The Steins Collect: The Corbusier Connection

The de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Image via ArchDaily.

MMP's summer vacation this year brought the opportunity to see a wonderful trio of shows in San Francisco, centered on The Steins Collect at SFMOMA but also including the Picasso show at the de Young Museum and the super-cool-and-informative Seeing Gertrude Stein show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The art was wonderful, of course, but we hadn't bargained on absorbing almost as much architecture as we did painting, drawing and sculpture.

Lobby of the Contemporary Jewish Museum, image via the CJM.

First up were two significant museum buildings: Herzog de Meuron's de Young and Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum buildings, exhaustive contemplation of either of which could've absorbed our exhibit-time all by themselves. But that wasn't all—towards the end of the extensive MOMA exhibit, I came around a corner to find a room dedicated to the Stein-de Monzie Villa, which was commissioned by Gertrude Stein's older brother Michael and his wife Sarah, who were key early patrons and supporters of Matisse.

Villa Stein-de Monzie. Image via MIMOA

They later shifted their focus to architecture and became early champions of Le Corbusier, commissioning him to design them a joint home with their close friends the de Monzies, which was built in 1927 in Garches, France. SFMOMA posits that "the villa's design as a purist work of art as well as how the Steins inhabited their home and played a significant role in advancing the cause of modern architecture."

The tale of the Villa Stein reminds us to be always aware and supportive of important work being done by young architects today—which is the reason Hometta, and by extension this blog, exists.  

Lautner's Chemosphere

Did you know it's been owned by art book publisher and bookseller Benedikt Taschen since 1997?

Multiple Hometta Studios Honored with AIA, Residential Architect Awards

For Hometta studios, winter and spring have brought a flurry of awards and recognitions. We can hardly keep up, but here's trying:

Gail Peter Borden and Kiel Moe have been honored by the National chapter of the AIA as outstanding young architects.

Gail Borden's Book Material Precedent

Read more on Northeastern Unversity's website.

James Evans of Collaborative Designworks was awarded an AIA Houston 2011 Design Award for the Hyde Park Double. 

Hyde Park Double by Collaborative Designworks

The R-House, designed by Hometta's DellaValle Bernheimer (in collaboration with Architecture Research Office) to meet the stringent energy-conservation standards of the German Passivhaus movement, won a 2011 Housing Award from the national AIA.

R-House

And as if that's not enough, Residential Architect recently recognized Johnsen Schmaling Architects and Alterstudio Architects in their 2011 Design Awards. JSA received a merit award for a house under 3,000 square feet for the widely published OS House in Racine Wisconsin, and Alterstudio received a merit award for a house over 3,000 square feet for the East Windsor Residence in Austin, Texas.

OS House, image by John J. Macaulay, via Johnsen Schmalling ArchitectsEast Windsor Residence, @JH Jackson Photography, via ArchDaily.

Love & Architecture

Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, but more importantly, the famed Sinatra estate Twin Palms. Image via Curbed.

Curbed posts today on old hollywood romances, and the houses they happened in. Our favorite, naturally, is the mod: the Twin Palms estate in Palm Springs whose original owner was Frank Sinatra. One of the midcentury Palm Springs landmarks that's managed to escape demolition, the house was built in 1947 and designed by E. Stewart Williams.

Twin Palms has recently received a key protective historic designation and remains the site of frequent photo shoots, so we can catch a glimpse of what it looks like today (at least a tiny little bit, behind all the models wearing expensive clothes). 

Twin Palms, via Sinatrahouse.com

More here.

Making Modern Valentines

Via Design Mom.

I'm definitely more of a wanna-be crafter than the real thing.  The sewing machine on which I once made a cafe curtain and a dress out of old T-shirts is gathering dust, and I'm a bit gun shy about adding any more supplies to my crafting graveyard. But the thing is, I have two first graders who love a good craft project. And a fourth grader who, though at nine is already too cool to share their enthusiasm, will grudgingly admit that yeah, he wouldn't mind making some Valentines for his classmates. So homemade Valentines it is, and since the holiday is nigh upon us, we need the low-maintenance, quick sort of crafty.

Hey Internet, can you help a mom out here?

Via Design Mom.

Behold what Design Mom has delivered. She's got more on her blog, but these were the two clear winners for us. So we'll do Mad Libs Valentines for the fourth grade, and Lollipop Photo Valentines for the first. Done and done.