Dwell Magazine - Newsletter

Allison Arieff, editor-in-chief here, back at my Dwell desk having returned from my maternity leave. With a new baby, my attendance at design events earlier this year was limited, but now I’m back in action.

In April, I had great fun (though not as much fun as my dog!) at Petchitecture, a feel-good fundraising event for PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support). Architects designed amazing structures for cats and dogs that were then auctioned off to support the charity. All the animals in attendance couldn’t believe their luck—the pet treats were flowing like Cristal in a 50 Cent video.

Speaking of fundraising, last year in this space I put out a call for help to spare Andrew Geller’s iconic Pearlroth House in Westhampton, New York, from the wrecking ball. Well, the house has been saved! The house’s owner, Jonathan Pearlroth, had offered to donate the house, rather than demolish it, to make way for a new home he planned to build on the site. The Town Board agreed to take the house, and last fall decided to move the now-famous box kite–shaped beach house to Hot Dog Beach in East Quogue. There, it will be used as a learning center, part of a larger recreational master plan for the area. Geller’s grandson, Jake Gorst, is in the process of making a film about Geller’s life; Gorst’s documentary about Geller’s prefab vacation houses known as the Leisurama homes will be screened at the Palm Springs Art Museum on July 8.

And one last fundraising-related pitch (for this month anyway). A few years ago in Austin, Texas, I had the opportunity to visit the home and view the amazing Texas art collection of Robert

Summers. Summers is leading
the charge to preserve the most important example of modernist public art ever created in Texas—this spectacular mural by Seymour Fogel. The federal government has agreed to place the mural in Austin’s new federal

courthouse designed by Mack Scoggins. If you’d like to help this effort, please send contributions to the Seymour Fogel Mural Preservation Project to the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, P.O. Box 13497, Austin, TX 78711, or contact Toni Turner, development officer, at (512) 936-2241 or friends@thc.state.tx.us.

The Seymour Fogel Mural (top photo) and its future location, Austin’s new federal courthouse (lower photo), designed by architect Mack Scoggins

Prefab News
We are excited to announce that the first Dwell Home by Empyrean was

delivered to its site in Massachusetts on May 26th! A Flatpak designed by Charlie Lazor, of Lazor Office in Minneapolis, the house is the first of many delivered to its site in Massachusetts on prefab Dwell Homes in process throughout the country. Happy housewarming to proud homeowners Amy Goodwin and Rick Wise. Keep an eye out for our November issue, wholly devoted to prefab—featuring lots more modern prefab homes from the likes of not just Empyrean but also Marmol+Radziner, Michelle Kaufmann, Living Homes, Rocio Romero…

(above) Flatpak being lowered into place in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

In May, Laura Bush decided to drop into the National Building Museum to see The Green House exhibition. The First Lady toured the exhibition and then sat down with architect Michelle Kauffman to discuss the Glidehouse and principles of sustainable design. For info on the exhibit, which runs through June 2007, log on to nbm.org/Exhibits/greenHouse2.

Congrats to Jennifer Siegal of the Office of Mobile Design who delivered her modern prefab company showroom in early June to its location on Abbott Kinney Blvd. in Venice. For more info, go to designmobile.com.

Architecture (and Allison) on the Road
On August 24th, I’ll be moderating a discussion on Urban Design at the Michigan Design Center in Detroit. Confirmed panelists include John Gallagher, architectural critic, Detroit Free Press; architect Victor Saroki, Saroki and Associates; architect Michael Poris, Macintosh Poris; and Gerhardt Knoedel, director of Cranbrook Academy of Art. For information, michigandesign.com

It’s not too early to sign up for Dwell on Design, a conference and exhibition in San Francisco September 15–17, which will view architecture through the lens of prefab, sustainability, affordability, and urban design. These timely topics will be explored by a dynamic group of speakers who are setting the agenda for the future of design, including Jay Baldwin, Bill Browning, Colin Davies, Escher Gunewardena, Richard Jackson, Michelle Kaufmann, Rocio Romero, Joseph Tanney, Joel Turkel, Michael Sylvester, and yours truly. Join us in San Francisco this September for what promises to be a great event. Please see dwellmag.com/dwellondesign for details.

Dwell on Design coincides with AIA San Francisco’s Architecture and the City program, which features architectural tours, film screenings, exhibitions, design lectures, and more. For more information, please go to aiasf.org

Until next time,
Allison Arieff
Editor-in-Chief

It was for her green-architect friend that René Geneva designed her now-signature light-up “green” wedding gown. The dress and corset are made from 100 percent SBPTM-rated hemp silk, while the two-foot train is created from a fiber optic–woven fabric called Luminex that appears to twinkle when lit by an LED hooked to a thin battery pack hidden inside the dress. Geneva first learned about Luminex in the pages of Dwell. For her innovative couture, we’d like to make Geneva our Reader of the Month. Congratulations!
If you’d like your own eco-couture, contact her at faernynsgrove.com.

Join Dwell and Kenneth Cole: June 13, 2006, Chicago, IL

B&B Italia Opening Party: June 15, 2006, San Francisco, CA

Serious Moonlight: July 15, 2006, Bloomfield Hills, MI

To find what other events are going on click here.

Highlights from the June Issue

Straight and Narrow In Singapore’s Joo Chiat neighborhood, Yang Yeo’s dramatically modern home lurks behind an 85-year-old shophouse façade.

Garage Brand Product designers Kim Colin and Sam Hecht create ultrarefined objects for Muji. Could they do the same with an old mechanics’ garage?

Cooler Ranch In Portland, Oregon, architect Brian White transformed an ugly duckling into a house his family is proud to call home.

The Bellwether of Belvedere Sustainable consultant to the stars Jordan Harris convinces Hollywood starlets to go hybrid, but when it came to greening his own home, he enlisted outside help.

Polder sofa
By Hella Jongerius for Vitra
The “polder model” is a Dutch political phenomenon that arose from the people’s uncanny ability to reach agreement and overcome differences for a common good. Perhaps that explains Hella Jongerius’s exceptional knack for making things that most everyone can agree are exquisite.

Watching Words Move
By Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas H. Geismar
For anyone who’s ever gotten a thrill from typing the word “Vega$” (and really, haven’t we all?), this compact book is a small typographic revelation that breaks down the barriers between the verbal and the visual, exposing the vibrant subtexts of language. By using subtle shifts in spacing and symbol substitution, basic words and numbers are given motion, feeling, and innuendo. And it’s all mercifully free of emoticons.