Architecture

House II / Falk House: View across the pond

Zaha Hadid Architects was appointed as design architects of the Heydar Aliyev Center following a competition in 2007. The center, designed to become the primary building for Azerbaijan's cultural programs, breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that's so prevalent in Baku, aspiring instead to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture and the optimism of a nation that looks to the future.

Wright’s last major work—and one of his most iconic—sadly didn’t open until six months after the architect’s death. Nevertheless, the Guggenheim Museum is one of the most important pieces of American architecture and is considered to be Wright’s most important contribution.

Similar to his Falling Waters masterpiece, Tirranna was built on water and next to a waterfall. In fact, the word itself comes from an Aboriginal word meaning “running waters.”

Usha and Mike Kreaden had a virtually blank slate when it came to the garden outside the 1958 Joseph Eichler house that they bought in Silicon Valley two decades ago.

The light scoop illuminates a ceiling of sinuous plywood slats.

Open to the valley, the home lets the Shopes fully experience the seasons, even the sound of the Hudson River’s ice cracking in winter.

The mirror-top table in the living area is the Vanity table by Stefano Giovannoni for Magis. It’s surrounded by Naoto Fukasawa chairs. “The glass floor emerged as a way to visually interconnect the different spaces. It makes the living room feel twice as tall, and from the inside of the apartment on either floor you can look up and see the sky (very rare in Paris).”

Mcllwee showed us some archive photographs of the house, including this original Julius Shulman gem that shows what the interior looked like in the 1970s.

In an attempt to create a strong connection to nature, Wright incorporated outdoor sleeping porches on all five of the bays.

Don’t let its traditional silhouette fool you: this home features a grid-tied solar photovoltaic array just south of the property, which supplies the family’s annual average powers usage. Large steel beams and columns flank the patio, framing views of the landscape.

The living room is further lit by three protruding skylights angled to catch morning and afternoon light.