Category: Architecture and Interiors

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I Could Live There

Beautiful.

I can smell these pictures. Over the course of my life I’ve spent enough time in homes of this vintage to recall that very specific smell produced by wood, old plaster, and time…and it’s wonderful.

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As A Lifelong Fan of FLW (And His Progeny), I Could Most Certainly Live There

Located in West Hollywood the Olga & Llloyd Wright House & Studio designed by Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyd Wright’s eldest son) in 1926. Designed in the Mayan Revival style the home is a signature example of Lloyd Wright’s architectural vocabulary, blending Art Deco with pre‑Columbian motifs. The home was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1987 and was restored by Lloyd Wright’s son architect Eric Lloyd Wright in the 1990’s.

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Would You Live Here?

Casa Tupin in Brasília has no windows, at least not in the traditional sense, Coral-coloured brick screens wrap the entire house, filtering light, blocking heat, and letting air move freely in every direction. the house sits on 12 pillars so the cerrado can grow beneath it and the lizards and burrowing owls of the Brazilian savanna can roam freely between the garden and the courtyard. From the street it looks closed. inside it opens completely.⁠

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My first thought was what happens to those interiors during a windy thunderstorm? But if you look closely at the pictures (more here) you’ll see that there are actually sliding glass panels inside the brick that can be opened or closed to allow ventilation from the outside. Knowing this, I kind of like the concept, although keeping the place dusted must be a nightmare.

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Would You Live Here?

In 1976, architect Tadao Ando designed the Azuma House in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan. The residence occupies a narrow plot between two traditional wooden row houses. It was built with smooth reinforced concrete and features no street-facing windows.

The design centers on an open-air courtyard that splits the interior into two distinct sections. Residents must walk outside through the rain or cold to move from the kitchen to the bedroom. This intentional choice forces a constant interaction with the natural elements within a crowded urban environment.

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I’d Knock Out The Dedicated Pantry…

…and get rid the Maid’s Room, pushing the kitchen wall to line up with the Maid’s Room.. I’d then turn the Maid’s Room into a Den/Office.  I’d also turn the Mud Room into a laundry and close off its access to the Maid’s Room bath.  I’d then turn that bath into a half bath accessible from the Den/Office.

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Very 70s

But I like it. One question, however: who has a lot in a metropolitan area that can accommodate a house of that width?

As I’ve written before, when I was a wee thing I used to pour over my dad’s architectural plan books, and houses like this used to—and continue to—fire my imagination.

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This Is How Far We’ve Fallen As A Country

What happened to our “Can-Do” attitude?

What if one of America’s boldest “new” ideas for affordable housing was hiding in plain sight…in a 1930s suburb outside Cincinnati? Meet Greenhills, Ohio – a New Deal–era “greenbelt town” dreamed up during the Great Depression (construction started in ‘35 and residents moved in ‘38) as a federal experiment in healthier, lower‑cost living for working families…as part of a resettlement effort, Greenhills was one of only three model communities (Greenbelt, MD and Greendale, WI) built by the U.S. government to test whether good design, green space, and modest rents could tackle overcrowding and slum conditions in nearby cities…curving streets, superblocks, and shared courtyards pulled homes away from traffic…simple brick and stucco rowhouses, duplexes, and houses face parks instead of parking…the idea was radical and controversial: community first, cars second…rents were set to be affordable to working‑class households, but what residents “bought” went far beyond four walls…they got walkable access to schools, shops, recreation, and lots of open space…housing policy, urban design, and public health were all baked into the ideals of Greenbelts and the Greenhills plan…today, Greenhills is a National Historic Landmark and a case study in both the promise and fragility of design‑driven affordability, and early housing policy rooted in segregation and discrimination…in the past 10 years a struggle has emerged over those that want to keep it as originally designed and others that support demolition and redevelopment…housing—especially affordable housing—is a constant challenge, now and in the 1930s.

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