Flashback: Ben Swildens X Max Ingrand: The 1966 Desk for Peugeot

In 1966 Ben Swildens in collaboration with Max Ingrand, designed this desk for Peugeot's relocated headquarters to Avenue de la Grande Armée in Paris. Also assisting with the design were architects Louis, Luc and Thierry Sainsaulieu. Only three desks were produced, by the Croiseau workshop in Paris, and made specifically for Peugeot's reception assistants.

The three desks were thus installed right next to each other in Avenue de la Grande Armée, not far from the Triumphal Arch and Champs Elysées, in the hall of the Peugeot building. "The effect was phenomenal. The three receptionists stood behind the desks. They had been chosen for their elegance. The three desks were placed on a white Carrara marble floor so that the girls would not feel cold. I integrated heating cords in the seat. There was even a little hook on the back where the assistants could hang their bags. In this way nothing could interrupt the purity of the desks’ line. All we could see was their knees. We had placed the three desks obliquely to enhance the sliding effect of the hall, so that they would catch the public’s attention and give the receptionists some intimacy. All this may seem anecdotic, but it is very important that these desks, although very atypical and exceptional, have always fit for human nature. Nowadays their feminine touch gives them an evident appeal and authenticity." 

Via furdess, who recently recreated this desk in an edition of 8 .

Icons: Oscar Niemeyer in his Copacabana studio

My favorite portrait of the late great architect, sitting on one of his most acclaimed designs: the fluid and sculptural Rio rocking chaise lounge.

Photo by Frédéric Reglain in 2002, via the daily mail.

Farewell Oscar Niemeyer

Architect Oscar Niemeyer, who recreated Brazil’s sensuous curves in reinforced concrete and built the capital of Brasilia on the empty central plains as a symbol of the nation’s future, died Wednesday. He was 104 (!).

See all my past features on his work here.

Watch: Classic Spaces: Jens Risom's Weekend Home: Block Island

A couple of years ago I had posted a few archived photos of Jens Risom's prefab weekend retreat, from a 1967 Life magazine feature. Skeptics expected it to only stand a year before being blown down by winds. It was a nice surprise to learn that not only does the structure still stand, it is still being used by Jens Risom and his family today.

In this beautiful short film from Dwell, Risom reminisces on the construction of this truly amazing home.


 

Another Perspective: TripAdvisor reviews of Gio Ponti's Hotel Parco dei Principi

As the saying goes: one man's trash is another man's treasure.

See my feature on this Gio Ponti masterpiece (well... in my opinion at least) here.

Spaces: Shelton, Mindel + Associates X Robert A.M. Stern: East Hampton, New York

Commissioned and built in 1993, this Colonial Revival home was designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern, and decorated by the American traditionalist Mark Hampton.  20 years later, the owners were ready for something new, and commisioned Shelton, Mindel & Associates to provide the interiors with a Modernist update.

Lee F. Mindel, cofounder, with the late Peter Shelton, of the New York City architecture and interior design firm Shelton, Mindel & Associates, is a modernist with a keen appreciation for classical architecture. So he was intrigued by the challenge of recasting the decor while preserving Stern’s vision. “We knew we could apply the principles of modernism without undermining the home’s traditional appearance,” Mindel says. “We could dematerialize the spaces to emphasize the light and the views.” Except for gutting the kitchen, he basically left the structure and its classic detailing intact. “It was important for us to honor the building—we were changing something that did not need to be changed,” insists the architect. “There is no surface that was left untouched, but there has been a lot of respect for what came before.”

Furniture selection reflects the refined taste of Shelton Mindel.  The living room features lounge seating by Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist surrounding a coffee table by Jean Royere, a pair of pop-era yellow Nanna Ditzel chairs and a floor lamp by Paavo Tynell. The entrance hall features sconces by Georges Jouve, and a table by Carlo di Carli.  The kitchen features Vistosi pendants and Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs.  The family room features a floor lamp by Arne Jacobsen, and the library features a chandelier by Angelo Lelli and another Paavo Tynell floor lamp.  The children's room features an Alvar Aalto table and chairs, finished with an Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in the corner. 

Read the full project details at AD.  Photos by Michael Moran.

Spaces: Ten Broeck Cottage: Messana O’Rorke

Messana O'Rorke turns an 18th century homestead into a cozy modernist retreat.  Complimenting the interior are some 20th Century classics, including a set of Wishbone Chairs by Hans Wegner and marble PK63 coffee table by Poul Kjaerholm.

The project started with the purchase of a much-neglected Eighteenth Century homestead in an apple orchard located in Columbia County, New York. The earliest recorded date for the house is 1734, however, many years of use and renovation have made the actual date unclear. Fabricated in huge hand hewn timbers the basic frame and form of the house conforms to the ‘H bent’ frame consistent with Dutch settlers of that time. This, some wide board flooring and a miraculously preserved wattle and daub wall in the field stone basement are about all that remained of the original house.

See the full project details at ArchDaily. Photography by William Abranowicz.

Icons: Domus pays tribute to Gae Aulenti

It is truly something special when one icon pays tribute to another. In this case, Gio Ponti's Domus pays a loving tribute to the late Gae Aulenti, one of Italy's most influential architects and designers of the past century:

From the many times her work graced the pages of Domus, we've chosen to republish two projects Aulenti designed for Olivetti in the 1960s. Beyond the virtuous association of the names Aulenti-Olivetti, the pieces republished today are especially enriched by a vivid photographic survey, where the interiors in Paris and Buenos Aires reveal a smiling, charming Gae Aulenti, exactly how we wish to remember her.

The article "The new Olivetti show-room in Paris" was originally published in Domus 452 / July 1967
The article "The new Olivetti shop in Buenos Aires" was originally published in Domus 466 / September 1968

My favorite feature is the design of the door handles in the Buenos Aires showroom. Each handle is a sculpted brass hemisphere, and when the doors close, the sphere completes.

See the full story with the project details here.

Daily Dose: Ready for winter: Noyes House, 1955

Eliot Noyes' courtyard with Alexander Calder sculpture, as captured through the lens of George Silk for Life Magazine.

Via the Modern Love Tumblr.

Farewell: Gae Aulenti

World-renowned Italian architect Gae Aulenti, whose creations include the transformed Musee d'Orsay in Paris, has died at her home in Milan at the age of 84, her family said Thursday.

Aulenti, who had been ill for some time, had made her last public appearance only two weeks ago to receive an award in recognition of her life's work.

"My mother had been ill for a long time but she resisted as best she could," her daughter Giovanna told La Repubblica newpaper, announcing Aulenti's death on Wednesday.

Among her large-scale museum projects, Aulenti transformed the former Parisian railway station into the Musee d'Orsay in the 1980s and refurbished the contemporary art gallery at the Pompidou Centre in the French capital.

Born in December 1927, Aulenti was one of the few women designers in the post-war period in Italy. She also worked as a stylist and interior designer and taught in several foreign countries.

Read more here.

Above is Aulenti with her Pipistrello table lamp of 1966. Below, her 1962 Sgarsul rocking chair. Photos via city-furniture.

Watch: Ordos (a city seemingly built for skateboarding)

ORDOS from Charles Lanceplaine on Vimeo.


From Highsnobiety:

 If there are any people who surpass full grown architects in terms of love and passion for architecture, they surely are skateboarders. I mean, who else would be crazy enough to travel to the edge of the known world to indulge in some serious architecture? Filmmaker Charles Lanceplaine went on a skate trip to Ordos, a test-tube city located in the remote area of Inner Mongolia. Dubbed “the Dubai of northern China” the city is crammed full of buildings, which seem to be built for the sole purpose of being skated on. Considering Ordos is designed to house a million people, but is actually inhabited by merely a few thousand just adds to that feeling. Have a look at it above.

Directed, filmed & edited by: Charles Lanceplaine
Additional filming: Patrik Wallner & Tommy Zhao
Music: You Me by Hamacide + Chacha
Sound mix: Gaetan Lourmiere
Logo: jmartdesign.com

chandigarh - portrait of a city: le corbusier + pierre jeanneret

A fascinating modern day look at the Indian city of Chandigarh, through the lens of Paris-based photographer Manuel Bougot.  Chandigarh was India's first planned city post independence in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, commissioned Swiss architect and urban planner Le Corbusier to design Chandigarh, to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook.

From superfuture:

opening today [7pm] at photoink gallery is a solo exhibition by paris-based photographer manuel bougot as part of the gallery's architectural photography program. called chandigarh - portrait of a city, the show features a fantastic series of photographs of le corbusier's often neglected utopian structures in the northern indian city of chandigarh. bougot’s interest in le corbusier’s architecture began in the 1980s when he worked on french art historian's caroline maniaque’s architecture thesis on the master's jaoul houses built in 1954 in neuilly-sur-seine, france. more than a decade later bougot renewed his interest in le corbusier, attending talks on his chandigarh project and photographed the only building the architect ever built for himself: a summer cabin in the french riviera. now completely mesmerized, going to india to photograph chandigarh was necessary to fully understand le corbusier's dynamic vision. what makes this exhibition even more appealing is the fact that bougot has not only merely documented impressive architecture, but also buildings as quite literally a context of people's lives. this has resulted in a highly nuanced and refreshingly different view of chandigarh today [on through oct 27]. location: mgf hyundai building, 1 faiz road, ground floor [jhandewalan].

From top to bottom: Neelam Cinema, Legislative Assembly, Private Villa, High Court - Le Corbusier + Pierre Jeanneret.