The 1,570 square-foot home's entryway features a slatted fence that diffuses light and adds privacy to Eichler's original design. Photo by: Scott Hargis

An early GROW prototype.

MNML sought out to create an all-season ride that exemplified the idea of rugged refinement, as Watson put it, reflecting the studio’s usual philosophy of reduction and purity. The team tackled the problem by doing exhaustive field research and then building a story—a day in the life of a cyclist that would serve as the litmus test for whether the final design really works. Chicago shapes the narrative—dealing with inclement weather, hauling a ride up to a walkup apartment ,and navigating potholes. Photo courtesy of MNML.

The back garden includes fragments of stone from the earlier building.

Early Rider Ride On, $99 at Toytoise.

No Early Birds Chandelier by Per Söderberg, $250 13" H x 11" W x 11" D The sharply silhouetted, lightweight candleholder in Söderberg’s three-legged No Early Birds collection sports a powder-coated metal base and solid brass dishes. It also comes in pastel green or white. noearlybirds.tictail.com

Throughout Sonneman’s years of being in the industry, he managed to turn lighting design into an art form, while creating a strong alliance between form and function. This advertisement from the early 1970s shows the range of artistic forms he brought to production in the early years of his business.

At the forefront of this 1970s advertisement is Sonneman’s Mushroom table lamp in a distinct mustard hue. It was constructed of spun aluminum and was topped off with a chrome tipped bulb. Though this piece is no longer in production, some of his original designs from the era are still around today.

An early model of Liv's room.

The first of the concrete truck arrives early in the morning.

Brand and DeMarie also inherited this early blueprint.

An early paper prototype of the Zig Zag chair. Miniscule models were made of paper and cardboard, and measured only five centimeters high.

After absorbing a range of modern design influences and building his own point of view, he became known for developing a type of American style that was minimal and cosmopolitan. Shown here is a vintage Bloomingdale’s advertisement that places his work in a modern living setting.

This poster by Nelly Rudin is from the early 60s.

ALL4

An early sketch of the chair shows Opsvik’s concept of an ergonomic design for users of varying heights and sizes. Here, the sitter’s elbow is shown aligned at table height, regardless of body size.

Here's the first module as it arrived at the site early in the morning.

The Sarti house—like much of the furnishings inside—is neatly hidden amongst its more established counterparts. In the early evening, Sarti’s studio takes on a lanternlike appearance.

The back cover of Marimekko’s catalog from the early ’60s.

His Son John Invented Lincoln Logs As much a toy as symbol, in some small way, of John Lloyd Wright’s relationship with his father, Lincoln Logs were supposedly inspired by the interlocking timber construction methods used to protect the Imperial Hotel from being torn apart in an earthquake. John worked for his father during that famous Tokyo project, and when he was asked to collect payment for dad after not receiving his own paycheck, he took matters into his own hands and gave himself a cut, which promptly got him fired. In the aftermath of the split, John came up with the Lincoln Logs concept, receiving a patent in 1920.

Tom Waits' new album is out soon. Catch an early release online.

An early-edition Egg Chair, circa 1970, with original leather. By Arne Jacobsen.

I loved this early sketch for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Imagine if it were pink!

4.0.1

Design for a Palace , early 1540s. Image courtesy of RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

William Krisel accepting his Walk of Stars plaque in Palm Springs, California, in early 2009.

Completed in 1962, the Googie-style building is one of the last remaining structures of its kind in the area, and was designed by Charles Nield Bayless of Bayless, Clotfelter, and Associates.

With the help of builder Peter Watts, the couple returned the house to its original early-1970s glory, utilizing the space beneath for both boat and car.

Amending Meeuwissen’s early request for an open bathroom space, the architects devised a more private chamber with an overhead skylight and walls in stone tile from Intercodam Tegels.

Object #3, another early prototype that, while not exactly functional, informed the design of later pieces.

I love these brochures for Alcan Foil from the early 60s. There were designed by German Rolf Harder.

Web developer Rich Yessian involved local preservation groups early and often to gain permission to unite home, office, and outdoors at an aged warehouse that, according to Sanborn Maps, predates the Civil War.

Perpetually Devastated spent a long time looking specifically for a 1968 Airstream for the Dunhams. This model features rectangular windows. (In the later ‘60s and early ‘70s, they become oval.)

The museum was founded in affiliation with Buffalo State College in 1966 and for the first two years exclusively featured the work of Charles E. Burchfield (who died in early 1967), a watercolorist who was born in Ohio but moved to Buffalo in the early 1920s. The new building—designed as an abstract sculpture—features a grand, double-story entrance that leads visitors to either of the museum's two floors of gallery space.

“I love to sit on the top floor with the big windows and see the day change, from the early morning when the fog hits the mountaintops, to the afternoon when the birds fly by right outside,” says Kirsten Dirksen.