historical Register. As the state programme wound down, the city was forced to liquidate the property to return the funds.

W*: Was the plan all along to restore it and rent it out?

CS: We worked closely with the city to balance the cost of keeping the house and its restoration with a financial model based on hospitality and making what is arguably architecturally the most important house in Palm Desert into a space that can be visited by the public. This was a different sort of public-private partnership than the roads, bridges, and hospitals that you typically hear about – it was about finding an innovative model to allow everyone to benefit from the outcome – us as the owners, the city in having an important landmark, our neighbours by removing a long-term eyesore, and the public in getting to enjoy a house that would otherwise be off-limits.

W*: What was the inspiration behind the restoration?

CS: After it was completed in 1955, the house went through great transformations. Rather than turn back the clock to a sanitised midcentury past, we felt it was important to keep and acknowledge some of the blemishes from the rough history this house experienced; to realise some of the innovations that Walter S White attempted to include in the house but failed due to the technology being too new; and to go beyond the visual to consider how restoration can include intangibles like light levels and qualities, temperature and humidity, smell and sound.

W*: Were there any challenges in restoring the innovative ‘rollercoaster’ roof design?

CS: The roof had failed and had been compromised by a series of bad renovations and alterations. Though not visible, we fixed many of its original design flaws – in 1955, there wasn’t the advanced building chemistry of adhesives, foam insulation, and waterproofing membranes that we now have available. White anticipated so many innovations that would later arrive: the recent adoption of mass timber, of which this is a prototype decades ahead, earth ducting that distributes the cool air underground during the summer, self-shading in the desert, and onwards.

W*: How involved were DWR and Paul Smith with the interiors?

CS: DWR brought in key items from the Paul Smith Collection for this activation, bringing new life to the house through this collaboration. In the fall, the original furniture for the house will return: all of which is archival vintage pieces, largely 1930s to 1960s Scandinavian and Michigan [designs].

W*: What is your favourite part about the home and the collection?

CS: The light quality of the desert at the home is magical – and the house acts as a prism that multiplies and calls your attention to how light in the California desert changes during the day and throughout the year. As for the collection, Paul Smith’s stripes are both evocative of the 1960s while being contemporary to today.

The Desert Wave is located at 73697 Santa Rosa Way, Palm Desert, CA 92260, United States; boutique-homes.com

Clean lines and organic forms are associated with midcentury design, along with a harmonious blend of materials that adds a functional simplicity. A new book by Phaidon, Mid-Century Modern Designers, looks back at the key players who shaped the 20th-century movement through furniture, objects, glassware, ceramics and textiles.

An A-Z of ‘Mid-Century Modern Designers’

Written by design journalist Dominic Bradbury, Mid-Century Modern Designers acts as an encyclopedia, especially with its A-Z format, for those who want to dive deeper into the ‘golden-age of design’. The book showcases works from over 300 designers, with images of classic items that have influenced design as it is today.

Midcentury design was born out of post-war reconstruction and revival, with the aim to strip back furniture and objects while still keeping them engaging and fun. Functionality and craftsmanship are key, with designers crafting beautifully made objects that were accessible to many.

The book includes works from masters of the art, including Alvar Aalto, Lina Bo Bardi, Lucienne Day, Tony Duquette, Charles and Ray Eames, Jean Gillon, Arne Jacobsen, Carlo Mollino, Charlotte Perriand, Lucie Rie and Sori Yanagi, while also spotlighting lesser-known names.

An array of imagery spans from Hans Wegner’s ‘Butterfly’ chair to Anni Albers’ textiles. There are also psychedelic 1960s interiors by Verner Panton, and Mario Bellini’s ‘Camaleonda’ sofa. ‘Spider’ lights by Serge Mouille, wooden rocking chairs by Sam Maloof, and Giuseppe Scapinelli’s ‘Agua’ coffee table provide visual inspiration.

Not only individuals are celebrated; the book also spotlights how the midcentury modern design movement impacted locations across the world, from Japan to Brazil, Mexico, and Australia, each with a varying take that evolved locally. This new book is a hefty archive and visual reference for those seeking to broaden their knowledge, or just to find inspiration.

'Mid-Century Modern Designers' by Dominic Bradbury is available to purchase, £69.95 at phaidon.com, also available at Amazon

In the industrial area of Hayden Tract in Culver City, LA, a fully restored, vaulted 1950s factory is now home to a new office for music branding and merchandising specialist Ceremony of Roses. It is the work of 22RE, a firm founded by Dean Levin in 2021 and named after the engine of his beloved 1980s Toyota flat-bed truck, currently parked in the alley behind his design studio a few miles east in West Adams, where Levin also has a furniture workshop. ‘They last forever and I’ll never get rid of it,’ Levin says of the vehicle, with laid-back pride.

This hyper-level focus on longevity and recycling is a recurring theme in the artist, architect and designer’s work, which includes door and desk knobs made from rocks collected from years of surfing in Rincon and Malibu, or 300-year-old cypress planks from a ryokan in Japan, which will be used in an upcoming LA store project.

Dean Levin and 22RE

South African-born and LA-raised, Levin studied architecture at the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, but started his professional life as an artist. His first show was at New York’s Sean Kelly Gallery in 2014, which was followed by other gallery representation in New York, LA, London and Brussels. ‘What drew me to making art was that I was making it myself and I was fully connected,’ says Levin, who works with sculpture, plaster and oil paint. ‘After graduating, I felt that architecture was very far away as it’s such a layered practice to produce buildings and on such a large scale.’

Levin immersed himself in the New York art scene, but his work was increasingly pointed at architectural problem-solving, drilling with light, space and form. With a longing for more community-based projects, rather than solo art endeavours, Levin worked with institutions such as Nike and Rafael de Cárdenas prior to developing an artistic practice informed by his architectural background.

After returning to LA and buying a 1950s modernist home in Laurel Canyon on the first day of the 2020 lockdown, Levin found out it was designed by an assistant of pioneering modernist architect A Quincy Jones. He started renovating it and ‘fell in love with design’ while approaching it from a sculptural perspective. Documenting his progress on Instagram led to others seeking his services. ‘It’s so many different layers and it’s so collaborative, and beautiful things come out of it,’ he remarks on the process.

To that end, Levin and his growing team of designers at 22RE have worked on private residential properties from Spanish revival to midcentury modern, and, in a few short years, have partnered with brands such as Depop and Maison Kitsuné. They look to how modernists, such as Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Lloyd Wright, used local wood such as cedar, redwood, Douglas fir and white oak, and then mix these with stainless steel – ‘we love a soft and hard moment here,’ says Levin.

22RE unveil new offices for Ceremony of Roses

This design approach was carried into 22RE’s latest full-scale project at the new offices for Ceremony of Roses, a company that produces collections of clothing and accessories for artists such as Adele and Lil Nas X. ‘We wanted this office to not feel like an office,’ says Levin. To do so, vintage Isamu Noguchi ‘Akari’ pendant lamps were added to several of the spaces. ‘I think we used his whole lighting collection for this project,’ jokes Levin.

Conceptualised in collaboration with creative director Madeline Denley, of Never Far Studios, the new offices feature a series of very different spaces, including a 1970s-style lounge inspired by Latin American design, specifically Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and his French Communist Party Headquarters in Paris. ‘I thought, what is the coolest office that I could ever think of?,’ explains Levin.

The main area features six custom-designed aluminium desks. ‘We tried to make these sculptural tables feel adaptable to any situation, so we added little rolling carts for traditional storage space, but you can roll them around and share with your neighbour if you are not using it,’ says Levin. White oak cabinets line the walls, with a large central bookcase invoking a walk-in closet feeling, with plenty of storage and fridges hidden behind wooden panels. ‘The whole project started with the cabinets,’ he continues.

A freestanding dark-stained white oak structure was created as an anchor and focal point of the office, and houses a listening room and a conference room. The first is lined with wall-to-wall brown carpeting and walnut shelving, while the second features Pierre Jeanneret floating-back chairs around a deco-inspired burl wood table. ‘I wanted it to feel regal, warm and inviting,’ says Levin.

'It was fun to work on this with all the specific rooms, to not make it look like an office but to function like one,’ he continues, citing other influences as Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid and Maria Pergay. ‘Koolhaas is my number one starchitect. Modernism to me in LA is like punk rock. Many people say it was born in LA. Europeans and New Yorkers might say something different, but mid-century modern is as American as punk rock.’ 

22reoffice.com

This article appears in the August 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available to download free when you sign up to our daily newsletter, in print on newsstands from 4 July, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Who are the architects who built Palm Springs? Hailed as a place of modernist architecture pilgrimage for lovers of midcentury styles, this desert city has attracted some of the leading brains in modernism. Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, Hugh Kaptur, John Lautner, E Stewart Williams, William Cody, and William Pereira were all prolific here, and have been some of the key architects who made Palm Springs what it is today. With Palm Springs Modernism Week 2024 launching this week, we look back, zoom in, and celebrate their legacy. 

The architects who built Palm Springs

Richard Neutra

Richard Neutra’s (1892–1970) architecture is eternally preserved at its peak midcentury moment in Julius Shulman’s photographs – filled with party-goers on warm all-year-long summer evenings. The slim-line, seemingly weightless structure of Neutra’s Kaufmann house in Palm Springs was the perfect setting for these scenes – where conversation flowed through the open plan entertaining spaces and across the elongated rectangle swimming pool.

Built in 1947, the Kaufmann house in Palm Springs is one of Neutra’s finest creations. So, how did this Vienna-born architect, who studied architecture under Adolf Loos and developed his career in Germany at the Berlin office of Erich Mendelsohn, end up reaching his architectural peak in California?

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Albert Frey

When you look at the low, long and linear forms of Albert Frey's buildings, which appear modern, but also instantly at one with the arid landscape of the USA's Coachella Valley, it is hard to believe that this founding father of Desert Modernism in fact hails from the snowy mountains of Switzerland. Yet a look at Frey's illustrious career at the forefront of his profession, which led him from the heart of European modernism to working for Le Corbusier in Paris and designing buildings in New York, and it becomes clear that his worthy accolades are no accident. 

Born in Zurich in 1903 and coming from a more traditional, building-orientated academic background – rather than being influenced by the more style led movements of his time, predominantly the Beaux-Arts – Frey worked in his home country and Belgium, before finding a position at Le Corbusier's Paris office. There, he worked on seminal projects with the great master, such as Villa Savoye, together with co-workers of the likes of Josep Lluís Sert and Charlotte Perriand. 

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Hugh Kaptur

Few of the creatives who came to define Palm Springs' particular brand of modernism actually came from the Coachella region. Hugh Kaptur, one of the Californian town’s most prolific architects, was no exception, hailing in fact from the cold expanses of Michigan and Detroit. Yet he lived and worked in Palm Springs most of his professional life, quickly becoming the true architectural embodiment of the Desert Modern spirit. 

Born in 1931, Kaptur studied architectural engineering at the Lawrence Institute of Technology, before opting, in an almost spur-of-the-moment decision, to stay in Palm Springs for good, during a trip there in 1956. He quickly set up shop and began what would become an over 50-year-long career spanning many typologies from private and multi-family houses, to civic and commercial buildings.

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John Lautner

Without the futuristic, concrete creations of celebrated American architect John Lautner (1911-1994), you wonder what Hollywood film directors would do for fictional lairs for the rich, powerful... and occasionally, evil. His gravity-defying residential projects have probably appeared in more movies than the work of any other architect; the outlandish cliff-side constructions often eclipsing the actors in their cinematic splendour. Not cosy perhaps, but often cosmic.

Lautner’s memorable screen stars include the Sheats-Goldstein residence, aka the pornographer’s pad in The Big Lebowski (now donated to LACMA), with its expansive, angled, coffered ceiling punctuated by 750 drinking-glass skylights; the UFO-like Malin House or ‘Chemosphere’, which appeared in Body Double; and the Elrod Residence, defined by a ‘sunburst’ concrete canopy that featured as the home of Willard Whyte in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.

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E Stewart Williams

It’s hard to imagine snow in Palm Springs, but at the Aerial Tramway Mountain Station 2,600m above the town in the San Jacinto Mountains, it’s possible and fairly regular. A refuge for hikers and wildlife lovers, the station designed by architect E. Stewart Williams (1909-2005) is a modernist three-storey chalet with concrete wraparound viewing decks, complete with cosy cocktail lounge with fireplaces and sweeping curved glazed facades overlooking Palm Springs and the valley beyond.

Of all the architects who shaped Palm Springs, Williams was the one who shaped public life the most. His legacy can be seen all over town. He’s the architect behind the Palm Springs Art Museum (1976) and the Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan building (1960), bought by the museum and reopened as the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center in 2014, after a renovation by LA-based practice Marmol Radziner.

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William Cody

Palm Springs is one of the global epicentres of tasteful big ‘m’ modernism, a sprawling desert city where the dreams of architecture’s new generation came to glorious fruition, usually unrestricted by budgets and the tiresome burden of inclement weather. It was here in the desert that architects could explore the limits of glass and steel to their heart’s content; the resulting spindly paeans to open-plan living brought the arid desert landscape into the heart of the post-war house.

Palm Springs continues to bask in its modernist heritage, with an annual celebration of design, exhibitions and open houses and a strong ongoing tradition of innovation architecture. The pioneers who shaped the city included Albert Frey, Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, whose Kaufmann House continues to be the defining image of desert modernism. John Porter Clark, Donald Wexler and Richard Harrison and Palmer & Krisel were also prime movers, working hand in hand with property developers and hoteliers to transform Palm Springs into a destination for holidaymakers and weekenders, keen to escape the smog and stress of Los Angeles (the resort started life in the early 20th-century as a health retreat).

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William Pereira

The architecture and career of American modernist William Pereira (1909-85) has been long celebrated and well documented. After founding William L Pereira & Associates in Los Angeles in 1958, Pereira went on to become widely recognised for a series of iconic buildings – with an impressive 400-or-so structures in total to his name. Examples include several university masterplans and buildings (including the distinctly brutalist Geisel library), multiple expansions to the Los Angeles International Airport, as well as its signature Googie-style Theme Building, the original three buildings of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Disneyland Hotel, and the Transamerica tower in San Francisco. 

Almost inevitably – since Palm Springs became the nexus of aspirational celebrity life and modern architecture in the second half of the 20th century – Chicago-born Pereira was soon drawn to the Coachella Valley. And although he completed only a few seminal projects they came to define the small town’s rich architectural heritage. It was there that his style adapted and evolved, with landmark buildings drawing from the landscape and the spirit of desert modernism.

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Oskar Kohnen Studio has recently unveiled its latest project, the interior design for newly built offices at 2 Dover Yard in London’s Mayfair. The studio was commissioned by Crosstree Real Estate, the developer behind The Standard Hotel, to create a domestic-feeling space that evoked the company’s luxury hospitality portfolio. 

Oskar Kohnen Studio unveils new interior for Crosstree Real Estate

The new offices are set within a low-rise pavilion designed by AHMM as part of their redevelopment of One Berkley Square and Dover Yard. This project will mark the second time the London-based Oskar Kohnen Studio has collaborated with the developer. In 2022 the firm’s interior design for The Standard Ibiza was revealed, a breezy and colourful property that married Californian and Balearic aesthetics (and a staff uniform by SMR Days). 'The client has worked on many luxury design hotel projects and therefore has a keen interest in quality interiors,' Kohnen explains.

Set over three floors, Kohnen divided up the space according to the company’s new flexible working arrangements. 'The initial brief was to create an office that fostered post-covid working conditions,' he adds. 'Which combined traditional stations and private meeting rooms with more social and relaxed, collaborative areas.'

In devising the finishes, Kohnen stuck to warm materials that counterbalanced the building’s steel and glass shell. That included installing both fluted and dark stained wood wall panels, diaphanous sheer curtains and terrazzo flooring, all of which was offset by a palette of peach tones, cool beiges and the occasional pop of orange or blue. The furniture, however, is largely vintage.

'The office’s furnishings were in direct conversation with mid-century and modernist designs,' says Kohnen. 'In each area of the office, we wanted to exhibit statement vintage pieces to make this link to the atmospheric and sleek interiors of the twentieth century more visible. The entrance hallway pairs a series of Lumi Milano wall lights and a Djinn sofa by Olivier Mourgue.

'The first floor lounge is dotted with Luciano Vistosi’s Onfale lamps, and has a 70s-inspired orange velvet and stainless steel sofa, as well as low Lina armchairs by Gianfranco Frattini originally designed in 1955. The top floor landing has a pair of original Alky chairs by Giancarlo Piretti.'

In fact, Kohnen mined a myriad of references from the fifties and sixties in developing the design, including the architecture of Philip Johnson’s Rockefeller Guest House in New York and the photography of Julius Shulman, best known for capturing the work of modernists like Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra.

'He did not focus solely on the architecture but equally on the environments surrounding them,' Kohnen explains. 'You can see this clearly in his series on the Case Study houses in and around Los Angeles. He often looks through the buildings, to see the layers of the structure, from the glass and steel exteriors, to the furniture and people inhabiting them.'

oskarkohnen.com

Cadillac is forging a new path with its bespoke Celestiq model, taking the American luxury car maker to a new echelon where it hopes to compete with the likes of Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Maybach.

The company has also announced the new Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, a restored building on General Motors’ celebrated Technical Center campus in Warren, Michigan, designed by Eero Saarinen and inaugurated in 1956. Cadillac House at Vanderbilt occupies what was originally the site’s Central Restaurant, an elegant single-storey pavilion rich in midcentury detail.

Cadillac Celestiq and its Cadillac House service centre

The building is named after Suzanne Vanderbilt, a pioneering designer who joined GM Design in 1955 and worked in the Cadillac studio, as well as overseeing GM’s interior trim department and securing two patents.

The restored building will serve as a customer centre for the forthcoming Cadillac Celestiq, an all-electric super saloon that will be built to special order only. Cadillac House at Vanderbilt will be the heart of the design process, starting with a one-on-one concierge experience that takes customers through the myriad options.

Celestiq is a radical statement in many ways, from its all-electric powertrain to its expansive interior. The company describes the car as the ‘purest expression of Cadillac’, citing handcrafted precedents like the 1933 V16 Aerodynamic Coupé and the 1957 Eldorado Brougham. Combining the rapidity of an EV platform, thanks to the equivalent of 600hp, and a circa 300-mile range, the Celestiq will go head to head with forthcoming ultra-luxury electric offerings from Rolls-Royce and others.

The vehicle is stuffed with superlatives, like individual screens for every passenger, a 42-speaker sound system, active road noise cancellation, a smart glass roof, power doors, integrated Google assistant, four-zone air-conditioning, 450 interior LED lights, extensive use of aluminium and carbon fibre, all-wheel drive, and much, much more.

An interview with Erin Crossley, Cadillac Design

Wallpaper* spoke to Erin Crossley, design director for the Cadillac Celestiq and Global Cadillac Interiors, about the new model and how it relates to Cadillac’s long history of luxury design.

Wallpaper*: As someone who has had close involvement with every Cadillac model for over 20 years, what can you tell us about the company’s move into the ultra-luxury segment?

Erin Crossley: Over the last two decades, the Cadillac brand has been very much about halo positioning in the performance realm, with the V-Series and the Blackwing special edition models. We wanted to elevate the other side of the brand, which is premium luxury and handcraftsmanship.

W*: What you would you say were the historic precedents for Celestiq?

EC: You can look pretty far back into the history of Cadillac and see a lot of glamour surrounding the brand. There were just so many choices in terms of colours, materials and finishes. We have this beautiful display in our design archive that shows these choices, as well as the historic build books and brochures. There was an opportunity to really create this vision for yourself in a Cadillac. And that’s what Celestiq is about.

W*: That ‘high period’ of Cadillac design in the 1950s and 1960s is quite synonymous with midcentury modern design. Do you think this car is well timed because of the revival of that style, especially in luxury design?

EC: You know, there definitely is. All the stars somehow aligned for the brand with this vehicle, and the opportunity to reimagine a historic midcentury modern space on the General Motors campus in which to highlight the vehicle is the icing on the cake.

W*: How has Cadillac House at Vanderbilt been adapted for Celestiq customers?

EC: It’s been a lot like custom-designing the car itself. Our design team was very hands-on, looking at how we could reflect the original Saarinen design and sensibilities. We’ve been able to commission custom pieces of furniture, for example, working alongside the industrial design team at GM. The lobby features this fantastic custom gold screen by Harry Bertoia, which has been completely restored. Could it influence customers? Absolutely – these are the conversations we really want to have.

W*: Is this level of customer design interaction only possible with an electric platform?

EC: I don't think so – you could do much of what we have done relative to the handcraftsmanship, material selection, client interaction and design development on a gas vehicle. However, the point with an EV is that it is relevant for the brand at this time.

W*: Do EVs offer designers the chance to redefine luxury?

EC: They speak to how important technology has become in relation to design. Having an electric platform definitely gave us some opportunities to explore different things, from the way the exterior lights are choreographed, to the way we’ve really leaned in to the interior spaces.

W*: How long do you think the customer process will take?

EC: It will be very much client dependent. We’re starting the process with a huge palette of front-loaded colours and materials to inspire and start a conversation, all of which were created by our design team. Every client will work with a personal concierge, and they’ll then connect them to myself or another member of the design team. We expect to have clients who are very intrigued by design and probably very accustomed to being able to customise things for themselves. They want to have that interaction and be able to ask those questions directly to a designer.

W*: How long will each car take to build and what are the limits?

EC: I’m honestly not sure how long each car will take – it’ll depend on how many iterations the customers want to go through. We have the capacity to build two Celestiqs a day, with six in build at any one time. In terms of what clients can do, truly the sky is the limit. We don’t want to say no to a request. This vehicle is a wonderful canvas – every surface and panel can be wrapped or made from something different. There’s a lot to engage with.

W*: Is that daunting?

EC: A little bit. The opportunity to work closely with multiple clients is great – seeing design through the eyes of many different people.

W*: What techniques will be used?

EC: We’re 3D-printing stainless steel and aluminium for the first time, which is very exciting. For example, there’s a large decorative piece on the steering wheel boss that can only be created using this process. There’s also the inspiration from the old colour palettes, whether its bodywork or textiles. Our role is to artfully suggest ways of approaching the design. Ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Cadillac Celestiq, from $300,000, enquiries via Cadillac.com

Turkey has begun easing its lockdown measures, and with it comes the gradual promise of engaging in the pre-pandemic activities we once so enjoyed. ‘In Turkey, shopping is a social moment, people like going to shop to talk, have a coffee...' explain Beste and Merve Manastır, founders of cult Istanbul-based accessories label Manu Atelier, which is celebrating the opening of its debut bricks-and-mortar boutique, located in Nişantaşı, the dynamic fashion district of its home city. ‘In a digital-driven era and especially after the current pandemic, we find it important to learn how to interact and re-connect with each other,' they add. 

Founded in 2014, Manu Atelier is renowned for its sculptural, colour-inflected bags and shoes, which revel in architectural details, chain hardware, and tactile fabrications, from supple ruched leather to shearling. For the opening of the Manu Atelier Istanbul boutique, the label teamed up with Istanbul-based design studio Barlas + Parlak Architecture, founded by two women, Ekin Barlas and Burcin Parlak, to translate the ‘retro-futuristic', ‘geometric', and ‘sustainable' visual elements of its design DNA into an architectural language. ‘We played with natural and unprocessed textures and recycled materials,' Beste and Merve add. They also found inspiration in the aesthetic impetus of Le Corbusier and the ‘bold, sculptural expressionism' of modernism.

Fixtures and furnishings in the boutique emphasise Manu Atelier's commitment to sustainable design. 'We've focused on a minimum waste policy in our Italian and Turkish factories since the first day we launched the brand,' they explain. The brand's S/S 2021 collection was also crafted using deadstock fabrics and its latest Harley Weir-lensed A/W 2021 campaign features clothing crafted from recycled fabrics. A sofa which sits in the middle of the store – and nods to the curving silhouette of the female form – has been crafted using surplus leathers. 

‘Nişantaşı is a neighbourhood that can be easily explored on foot,' Merve and Beste add, recalling moments when shoppers and tourists used to stroll Turkey's streets, unphased be social distancing measures. When we're next able to amble about, we'll be exploring sporting Manu Atelier shoes. 

INFORMATION

manuatelier.com

An early 1960s San Francisco residence by architect Joseph Esherick has been brought to the 21st century by Richard Beard Architects and The Wiseman Group. The team worked with the original midcentury home's brutalist architecture, implementing contemporary interiors to accommodate the owners' art collection and make the home suitable for a family of five. ‘[We wanted it to be] respectful of the heritage but looking to the future,' says architect Richard Beard. 

With the home's main brutalist space, the atrium living room, featuring exposed concrete and a high, skylight ceiling, Beard admits that making it feel ‘cozy' was challenging. Yet the architecture team balanced preserving the building's original character and architectural intention with making changes. 

‘The character of the house is and was defined by a number of distinctive details and materials,' explains Beard. ‘Those we preserved, and enhanced. It would have been a shame to turn the house into just another lovely suburban home. What was odd was the compartmentalised plan. At a time when open plans were becoming an innovative architectural approach to composition, this house was comparatively segmented. We carefully opened a few things up, to give a more expansive feeling through the home.'

The Wiseman Group led the interiors. Paul Wiseman had worked with Joseph Esherick on one of the latter's last projects so there was strong understanding there of the original architecture concept. Still, there were challenges there: ‘visualize Louis Kahn’s Salk Center in San Diego trying to be a warm and cozy living room,' says Wiseman. 

Working with Beard's vision for an open, flowing interior, the interiors team used midcentury references and fine tuned material choices. For example complex and clashing floor tiles were removed and plain concrete and natural wood were reintroduced where appropriate. A relatively limited palette contrasts the elegantly luxurious furnishings and artwork. 

The result is a space that bridges old and new, brutalism and modernism, soft and hard. And, importantly, it's all done in an effortless way. Beard says: ‘I find it a huge compliment to not be able to tell exactly where original interior intersects new construction; you just know it’s awfully nice!' 

INFORMATION

richard-beard.com

thewisemangroup.com

It’s something of a surprise to learn that the biggest collection of work by British modernists Robin and Lucienne Day is owned by Americans. Surprising, because the Days never achieved the worldwide recognition that Charles and Ray Eames (to whom they are often compared) did. Even among Britons, they have a cult following rather than mainstream appeal. So why is it that so much of their work has ended up Stateside?

It’s down to Colorado couple H Kirk Brown III and his wife Jill A Wiltse, who began collecting Robin’s furniture and Lucienne’s textiles (128 pieces and counting) in 2003. ‘I first came across the Days in 1997 in a catalogue published by London’s Fine Art Society and Target Gallery,’ says Brown. ‘I fell in love with British modernism and began building a collection with the aid of both galleries.’ Wiltse, an entrepreneur like her husband (she set up a poop-a-scoop business, he owns oil wells), majored in fine art. When they married, their passion for collecting took off. Today they own more pieces by the Days than London’s V&A museum does. Annamarie Stapleton, a director at the Fine Art Society, says ‘Nobody has such a depth and breadth of material and in such good condition as Kirk and Jill.’

When, in 2006, the couple snapped up an apartment in a new block adjacent to the Denver Art Museum extension, both of which were designed by Daniel Libeskind, they realised they had found the perfect home for part of their vast collection. Their retro textiles, Bauhaus furniture and mid-century tableware sit comfortably in Libeskind’s challenging spaces, and the couple rotate them regularly. The contents of the apartment read like a Who’s Who of the best designers of the 1960s: the Eameses, Ernest Race, Roger Capron and Herbert Bayer. The pieces were bought at auctions or through galleries, and the couple talk like biographers when they speak about the designers they collect.

In Alice in Wonderland fashion, you can walk through the 1960s-inspired interior into the apartment next door, which they also own and have filled with Hungarian art from 1890-1956. ‘Kirk has always had the collector’s instinct,’ says Wiltse. ‘When I first met him, I found all these stickers inside cupboard doors, peeled off the fruits he had bought at New York’s Greek market.’ Brown interjects: ‘I had, at the time, also started collecting prints by Robert Motherwell and posters by artists involved in Roosevelt’s post-war Federal Arts Projects.’

Unlike many collectors, who prefer to operate in the shadows, Brown and Wiltse actively seek to put as much of their collection before the public as possible, while living with it on a day-to-day basis. When not on display, works are stored in one of their 14 climate-controlled storage units in Denver that total 3,000 sq ft. ‘These are already full. We need to get some more,’ says Brown. One day, they hope to bring all their treasures under one roof and open a gallery in the huge modernist house they also own in Denver.

We meet at the Textile Museum in Washington DC, for the opening of ‘Art by the Yard – Women Design Mid-Century Britain’, a show that only happened because of their efforts and which features works by Jacqueline Groag, Marion Mahler and Lucienne Day, all loaned from their collection. In their orbit are dealers and curators, architects, academics and film directors; all praise their enthusiasm and approachability. As their collection grows, so does their presence on various boards, such as those of the Museum of California Design and the American Hungarian Foundation.

Like all design party faithfuls, they attend Palm Springs’ Modernism Week. It was there, two years ago, that they had an epiphany. ‘Many of the architects and designers involved are getting on in years and we thought that we might want to memorialise them on film while they are still alive,’ says Wiltse. So they set up Design Onscreen, a production company that makes documentaries on the design world’s great and good. So far, they have funded films on US architects William Krisel and Donald Wexler, and Dutch designer Hella Jongerius.

‘We hope to build a portfolio of films and approach foundations for fundraising,’ says Brown, who at present pays for all Design Onscreen’s productions. ‘There are 90 names on our films-to-be-made list,’ adds Wiltse. Meanwhile, interest in the Days’ work is likely to rise even further this year, thanks largely to Brown and Wiltse, who are lending their collection to an exhibition that will tour the UK.

INFORMATION

designonscreen.com

This four bedroom house in Mexico City originally built in the 1950s has been returned to its mid century modern character, with a contemporary edge, by Mexico based HEMAA Arquitectura. While respectful to the original open plan living spaces, the architects have given a whole new life to the family house with new light oak panelling and a grey stucco façade.

The architects conducted research into the history of the house, finding original documents that traced it back to the renowned Mexican architect Augusto H. Álvarez, who designed it in the 1950s. Modifications from previous renovations were stripped back to reveal the original open plan and lightweight structure. Álvarez's base grid plan assembled the living spaces around four structural axes every four metres.

The original design can be understood best on the ground floor, where the wide open plan living and dining space is punctuated by slim structural pilotis, and features a wall of glazing opening up to the garden outside. Upstairs, the second level hosts the four bedrooms and the third level has an exterior terrace, and room designed for fitness and health.

HEMAA Arquitectura introduced a dramatic treatment of light and dark. The monolithic dark grey stucco façade at the front of the house, which offers privacy to the clients, is a huge contrast to the glazed façade to the rear of the house, which opens up the the garden to fuse indoor and outdoor living.

The journey into and through the house, brings inhabitants gradually from dark to light. In the entrance foyer, a sculptural chiro scuro effect is created through vertically striped openings in the front door. This space leads into the rest of the house where light oak wood interior architecture in the living spaces slowly neutralises the light, resulting in a calm and uplifting atmosphere. 

INFORMATION

instagram.com/hemaa_mx

Danish design brand Brdr Krüger unveils a previously unreleased piece by Nanna Ditzel. Launched this month, the Arkade chair completes the company’s heritage offering, joining a curated collection of historical pieces by Hans Bølling, and contemporary designs by the likes of David Thulstrup and OEO Studio.

Originally conceived in 1983, this new addition to Brdr Krüger’s collection was part of a collaboration with Ditzel led by Niels Krüger – fourth generation master craftsman in the Danish family company. The result of this decade-long partnership was a body of work that explored a new spirit in design combined with traditional craftsmanship. Many of Ditzel’s design ideas were developed at the company’s wood workshop – such as her iconic children’s furniture – pieces that have maintained their contemporary feel until the present day.

The Arkade chair features some of Ditzel’s most distinctive design traits: her fondness for soft shapes and repetition of circular forms and arches (that give the piece its name), and her signature postmodern, elegant geometries. The combination of materials and techniques in the chair — from woodturning to steam-bent wood, metal and upholstery — articulate the designer’s love for decoration and colours.

The materials can be modified with different finishes to allow for customisation, and the chair is also available in Ditzel’s Hallingdal textile from Kvadrat. A fabric designed in 1965, and continuously produced since then, the two-tone weave was recently relaunched by Kvadrat, and restored to Ditzel’s original palette – it is the perfect wrap to the subtle angles of the chair. 

Since its founding in 1886, as a wood-turning workshop, Brdr Krüger has evolved into a fully-fledged furniture brand that celebrates classic Danish design values whilst embracing modernity. Nanna Ditzel’s commitment to excellence in craftsmanship, using new materials and techniques, aligns with the company’s devotion to utilising mid century Danish aesthetics, reinterpreted for a contemporary audience. 

A version of this article originally featured in the April 2020 issue of Wallpaper* (W*253)

INFORMATION

‘Arkade’ chair, price on request, by Nanna Ditzel, for Brdr Krüger

brdr-kruger.com

‘From the beginning, we tried to bring a contemporary interpretation of an Italian Villa to LA,’ says Molteni&C’s creative director, Vincent Van Duysen of the furniture brand’s new Californian showroom that opens its doors today. Settled within the design district of West Hollywood, the 7,600 sq ft space melds the Antwerp-based architect’s purist flair with the warm Californian energy of midcentury history.

Rubbing shoulders with fashion boutiques like Stella McCartney, and design players RH Modern and Ligne Roset, the new Molteni&C flagship is an understated addition to Robertson Boulevard – ‘the showroom does not reveal much on the street side,’ Van Duysen tells Wallpaper*, when describing the discreet and muted tones on the storefront. ‘The discovery mainly happens when you enter the store and the first encounter is a living space with a fireplace as focal point.’

Inside, a balanced villa-style arrangement is made using the Italian brand’s wares, which Van Duysen describes as a mix of ‘introvert and intimate spaces.’ Hallmarks of Italian 20th-century architecture and allure invite the visitor into the Molteni&C world, as with many of its flagships, with highlights including the Slide Armani Dada kitchen and the Master Dressing system that together elevate the charming west coast environment.

Textures like the raw complexion of travertine marble and black oak create the foundations, allowing for collections by the likes of Rodolfo Dordoni, Ron Gilad, Foster+Partners, Jean Nouvel and Patricia Urquiola to thrive. Framing the space are Molteni&C’s historical pieces by Gio Ponti – a motif across many of its showrooms. ‘The same DNA of Molteni&C has been applied in terms of colours, materials and structure. There is always a reference present to the company’s Italian heritage, translated in an architectural way,’ Van Duysen explains.

Walking along the boulevard and into the flagship, you can’t miss that conceptual ebullience that infiltrates Moteni&C spaces – ‘[they have the] same red thread everywhere,’ Van Duysen describes the empire of Molteni&C stores that now harbour in New York, Singapore and beyond.

ADDRESS

147 N Robertson Blvd
West Hollywood
CA
90048

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Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary Apollo celebrations, this modest but intriguing book touches down to provide the definitive guide to all things both lunar and architectural. Paul Meuser’s Architecture Guide: Moon chronicles every device, object and artefact that humankind has ever sent to our only natural satellite, as well as the ones that didn’t make it.

Published with help from the Moscow Polytech, the book is a useful reminder that it’s not just the USA that dominated exploration of this dusty new world. From the Soviet Luna 2 probe, which landed (or rather impacted) on 13 September 1959, the Russians led the charge. Yet it was the USA that triumphed, with Apollo 11 arriving less than a decade later, and the bulk of the book charts the two superpowers’ expensive and high-profile race to the moon throughout the 1960s.

Along the way there were successes and failures, with the insectoid strangeness of Soviet-era design – always created with an eye to propaganda – contrasting strongly with America’s more prosaic, functional approach. Conspiracy theorists aside, we all know how this story ended, but perhaps most interesting of all are the conceptual proposals for bases and buggies that never happened, as well as the details of the ongoing lunar programmes of Europe, Israel, China, Japan and India.

The next decade will prove crucial, as countries collaborate with each other and corporations to justify the huge cost of space travel – Google’s Lunar XPRIZE stumped up a big incentive, but no-one was able to claim the prize. We’re allegedly standing on the brink of a new space age, with a return to the moon mooted for 2024. Architecture Guide Moon is a small but timely insight into the sheer amount of effort required to get there in the first place. 

INFORMATION

Architecture Guide: Moon, €38, published by DOM Publishers

When designer Morten Hippe joined forces with furniture maker Frode Tingbø and a mutual friend, former professional footballer Jørgen Tengesdal, the trio had a clear idea in mind: to bring classic mid-20th century Norwegian designs back to life, or, as Hippe himself puts it, ‘to highlight the geniality of Norway’s long-lost design history for the world to see’.

They set up Eikund in 2016 with this premise and, after a year of research into the country’s furniture archives, design history, manufacturing techniques and materials, the brand unveiled the first reissues of designs by Sigurd Resell, Torbjørn Bekken and Fredrik Kayser; wooden chairs and tables featuring a distinctive Scandinavian aesthetic and a minimalist sensibility.  More furniture designs are in the works for 2019, and the young brand has also collaborated with hotels and restaurants, such as Stockholm’s At Six hotel, and institutions, such as the Norwegian Consulate General in New York.

‘Norway is the underdog of Nordic design,’ says Hippe. ‘When people think of Norway, they think about our oil and fishing industries, but we are much more than that,’ he continues, citing craftsmanship traditions, which range from boat building to weaving, embedded in a design DNA that still inspires a young generation of brilliant creative minds.

Having established its furniture production, Eikund’s next project takes on a humbler scale – a polar bear figurine by Arne Tjomsland, a somewhat forgotten figure of Norwegian design. Until now, his work has been a well-kept secret outside of the country, and even there, Hippe notes, it is mainly appreciated by rare collectors. A self-taught designer, Tjomsland specialised in small animal figures carved from wood or whalebone. Hippe says Tjomsland’s designs were on their to-do list from the start, but they had concerns about their fit with the new brand. ‘We came to the conclusion that we had to get his collection preserved for future generations, as it’s way too good to be forgotten.’

Tjomsland was born in 1915, the son of a preparator at Oslo’s Zoological Museum. Having lost his mother at a young age, he spent his days at the museum with his father, surrounded by animals; an environment that inspired his creativity. ‘One of his clearest memories,’ says Hippe, ‘was of a skinned bear hanging from the roof, a vision that stayed with him his whole life.’

In the 1940s and 1950s, Tjomsland worked in advertising and as a designer for the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, before setting up his own carving workshop at home. The first piece he created, in 1955, was inspired by his time at the museum as a child: a stylised polar bear, its shape as simple as it was expressive. This marked the beginning of a prolific output of animal figurines inspired by Arctic fauna, as well as Inuits and Vikings, in wood and whaletooth. When demand for his pieces grew, production was partly taken over by a local company, Goodwill, which carried on making his pieces until the mid-1960s.

To get to grips with the full stretch of the archive, Hippe and his team worked closely with collectors all over Norway and with Tjomsland’s son Stein. ‘When I was young, I didn’t think much of all the sculptures he brought home,’ says Stein Tjomsland. ‘But in recent years, I could clearly see his genius in making those objects look so alive.’ One of his most vivid memories of his father involves him carving a piece of soap. ‘I was about eight or nine and I saw my father standing at the kitchen table with the soap and a knife. He started carving and within a few minutes he had turned it into a musk-ox. Then he said: “Now go wash your hands for dinner, and use this musk-ox to do it”.’

All of Tjomsland’s pieces seem to be intuitively carved with a sensibility that combines a deep understanding of natural shapes coupled with a poetic imagination and a touch of humour. ‘They all have their own personality in the way they look,’ says Hippe. ‘Tjomsland was able to catch a feeling in all his pieces, not too serious, not too playful, but just right.’

The polar bear is the first of what Hippe hopes will become a series of pieces by Tjomsland. It also expands Eikund’s scope as it enters into a collaboration with the WWF. ‘Together we will put focus on the polar bear and its diminishing habitat, issuing a special edition to support all the work that’s being done to protect this threatened species,’ says Hippe. And as Tjomsland’s originals were carved out of teak, a material from the rainforest, this has been substituted for a more sustainable wood, alder.

It has been a learning curve for Hippe and his team, both from a manufacturing perspective and for expanding their knowledge of Norway’s design history. ‘Tjomsland was special in that he saw things differently. He wanted to show the beauty of Nordic fauna in a pure and simple way,’ says Hippe, concluding with a quote from Tjomsland himself, which could very well serve as a universal definition of good design: ‘Because life is complicated, it has to be pure and right.

As originally featured in the April 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*241)

INFORMATION

eikund.com

Without the futuristic, concrete creations of celebrated American architect John Lautner (1911-1994), you wonder what Hollywood film directors would do for fictional lairs for the rich, powerful... and occasionally, evil. His gravity-defying residential projects have probably appeared in more movies than the work of any other architect; the outlandish cliff-side constructions often eclipsing the actors in their cinematic splendour. Not cosy perhaps, but often cosmic.

Lautner’s memorable screen stars include the Sheats-Goldstein residence, aka the pornographer’s pad in The Big Lebowski (now donated to LACMA), with its expansive, angled, coffered ceiling punctuated by 750 drinking-glass skylights; the UFO-like Malin House or ‘Chemosphere’, which appeared in Body Double; and the Elrod Residence, defined by a ‘sunburst’ concrete canopy that featured as the home of Willard Whyte in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.

John Lautner: an American modernist master

This visionary 20th-century architect hailed from Marquette, Michigan, and grew up in a creative environment where both parents – John and Vida – shared a passion for art and architecture. So much so that the pair, a university teacher and painter/interior designer, commissioned a ‘Jacobean Colonial’ style house from architect Joy Wheeler Dow for their first family home in 1911.

Then, in 1924 the Lautners embarked on a major three-year construction project, designing and building by hand their own summer retreat on Lake Superior. ‘Midgaard’, a log cabin inspired by Norwegian folk architecture with corresponding interiors of painted timber and woodblock-printed textiles, was located on a rugged shelf of boulders on a stretch of headland known as Middle Island Point.

Many cite this formative experience as a major influence on Lautner, shaping his holistic and ‘organic architecture’ approach, his passion for making, and his modernist sensibilities – attitudes that evolved further under the guidance of Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom he apprenticed under the Taliesin Fellowship programme, following his graduation from Northern State Teachers College with a Liberal Arts degree. Although Lautner left the Lloyd Wright programme in 1938 to establish his own firm in Los Angeles, he would later collaborate with his mentor on a number of Hollywood residences – Sturges, Bell and Ennis among others – up until 1942.

It was Lautner’s own redwood and concrete home in Silver Lake, his first solo project, designed in 1930, in which he put into practice Lloyd Wright’s ‘Usonian’ ideas (a word Lloyd Wright used instead to describe his New World vision of architecture and planning that was free of previous conventions). The project garnered him considerable press attention and boosted his reputation in the residential realm.

Although he designed over 200 buildings, including schools, offices, churches and theatres – not forgetting his futuristic midcentury ‘Googie’ space-age cafes and restaurants – the majority of his work was residential and most of it was in Los Angeles. He did also create though – thanks to his Hollywood connections – three seminal works in and around Palm Springs, two of which have become landmark residences.

John Lautner and the making of Palm Springs

Not far from Palm Springs, in Coachella Valley, lies the Desert Hot Springs Motel. Designed in 1947 for film director Lucien Hubbard, it was originally conceived as an exclusive enclave of 100 buildings on a 600-acre site, but in the end only four modest ‘living units’, complete with walled cacti gardens, were completed. The trapezoid-shaped rooms have slanted roofs of Gunite supported by steel I-beams and expansive redwood-framed windows. Known today as the Lautner Compound, the simple concrete, redwood, glass and steel properties were restored during the 2000s and the desert retreat reopened in 2011 as Hotel Lautner.

Lautner’s more famous Palm Springs projects were created some years later. The hillside Elrod Residence and the Hope Residence in Southridge, completed in 1968 and 1979 respectively, are more typical of the sculptural, organic architecture for which he became known. They both comprise circular structural elements, panoramic expanses of glass, interiors open to the sky – via generous lightwells or ceiling glazing – and a symbiotic relationship with the surrounding natural environment reinforced by the incorporation of existing rocky outcrops or boulders within the houses.

Although some of these elements may seem purely stylistic, Lautner was a true master at adapting his designs according to the site. In both these cases he creates homes that shelter and protect residents from the harsh desert climate while also showcasing the landscape’s natural beauty. At the Elrod Residence, the vast 60ft-wide circular living space is crowned by a ‘sunburst’ concrete canopy punctuated by skylights and fitted with retractable glass-and-aluminium doors. These slide open to provide a seamless connection with the semi-circular indoor-outdoor pool, terrace and sweeping views of the mountains and Coachella Valley. Arthur Elrod, an interior designer, worked with Lautner on the interiors for his residence.

Meanwhile, comedian Bob and Dolores Hope’s nearby 10-bedroom holiday home was inspired by a volcano, although it’s also been likened to a mushroom. The curved triangular roof features a huge crater-like aperture at its centre, opening the interiors up to the sky. A problematic project for Lautner, the house was destroyed by a fire during construction and the Hopes micromanaged the design, leaving him less than pleased with the outcome.

Nonetheless, the finished product is Lautner’s largest residential project and has been hailed as the most dramatic – further testament to the genius of this most imaginative, and cinematic, of architects. So while Lautner only created a handful of buildings in Palm Springs his presence is writ large in the desert landscape.

Lautner Beyond Palm Springs

Garcia house

Perched nimbly on one side of the Hollywood Hills along Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, John Lautner’s futuristic Garcia House is one of the most enduring specimens of the midcentury modern movement. Completed in 1962 for the jazz musician, conductor and Hollywood composer Russell Garcia and his wife Gina, the almond-shaped house is as well known for the steel caissons that hoist it 60ft above the canyon below as it is for its part in 1989’s Lethal Weapon 2, where it appears to come crashing down in a foul blow to the film’s villains.

Pearlman cabin

The home of radio personality, dancer and storyteller Nancy Pearlman, 'Pearlman Cabin' was designed by architect John Lautner for her parents, Dr Carl Kenneth and Agnes Branch Pearlman, as a holiday retreat. Located in Idyllwild, a resort town 5,000ft above Palm Springs, the home is perched on a boulder-strewn slope. The cabin is circular, almost yurt-like in plan and is a prime example of organic architecture, with the structural columns relating directly to the forest, erasing the line between inside and outside.

'Chemosphere' or Malin House

There are few more distinct houses in the Hollywood Hills than Malin House. Designed by Lautner for young aerospace engineer, Leonard Malin in the 1960s, the architect was given the challenge of creating a family-friendly space on a vertiginous lot. The 'Chemosphere' as it was later known, is an octagonal design, perched atop a twenty-nine-foot high, five-foot-wide concrete column like a flying saucer on a stick. The one-story building is reached by a funicular and a concrete patio connects one side of it to the steep, lush hillside.

For more information visit the Palm Springs Modernism Week website and The John Lautner Foundation

It’s hard to imagine snow in Palm Springs, but at the Aerial Tramway Mountain Station 2,600m above the town in the San Jacinto Mountains, it’s possible and fairly regular. A refuge for hikers and wildlife lovers, the station designed by architect E. Stewart Williams (1909-2005) is a modernist three-storey chalet with concrete wraparound viewing decks, complete with cosy cocktail lounge with fireplaces and sweeping curved glazed facades overlooking Palm Springs and the valley beyond.

Of all the architects who shaped Palm Springs, Williams was the one who shaped public life the most. His legacy can be seen all over town. He’s the architect behind the Palm Springs Art Museum (1976) and the Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan building (1960), bought by the museum and reopened as the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center in 2014, after a renovation by LA-based practice Marmol Radziner.

Public life was truly venerated with the grand modern facade of the Coachella Savings and Loan Bank with its scooped concrete colonades and surrounding pool of water – following an exuberant modernism of Niemeyer found in Brasilia. Meanwhile, quieter – yet equally as powerful – structures exuded the extreme modernism of Mies, such as the top heavy Oasis Office Building and the simple pavilion-like Santa Fe Savings Bank with its clean-cut overhanging eaves.

After studying architecture at Cornell, then the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1933, Williams worked in Raymond Loewy’s New York office on projects such as the New York World’s Fair and the Lord and Taylor department store in Long Island. He joined forces with his architect father Harry Williams, most known for his National Cash Register offices in Dayton, Ohio where he was based, and the La Plaza Shopping Center in Palm Springs. They moved to Palm Springs, and set up the firm Williams, Williams & Williams in 1946 – the third Williams being his younger brother, also an architect.

One of the firm’s first commissions was a house for Frank Sinatra. With its grand piano-shaped pool, open-plan living and dining spaces and flat sloping roofs, Twin Palms became the hottest social destination in town, setting Williams on a pathway to success. Contrary to Sinatra’s initial desires for a Georgian mansion, it became an architectural template for desert entertaining.

Williams would use this as a springboard for his later notable houses including the Edris House (1954) built for his friends William and Marjorie Edris, and the Koerner House (1955) with its teak panelled walls, stone fireplace and clerestory window. He was selective about building houses, where his expression was restrained and pure, with clean lines and limited material palettes.

While his houses have received much veneration, the Palm Springs Art Museum, one of his major cultural contributions, hasn't received a lot of attention architecturally. It’s chunky concrete and pebble-dash structure is a match to the San Jacinto Mountain range behind it. Perhaps the behemoth has been seen as too swollen of a statement in comparison to the light-weight almost aero-dynamic structures of Albert Frey or the low-rise linear layouts of William Cody. Yet these smaller structures never adapted to the requirements of cultural building (expect arguably in Williams’s own Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan building). It bears more relation to William Peireira’s Palm Springs Convention Center, designed in the 1970s too and also taking cues from the same mountainous backdrop.

The first phase of the Palm Springs Art Museum was designed in 1976, and the second phase, the Steve Chase Addition, was designed between 1990 and 1993, and completed in 1996 when Williams was 87 years old, as his final project. The weighty museum is formed of a long rectangle structure set on two squares, each rotated 45 degrees to create triangular over-hangs. With it’s double entry staircase framing a square pool of water, it is almost Mayan in its geometry, yet the building hunkers low, pledging its allegiance to desert modernism.

The entrance ‘pavilion’ features two galleries to its left and right, and opens up a low pathway into a structure behind that features a soaring atrium. Inside this a rough ribbed concrete staircase leads up towards curved glazing that brings in a controlled amount of daylight. Look up, and you’ll see the permanent collection galleries overlooking the spaces with their irregularly-cut balconies of varied recessions.

Beneath ground is the Annenberg Theatre, one of Palm Springs’ key events venues, and an open-air subterranean courtyard – a surrealist desert modern dream where sculptures meet cacti, a slab of concrete bridges a bright blue pool, while the whole weight of the museum cantilevers above, creating a shady structural overhang – a desert modern masterpiece.

For the residents of Palm Springs – and those who flock to the desert enclave for the annual Modernism Week – midcentury desert modernism is more than an architectural style, it’s a lifestyle choice. No other architectural sub-style has managed to capture such a distinct culture alongside it, yet author Sam Lubell and photographer Darren Bradley went on an East Coast search and found some strong contenders, notably, Sarasota.

Following a trail from Maine to Florida, Lubell and Bradley collated a neat travel guide of midcentury modern buildings down the East Coast. They sought out lesser known examples, each uniquely adapted to their geographical contexts and promoting an equally unique sub-style of modernism, from organic, to space-aged and classical.

Horgan Academy of Irish Dance, Alexander and Nichols, 1964, Naugatuck, Connecticut, US (page 68). Photography: Darren Bradley

During Palm Springs Modernism Week 2019, the pair will host an event exploring the various degrees of midcentury modernism, revisiting some of the 250 projects highlighted in the book where you can find directions and information for visiting, and admiring each midcentury masterpiece. We couldn’t wait to find out more...

Wallpaper*: What was your definition of ‘midcentury modernism’ when creating this book? Is it a time frame, a style or a feeling?
Sam Lubell: We took a wide definition of midcentury modernism, encompassing several modern styles and philosophies from the late 1930’s through the early 1970s. All modernist styles embraced the future, employed modern technologies, and clearly expressed their materials and functions. Many people conflate midcentury modern with the simple glass, concrete and steel forms of the international style, which grew out of an industrial vernacular and collective spirit and were later co-opted through so-called ‘corporate modernism’. But it played out in many more ways, following many muses, including natural-inspired organic modernism, space-aged googie, classically-modeled new formalism, concrete-loving brutalism, biologically-organised metabolism and much more.

Greater Refuge Temple, Costas Machlouzarides, 1968, New York, New York, US (page 119). Photography: Darren Bradley

W*: What was the most unexpected challenge you encountered on your travels down the coast?
Darren Bradley: Normally, as an architectural photographer, I do a lot of planning and have lots of time and unlimited access to a building that I'm photographing. But for a book like this, we were traveling from city to city down the coast. I was often photographing buildings that I was seeing for the first time, with little or no advanced notice, and in all weather and light conditions. Sometimes, I'd be harassed by security guards, or have to shoot around road construction in front of the building. Inevitably, large delivery vans seemed to always be parked right in front, etc. Murphy's Law happened more often than not. Regardless of the conditions, I had to figure out how to make it work, and get the shot. And I usually only had a few minutes in each location, and no chance to do it over again.

W*: Were there any buildings that didn’t make the cut that you want to shout out?
DB: There were several buildings that we couldn't include simply because they are not visible from the street or open to the public. The personal residence of IBM designer Eliot Noyes in New Canaan, Connecticut is one of them. Sam and I had the privilege of visiting the house on one of our trips, but we couldn't put it in the book. It is beautiful, and in perfect original condition.

W*: Did you discover the distinct breed of Palm Springs ‘desert modernism’ elsewhere in any other buildings? Or is it totally distinct and if so, why do you think this is?
DB: Good modernist architecture is usually pretty well adapted to its environment and climate. The modernist architecture of Palm Springs is designed for the desert, with flat or low-gabled rooflines that provide deep overhangs for lots of shade. They aren't worried about snow, ice, rain, or even mosquitos or other bugs. It never gets very cold, either. There aren't any deserts on the east coast, obviously, and so you don't find many Palm Springs-style houses. Surprisingly, we did find a few, though. There's one example in the book on Cape Cod, strangely enough. But it's a vacation home that's only used in the summer, I think. There are also some homes in Florida that are similar... I guess Florida is probably the closest – although more rain there, and more bugs.

Pier Sixty Six, Richard F. Humble, 1957, Fort Lauderdale, US. Photography: Darren Bradley

W*: Palm Springs is synonymous with midcentury modernism. Is there an East Coast enclave with similar potential?
SL: There are several notable modernist enclaves along the East Coast, including New Canaan, CT, Litchfield, CT, Raleigh, NC, and of course major cities like New York, Boston, Miami and Washington. But the closest to Palm Springs in scale and climate is Sarasota, where a glut of talent, a future-loving spirit and progressive clients like Philip Hiss combined to create a must-see variety of modernist buildings.

Some of my favourites include Paul Rudolph’s Sarasota High School and Umbrella House, Victor Lundy’s St Paul’s Lutheran Church and Heron House, and the work of other noted modernists like Ralph Twitchell, Taliesen Associated Architects, Tim Seibert, Gene Leedy and more. Sarasota even hosts its own version of Modernism Week, SarasotaMOD Weekend, which takes place in the Fall.

W*: Can you describe your Palm Springs highlight to date?
SL: My Palm Springs highlight to date was our Modernism Week talk at the Ace Hotel two years ago for the West Coast Guide. Every seat was filled, and the audience was vocally passionate about modernism, and our exploration of it. The line for the book signing portion lasted about an hour. Those in line asked great questions and suggested useful projects for future guides. People who come to Modernism Week have an incredible understanding of what makes this time period, and these designs, so special, and it’s always a pleasure to interact with them. §

On the Road: Visiting East Coast Midcentury Modernism’ takes place at the Modernism Week CAMP Theater on 20 February 2019. See more news and highlights from Palm Springs Modernism Week here.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Wallpaper* Modernism Week 2019 highlights, the Phaidon website and the Modernism Week website

As a teenager in 1940s Calgary, Arthur Mudry dreamed of being an aeroplane engineer. But a chance discovery of a book on gothic cathedrals caught his imagination, and changed his career trajectory to architecture. Perhaps this is why his work embodies a sense of both the sacred and the ethereal.

In the architectural cathedral that is West Vancouver’s coastal forest, as one approaches his 1965 Beaton residence from its steep cliffside entry that descends towards the Pacific waters of Garrow Bay, the house appears to hover over the landscape. There’s a feeling that the magnificent home, at one with its site, could take flight at any moment. In fact, feats of architectural levitation aside, the house is in danger of disappearing.

West Vancouver, Canada’s treasure trove of midcentury modernism, where Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom, Barry Downs, Fred Hollingsworth and other architects built some of their most sublime residences, has a rapidly rising real estate value. Erickson’s Graham House fell victim to lax preservation laws in 2007. Now other midcentury gems, such as the BC Binning house, are on deathwatch in a district where developers often triumph over heritage advocates.

So it is a rare privilege to spend time with Mudry revisiting one of his most beloved houses, one that, after the demise of its original owners last year, is listed at C$7.9m (£4.6m) – ‘lot value’, says a local developer whose company, like many others, now builds ‘monster homes’ on West Vancouver’s large lots, often ten times the size of the relatively modest midcentury footprints like that of the Beaton residence.

Rooted in bedrock, yet reaching for the sky, bound by sea and forest, the house is a device for viewing nature. A kind of rustic West Coast pavilion – a cousin perhaps to Arthur Erickson’s 1958 Filberg House – it is part Shinto temple, part paean to Pacific forest. A residential shrine, its architecture draws in the centrifugal force of the elements. It would seem no coincidence that Mudry’s subsequent project was a rough cedar-clad Baptist church in West Vancouver, shrouded by a grove of old-growth firs. 

For Mudry, revisiting the house he built for Malcolm Beaton, a bookmaker, and his young family, is like rekindling an old romance. ‘The first time I saw it, I fell in love with this site,’ confesses the Frank Lloyd Wright afficionado. ‘This,’ he exclaims, opening his arms wide to embrace the ocean, forest and bedrock of what was once a camping site for his clients, ‘is so big! And if you don’t grasp that – then you’ve missed the essence of this place.’

‘Nature is sacrosanct,’ proclaims the now 85-year-old architect, ‘so I tried to tie the form of living into the crevices of the rocks and the spirit of the trees.’ Rather than blasting the bedrock, Mudry designed a meandering entranceway via a winding staircase that respects the contours of the site.

‘There should be joy in how you walk to the entrance – but also awareness of the environment. It’s not that easy,’ he laughs, ‘to get to the front door.’ Inspired by the surrounding trees, Mudry conceived the form of the house as one supported by a series of hyperbolic paraboloid posts that open up like parasols, creating a sense of interior forest canopy. ‘I wanted this house to be rooted into the ground,’ Mudry explains, ‘and then to grow vertically like a tree that opens up, creating the ceiling.’

It’s a design that ultimately enhances rather than detracts from the environment. ‘One of the sins of our time,’ rails the architect, ‘is that when we find beauty in nature, we never know how to live with it in the right relationship.’ ‘But this house,’ he continues, ‘adopted the people that inhabited it, giving them shelter and protection.’

As one enters the house, he says, ‘it’s like stepping into nature’. And indeed, once past the heavy timber Japanese-style door and welcoming lanterns, the westward view of ocean provides an instant embrace.

Arriving upstairs in the master bedroom, sheltered to the east by a Japanese-style lattice and etched-glass window that create a double screening effect, the whole bay seems to envelope the space. Standing at the main entrance downstairs, the tip of the ceiling is visible through the south-facing glazing. The eye follows its line to reveal a cedar post supporting the umbrella-like vaulted ceiling, with no cross beams to distract from the arc of the protective forest-like canopy.

From the great hall-like living space – a mini-cathedral in the woods – ocean, islands and mountains sing their hymns. The master bedroom upstairs observes it all as if from a choir loft. The house is a canvas for the elements; a tabula rasa reinvented every day by shifting light and tides. At night, its western façade becomes a jewel-like Japanese lantern. But it’s the sunset that makes Mudry – who is clearly concerned about the fate of the building – most emotional. ‘You should see it!’ he enthuses, his eyes alive with memories. ‘When the sun reaches the horizon and hits the interior, suddenly everything’s on fire!’

As originally featured in the October 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*235)

Palm Springs is one of the global epicentres of tasteful big ‘m’ modernism, a sprawling desert city where the dreams of architecture’s new generation came to glorious fruition, usually unrestricted by budgets and the tiresome burden of inclement weather. It was here in the desert that architects could explore the limits of glass and steel to their heart’s content; the resulting spindly paeans to open-plan living brought the arid desert landscape into the heart of the post-war house.

Palm Springs continues to bask in its modernist heritage, with an annual celebration of design, exhibitions and open houses and a strong ongoing tradition of innovation architecture. The pioneers who shaped the city included Albert Frey, Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, whose Kaufmann House continues to be the defining image of desert modernism. John Porter Clark, Donald Wexler and Richard Harrison and Palmer & Krisel were also prime movers, working hand in hand with property developers and hoteliers to transform Palm Springs into a destination for holidaymakers and weekenders, keen to escape the smog and stress of Los Angeles (the resort started life in the early 20th-century as a health retreat).

In addition to the restrained modern elegance of the post-war era, Palm Springs was also home to eclectic design voices, drawn by both the light and space and the eccentricities of the burgeoning city’s clientele. ‘Desert Modern’ was the result.

William F. Cody is one of the style’s prime exponents. Cody came to Palm Springs in 1945 in search of fame and architectural fortune. He had been lured by the formidable Nellie Coffman – ‘The Mother of Palm Springs’ – to extend the Desert Inn, the sanatorium she founded in 1909 and which evolved throughout the century. Cody was just 29, a recent graduate from the College of Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Southern California (alumni of the era included Paul Revere Williams, Pierre Koenig and William Krisel).

The following year, Cody received his first stand-alone job, the Del Marcos Hotel. Commissioned by Samuel and Adele Marcus, the 17-room hotel was modest in scale but big on ambition, with a low-rise, linear approach to design. The suites were generously sized, their glazed doors opening up onto a terrace with loungers arranged around a pool; it was the quintessential Californian dream transformed into an accessible experience. The mix of wood, stone and glass, paired with a futuristic sheen created by canted walls, thrusting angles and elongated forms became his aesthetic calling card.

The Del Marcos, which was restored to its former glory in 2012, won awards for its audacious, populist take on modernity. It set Cody on the path to local fame, a process that accelerated after he moved to the city and designed his own residence. In common with his peers, he didn’t specialise, choosing to apply his design magic to any building typology that came his way. His next major project was a conversion, transforming the Thunderbird Ranch into a country club and golf course, complete with clubhouse and a number of private houses scattered around the 663 acre site. Cody had arrived.

Additional country club designs came his way, as did private houses, churches and the city’s library. Clients included Frank Sinatra, for whom he created a second Palm Springs home at Rancho Mirage, but it was in hospitality design that he excelled.

Cody’s houses were only slightly more austere, sprawling modern pavilions that were typically arranged over a single level, united by pergolas and patios, pools and breakout areas. He was a local, well connected and therefore in tune with the desert lifestyle, with its glamorous mix of golf, cocktails and pool parties. His residences shaped a world of perpetual lazy hedonism, making the most of the desert’s space, light and landscape.

Many of these houses survive, albeit remodelled for the modern era, as do his civic buildings. William F. Cody died in 1978, aged just 62. He never saw Palm Springs’ resurgence as a modernist mecca, but would have relished his place in the pantheon of names that defined the city. More than anything else, his eccentric approach showed that modern architecture needn’t be constricted by aesthetics.

Read more in our series on the architects who built Palm Springs here.

Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) was a pioneer in using tubular steel to create mass-market furniture, helping shape the modernist movement. The Paris-born architect and designer is now getting her overdue recognition in an exhibition of works at Venus Over Manhattan in New York City.

This is the largest exhibition of Perriand’s work, exploring almost 50 works spanning the breadth of the designer’s nearly eight-decade career.

Produced in collaboration with François Laffanour of Galerie Downtown in Paris, the exhibition brings together Venus Over Manhattan’s commitment to highlighting ‘established artists whose works have been somewhat overlooked’ and Laffanour’s focus on 20th-century European and American masters of design to inform a unique lens.

Perriand first made a splash at the Salon d’Automne with her ‘Bar sous le Toit’, a bar constructed of polished aluminum and glass shelves (1927). One of those impressed by the project was Le Corbusier, who hired Perriand to lead design for his studio — after rejecting her portfolio earlier that year with: ‘We don’t embroider cushions here.’

Together, they went on to design iconic pieces such as the ‘LC4 chaise lounge’ and ‘Fauteuil chrome tubulaire, Édition Thonet’ (with Pierre Jeanneret, 1928), both which helped to establish the machine aesthetic and a highlight of the exhibition.

Other works on display include a rare six-sided table, appropriately called ‘Table à six pans’ (1949) based on the design of Perriand’s first wooden table, which she made in 1938 for her apartment in Montparnasse and her ‘Cusine-Bar Marseille’ (1952) installed alongside kelly green and mustard-coloured walls.

‘Charlotte Perriand’ is currently on view a short walk away from other women-headling shows currently taking over New York: Hilma af Klint at the Guggenheim and Martha Rosler at the Jewish Museum.

INFORMATION
‘Charlotte Perriand’ is on view until 12 January 2019. For more information, visit the Venus Over Manhattan website and the Galerie Downtown website

ADDRESS

980 Madison Avenue
3rd Floor
New York
NY 10075

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John Lautner was the great architectural dramatist of his age. His chief partner was geography itself, and Lautner created a series of gravity-defying statement houses in California and beyond. Rather than attempt to tame or temper a site, Lautner worked with nature, anchoring his futuristic sculpted houses to hillsides and cliff tops, as with his Elrod House in Palm Springs, the Arango residence in Acapulco and the Garcia House on Mulholland Drive.

Here, Lautner created a mesmerising home, completed in 1962, for jazz musician Russell Garcia and his wife, Gina. Gina is a composer and a conductor, who worked with many of the Hollywood film studios. The house Lautner designed for him was pitched up on the Hollywood Hills, clinging to the steeply sloping terrain, while taking in view of Los Angeles to the southwest.

Because the site was so rugged and barren in the early 1960s, Lautner decided to pepper the glass walls of the house front and back with panes of coloured glass to give it a warmer feeling. But Russell and Gina Garcia still didn’t last long in the house. In 1966, at the peak of Garcia’s fame, the couple sold up lock, stock and barrel, bought a boat, and went sailing around the world.

Thus the house became a floating landmark on Mulholland, winning a bit part in Lethal Weapon 2 along the way, but it was not always well taken care of. Upheavals in the 1980s meant the loss of many of Lautner’s original fixtures and fittings and by the time the last owner, actor and director Vincent Gallo, sold up, the Garcia house needed some healing. New owners John McIlwee, an entertainment business manager, and Bill Damaschke – president of creative production at Dreamworks Animation – embarked on a sensitive restoration in 2002, balancing the need to update the house for 21st-century living with preserving its special character.

‘We feel that the whole thing was tremendous kismet,’ says McIlwee, who saw the house advertised in the property pages on the morning of his birthday. ‘We have a friend who lives just up the street and we would drive by the house. I remember looking at it and thinking there’s no way we could spend that much money on a house that needed so much work. But in retrospect we can’t believe we got the house for the price we did, with all the resurgence of interest in the art and culture of midcentury design.’ He adds: ‘People don’t look at this as just a house, because you can easily get bigger places with more square footage and more land. They see it as a piece of art – a weird jewel box, sitting on stilts, high up above the whole canyon.’

‘When we embarked on this project, we did a lot of homework,’ adds McIlwee, ‘and we looked at a lot of architects.’ Los Angeles-based practice Marmol Radziner won out. Damaschke first came across its work in a magazine; as well as designing houses for Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Ford, the architects Leo Marmol and Rod Radziner has restored a whole series of modernist classics by Albert Frey, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra. ‘They were so responsive and their attention to detail was meticulous. It had to be custom fixtures, custom furniture, custom everything to make it feel as special and unique as it is. We realised it would be a challenge, but didn’t realise to what degree,’ says Damaschke.

While Lautner’s structural engineering had largely stood the test of time, with the steel anchors holding up well, other parts of the house had not. The roof was leaking, there was dry rot and almost all the original built-in furniture had either been removed or ruined.

‘Worst of all, the transparency through the centre of the house had been lost to a great extent,’ says Radziner. ‘Working with Bill and John, we were able to bring that back while still providing some privacy from the street, given that people do stop and look at this house. Restoring a building like this is a subtle balancing act, as you want to make sure that you don’t lose its soul. A house like this has integrity and there are some things that you need to revise to make it liveable, but you have to make sure that you do that in a way that feels natural and in harmony with the house the architect created.’

Marmol Radziner was able to restore elements, such as the terrazzo floors and the windows, including the stained glass, plus an occasional light fitting, and they managed to keep the kitchen sink. Just about everything else had gone in the 1980s or had been trashed under layers of grey paint. Having stripped the house back to its bones and updated all the services, Marmol Radziner began reinterpreting the many bespoke fitted elements of the place, from the walnut cabinet work and kitchen to the fitted L-shaped sofa in the living room.

‘When it came to the master bedroom, we did reconfigure the space a bit because there hadn’t been a master suite and we needed to make it work for Bill and John,’ says Radziner. ‘But the process was very subtle and not done in a way that would change the feeling of the house.’

The restoration was completed in 2005, when McIlwee and Damaschke asked interior designer Darren Brown to work on the loose furnishings. Brown blended an eclectic mix of contemporary and retro pieces for a glamorous, updated Studio 54-inspired look to suit the futuristic Jetsons look of the house itself.

Now the entire team is reassembling to build a pool alongside the house, inspired by Lautner’s original and unbuilt design. McIlwee and Damaschke are also taking time to enjoy the house that the Garcias gave up. ‘The Garcia House is one of Lautner’s most iconic works,’ finishes Radziner. ‘Some of that is to do with the simplicity of the expression of the form – the one arched roof that spans the entire living space with that hole through the centre framing the views of the city beyond. It’s one of maybe five houses in Los Angeles that defines the city clearly. It really is known as a part of LA.’

As originally featured in the January 2009 issue of Wallpaper* (W*118)