Mid-Century Modern: Carl Koch’s Conantum
In the Special Collections Display Cases at the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, Massachusetts an exhibit looks at Concord’s Conantum community and Carl Koch, the innovative architect who designed it. Every Concordian knows something about the Conantum story, but discovering the foundational ideas that launched it, and understanding the history of mid-twentieth century domestic architecture that inspired it, expand the story.
Making America Modern: Interior Design in the 1930s
Marilyn F. Friedman will be Special Guest Speaker at AD20/21 HOME, speaking about her soon-to-be-released book Making America Modern: Interior Design in the 1930s chronicles interior design in this fascinating era. The 1930s designers had in common a determination to forge a contemporary style, drawing inspiration from Art Deco, the Bauhaus, the Viennese Secession and other sources. Book signing to follow. Ms.Friedman is a noted design historian whose work focuses on the development and popularization of modern design during the 1920s and 1930s. The event will be Saturday, April 14, 2018 2-3 p.m. at The Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts 539 Tremont Street
Tickets $15. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-america-modern-interior-design-in-the-1930s-tickets-43671649078
Exhibit Columbus
The docomomo National Symposium will be held September 26-29, 2018 in Columbus,Indiana. Exhibit Columbus is an annual exploration of art, architecture, design, and community that alternates between symposium and exhibition programming each year, and features the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize Competition. Exhibit Columbus is the flagship event of Landmark Columbus, a program of Heritage Fund - the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. Landmark Columbus' mission is to care for the design heritage of Columbus while using it as an example to inspire this and other communities to invest in the traditions and values that use design to make cities better for everyone.
For more information visit https://exhibitcolumbus.org/
MHC Vote to Approve the Historic District Commission and FoMA Modern House Initiative
On December 13, 2017, the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) voted to provide the following approvals of the Modern house initiative:
• With respect to the Preliminary Study Report for the Addition of Modern Houses to Lincoln Historic District, the MHC stated that it “encourages the town of Lincoln to expand the Lincoln Historic District.”
• With respect to the Preliminary Study Report for the Proposed Brown's Wood Historic District, the MHC stated that it “encourages the town of Lincoln to establish the Brown's Wood Historic District.”
Endangerment Alert - Neutra’s Cheuys House in Los Angeles
USModernist and NCMH announce a national endangerment alert for the 1958 Robert and Josephine Cheuy Residence at 2460 Sunset Plaza Drive, Los Angeles CA. Designed by Richard Neutra, the home has been listed for sale as a “development opportunity/teardown” for $10.5 million.
Read the article at curbed.com
FoMA Supports the Preservation the Aluminaire House
The Aluminaire House was a ground-breaking early Modern house that is unique among buildings that were instrumental in introducing Modernism to America. Designed in 1931 by architects A. Lawrence Kocher, managing editor of the Architectural Record, and Albert Frey, a Swiss Modernist who had studied with LeCorbusier, it was built as a case study to demonstrate the effective use of industrial materials such as aluminum and steel in a domestic building. With materials donated by companies in exchange for publicity, the house was built in ten days and received much attention in an exhibition sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York that opened in 1932, “The International Style - Architecture Since 1922.” The house displayed many original features including corrugated aluminum siding, support for two upper floors of the house provided by six aluminum columns, large windows, a top floor terrace, steel doors, and black linoleum floors. It was intended to demonstrate the use of new materials, be affordable and low maintenance, and have access to fresh air and natural day light, hence its name Aluminaire.