CANOE DESIGN: Guest Post

Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Farnsworth House

I am so pleased to have a guest here with us today - my father! When my parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago we did a little architectural tour of Connecticut. Before arriving in the New York area however they spent a little time in Illinois, visiting Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House just outside Chicago. Seeing as my father is an architect and architectural professor in France I thought that this would be a great opportunity to have him write about Mies' glass house seeing as I spoke about our trip to Johnson's house here. Merci!

Visit to the Farnsworth House - Plano, Illinois

StudyBlue

This summer we had the privilege delight of visiting the Farnsworth House. Coming from Europe we booked our visit long time in advance. The tickets, the authorisation to have inside private photography, the car, the GPS, all were ready even the sun was at the rendez-vous.

An hour and 15 minutes from downtown Chicago we arrived in rural, farmland Illinois. Along a small country road a sign indicate the “visiting centre“.

After the formalities we watched a short movie that introduced us to all the details related to the history of the house: Dr. Edith Farnsworth, Ludwid Mies van der Rohe, how they met at a dinner party where she had apparently organized to be sited next to him, how she asked him to recommend an architect, and how he said that he could do it.

Mies previous house the Tugendhat dated from 1930 and was a very large house built in Europe with an unlimited budget [1]. So almost 20 years later Mies got the opportunity to build a real glasshouse.

By that time Mies was well established in North America, he was the dean of architecture at IIT and had gained recognition. With the Farnsworth commission he was given the opportunity to build a project that would represent his ideas about architecture.

Indeed the Farnsworth is the realisation of Mies’ ideals:

“The Farnsworth House consists of three horizontal planes: a terrace, a floor and a roof. Welded to the leading edge of each plane are steel columns that keep them all suspended in mid-air. Because they do not rest on the columns, but merely touch them in passing, these horizontal elements seem to be held to their support by magnetism. Floor and roof appear as opaque planes defining the top and bottom of a volume whose sides are simply large panel of glass. The Farnsworth House is, indeed, a quantity of air caught between a floor and a roof “[2]

Finished in 1951 it is still a grand lady worth the detour.

[1] I would recommend reading the book by Simon Mawer “The Glass room “ Little, Brown Book Group a fictional account of the history of that house.

[2] H.R. Hitchcock, A.Drexler, Built in USA : Post-war Architecture, NY, Simon and Schuster 1952 p 20-21

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A Château for Two

Oober design power couple Daniel Beauchemin and Marc de Laat has decided to trade their time in Manhattan with a simple château in the countryside not far from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. You may remember Beauchemin from his days at Drake Design Associates or as the owner of one of NYC's most prestigious framers Chelsea Frames and de Laat's real-estate career has been anything but boring as a segway to photography and graphic design. These two seem to have had it all figured out, and to be quite honest are a great case study in how I want the next twenty years to go!

Last month Elle Decor did a feature on their new digs and I was inspired. The house is stunning first of all - with a real homage back to it's heritage as it was originally built in 1864 for a member of the royal court, there are classical features such as white painted stone exterior, a corner turret with a steep pitched roof, and amazing architectural bones inside. With an incredible collection of vintage furniture pieces (check out the Wassily chairs below on the left) that they have each been collecting for decades, and their perfectly framed art that flank the walls (see last image of the master bedroom), they have really created an incredible property with one space flowing nicely into the next. This 500 acre property is a true escape from the concrete jungle that is New York City, however after spending last weekend amongst the greenery of Connecticut I can see the appeal and desire for something different.

All Photos courtesy of Elle Decor, Photographer Eric Piasecki

On a not so side note, I am so thrilled to be over with Sandra at Raincoast Cottage writing for her feature Where We Create. Sandra and I have met through this wonderful world of social media and she has been a true support and friend for me. So head over and have a look and be sure to stay a while!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Quintessentially New York

Well, I am not sure if we could get more New York than our dinner last night. We leave today for South Africa (YAY!) and so last night my family came into the city as we are all flying out together today. It was my brother's birthday a few weeks ago, and since the plan was for dinner to be a 'big' one we decided that Locanda Verde was going to be it. After some strings were pulled, we managed to get a reservation, which I am not sure if you know is like getting a reservation at the White House! But nevertheless we were in - and what an in it was! The restaurant is in bustling TriBeCa and so the space is a cool old warehouse interior designed by Meyer Davis Studio with high ceilings and beautiful huge crittall-type windows. The website says that it is an affordable neighbourhood Italian taverna, but like any New York hot-spot it was loud, and felt more like somewhere one goes to see or be seen. This might sound a little unfair, and I do not want it to, as the ambiance was energetic and fun-loving and we had a truly wonderful time. The food was incredible with fresh full-of-flavour tastes that left us wanting more.

I highly HIGHLY recommend the restaurant to anyone. They book one month in advance to the day, and it would be wise to call at 8am when their lines open otherwise you might no be so lucky. If you do end up in the area, it is also worth heading over to Smith & Mills (see post here) across the street for a Dark 'n Stormy before or after. Enjoy!

Meyer David Studio Inc

Finally, as mentioned above I am off to the African Continent today for a ten day family trip to South Africa. We have a packed itinerary that includes time in Johannesburg, Cape Town and a three day Safari at a stunning lodge in the Kruger Park. While I will do my very best to blog and tweet from this amazing setting I will not be as accessible as I usually am. However, I do promise to share all my adventures with you as much when I am there and when I get back, so have a great week and chat soon.

A x

Monday, February 27, 2012

Inspired By

Safari! Well, I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself! In just under two weeks we are heading to South Africa for a holiday I have been looking forward to for ages now! My mother was born in Johannesburg and has not been back in over 30 years. As she just had a milestone birthday (mom, don't worry, I won't reveal how old you are!!) we thought that a great way to celebrate would be to head back to where it all began. My brother and I (and our significant others) have never been, so it is sure to be a trip we will all remember. Although I am very much looking forward to Joburg and the Cape, it is the time we are spending in the game reserve that I am most excited about. I have been thinking A LOT about out time on safari lately and thought I would share some fun and stunning inspired images with you.