Reference Page: December 2006

Northern Exposure
For a more intimate understanding of Joel Sanders’s architectural sensibilities, pick up a copy of Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (Princeton, 1996), a collection of interdisciplinary essays on the role architecture plays in the construction of male identity. The book, which Sanders edited, offers critical examinations of traditionally male spaces-the bachelor pad, urinal, and gym are a few. Sanders’s own essay, which he coauthored with Diane Fuss, is a guided tour through the office of the man who played the biggest role in framing twentieth-century male identity: Sigmund Freud. After the passing of his father, the authors argue, Freud’s Vienna office became a “veritable tomb” where death “played a central role in shaping the psychical and physical space.” The book also displays inspired visual projects by architects and artists as varied as Matthew Barney, Rem Koolhaas, and Vito Acconci. If you still want to know more about how men live, go to Sanders’s Web site, www.joelsandersarchitect.com, which features his Bachelor House (1999), a project that takes the traditional suburban home for the nuclear family and reconfigures it according to the lifestyle of a contemporary bachelor. The “design responds to our client’s competing desires for transparency to the outdoors and privacy from neighbors,” Sanders writes. With its glass walls and overlapping spaces for work, leisure, and exercise, the house is a Modernist tribute to male shelter. His media lounge for Louis Kahn’s renovated Yale University Art Gallery, www.artgallery.yale.edu, opens on December 10; a spectacular collaborative project with landscape architect Diana Balmori to expand the St. Louis waterfront will be released to the public imminently.

From Farm to Closet
Christien Meindertsma’s Flocks line is one of those conscientious clothing collections we wouldn’t feel guilty blowing rent money on, like American Apparel minus the pre-pubescent teens in unitards. Her very hip site by graphic designer Julie Joliet, www.theseflocks.com, features sheep icons that you can click on to see a backward progression of the finished sweater to the sheep whose wool made it, represented by a “passport.” Meindertsma also provides care instructions for her garments: just click on the bucket icon. And if you like her products, we suggest visiting the Frozen Fountain, the Amsterdam store exhibiting her new line, which is always on the lookout for up-and-coming designers to feature. You can see a sample of the artists showcased there at www.frozenfountain.nl and sign up to receive its newsletter.

Revenge of the Small
Skinny houses seem to be as catching as the latest skinny-jean trend, though only one solves affordable-housing problems. The skinny-house phenomenon is not exactly new, however; -colonial Boston can boast one of the first American houses of the genre. It’s only ten feet wide and was supposedly built out of vengeance to impede a neighbor’s view. You can see a picture of the -historic house at www.celebrateboston.com/strange/skinnyhouse.htm. As for today’s versions, the Living Smart site, www.livingsmartpdx.com, has boards of the winning Portland design entries available by clicking on “Competition Winners” off the left side. If you’re curious to see how people position a bed in a 5.5-foot-wide interior, check out the Beeb’s tour of an extremely skinny house located in Shepherd’s Bush, England, valued at nearly a million dollars: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4196916.stm.

Path to Platinum
BNIM has gone through a few iterations over the years (PBNL, PBNA, PBNI), but its sustainable-design mission has remained constant. Recently the firm decided to extend that expertise to others through a consultancy called Elements. A visit to www.elements.bnim.com provides a list of projects as well as a compilation of research papers authored by BNIM architects (click on “resources” from the main page). The firm has also taken an interest in reinvigorating the Kansas City art scene. To learn more about its 10@BNIM project, which decorates the storefronts of Kansas City’s Power & Light Company with work by local artists, go to www.bnim.com and click on the 10@BNIM link at the very bottom. If you’re interested in the early evolution of sustainable design, it’s worth reading the January 2006 Metropolis story on Pliny Fisk, whose research inspired the LEED rating system and who is mentioned in this issue’s BNIM piece. Go online and type in www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1693, or pull the January issue from your dusty stacks and turn to page 62.

The Electric Kid
With the superherolike handle Das Elektrokind beefing up his reputation, Moritz Waldemeyer better be able to do something to impress comic-book geeks and design folk alike-magically undressing a woman is a good start. To witness such a feat visit www.vogue.co.uk/Shows/Video/Default.aspx?ShowID=4081 for a video of the Hussein Chalayan Paris fashion show in which Walde-meyer uses his technical prowess to disrobe a modest pelvis-shielding model. Another clip, this time showcasing the technician’s lighting talents, can be found at www.noentry.biz (follow the Arad link). The video, filmed from the viewpoint of a suitor spying from afar, reimagines the Lolita chandelier as a femme fatale, while an insipid tune suggests that “your only hope is to get her drunk.” For a less sexualized preview of Waldemeyer’s work visit his Web site, www.waldemeyer.com, and click on the icons for pictorials of each project’s creation process. After that, penetrate the Electric Kid’s mind via his personal blog, waldemeyer.blogspot.com-that’s what blogs are for, right?

Native Son
You probably know that Rand Elliott, www.e-a-a.com, is an inspired architect whose Modernist designs have shaped the Oklahoma landscape for the last three decades. What you may not know is that he is also an amateur poet. His poems, which he calls “word paintings,” are an attempt to “verbalize why a project is planned or designed in a certain way.” Elliott’s ability to incorporate the land into his designs is one of his trademarks, and part of his “listening to the land” brainstorming process entails writing free-association poetry. Certainly it can be difficult to articulate in one or two words the often abstract elements of design, but after reading some of Elliott’s word paintings, one can’t help but wonder if he shouldn’t stick to bricks and mortar. We thought we’d share an excerpt of his poem for the 222 Residence (featured on page 104), a glass house in north Oklahoma City. As you read, try to imagine the wind whipping across the plains; somewhere in the distance a scissor-tailed flycatcher calls. “Catch lightning bugs / and smile big. / Collect leaves. / Star gaze. / Life is alive. / Make a place. / No. / Be a place. / Where form dissolves.” Just leave us the keys.

Bursting Out
Expect gawkers if you live in a Burst house: the asymmetrical floral-printed structure all but guarantees you’ll stand out in Pleasantville. But if Douglas Gauthier and Jeremy Edmiston, the founders of System Architects, www.systemarchitects.net, have their druthers, then the futuristic prefab might be dotting the country before you know it. Although Burst *003-the prototype in North Haven, Australia-cost $250,000 to build, System is -working to refine the design into affordable housing for hurricane-prone areas like Florida and New Orleans. The prefab design system theoretically makes it possible to build cheaply and quickly-an ever-elusive goal of modern architects. “One hundred and fifty thousand houses need to be built in New Orleans,” Gauthier says. “Why wouldn’t we do ten, twenty, or a hundred of those?” Unlike typically uniform and uninspired affordable housing, no two Bursts are the same; the design and layout change depending on the demands of the site and climate. While drumming up interest from developers, the architects are ambitiously taking the design to banks so that it can be preapproved for credit and making sure the house meets hurricane codes.