Last Chance for Lautner

Though academics have dubbed him "an architect's architect," my humble opinion is that John Lautner is an architect who can be appreciated by regular people. What's not to get about living in a concrete-and-glass cloud house in the sky?

The Hammer Museum's encyclopedic Lautner show, "Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner" closes on October 12. (Trivia note: Among the curators are Frank Escher, one of the architects of Dwell Home II). While all architecture shows tend to be a little dry, Lautner's houses are anything but. So it's worth a trip from out of town just for the Hammer's final Lautner house tour, taking place on Sunday, October 12. The lone tour venue is the Sheats/Goldstein Residence (1963), which I've spent some time in (as have The Dude and Snoop Dogg, but that's a different story).

The serene outpost high above swanky Benedict Canyon is a little bit Machu Picchu and a little bit Blade Runner–and owner James Goldstein is worth a museum exhibition all his own.

Lautners Are Forever

Quintessential California architect John Lautner would have been 100 this July. Set high above Palm Springs, his beyond-groovy Elrod House is nothing short of concrete poetry.
Wendell Castle's Volumes

Published to coincide with designer, artist, and visionary Wendell Castle's 80th birthday at the end of 2012, writer Alastair Gordon's biographical monograph of Castle's work is a juicy read, full of…
Wine Tasting with Georg Riedel

Not so long ago I was at a dinner with a handful of food writers--I was there merely as a food taster--and the fancy stemware from the Austrian firm Riedel came up.
New From Petit Collage

Based in San Francisco, Petit Collage is "an incubator of new ideas, art and illustration for everything modern and children related," says designer and children's book illustrator Lorena…
The Century of Modern Design

Of the myriad books on modernism—some more enlightening than others—The Century of Modern Design (Flammarion) will likely prove to be an important one.
Venice Biennale 2012: Architecture Review

The 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, directed by David Chipperfield and titled Common Ground, closed on 25th November 2012, attracting 178,000 visitors.
Decked Out

It's our humble opinion that summers are best spent reclining on a warm sunny deck with a refreshing beverage in hand and a cool breeze blowing.
Michigan Modern: 7 Homes in the Great Lake State

Home to Herman Miller, Michigan has a long and storied modernist pedigree. Here are seven inventive or noteworthy Michigan houses from Dwell's archives.