Modern Architecture | Live A Designer's Life

Why were independent female clients such powerful catalysts for innovation in the modern house?

Women and the Making of the Modern House, written by AliceÂ T. Friedman, is a thought-provoking book that answers this question by exploring two seemingly unrelated topics: gender roles, and architecture.

Specifically, the book focuses on 6 innovative projects, involving female clients and well-known architects. These projects are the best-known examples of unprecedented architecture that had female clientele at the forefront of each project’s innovation. It combines social and architectural history to investigate the roles played by both the architects and the clients, and explores the processes of collaboration and negotiation through which decisions about program and design were made.

A conviction shared by modern architects and their women clients was that the essence of modernity was the complete alteration of the home â€“ its construction, materials, and interior space.

â€œNot only did women commission avant-garde architects to provide them with houses in which to live out their visions of a new life, but these visions rested on a redefinition of domesticity that was fundamentally spatial and physical. A powerful fusion of feminism with the forces of change in architecture thus propelled these projects into uncharted realms of originalityâ€

The 6 innovative houses are:

Hollyhock House, Los Angeles, 1919-21, by Frank Lloyd Wright for Alice Barnsdall

House 2: The Schroder House, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1923-24, by Gerrit Rietveld for Truus Schroder

House 3:Â Villa Stein-de-Monzie, by Le Corbusier, was constructed from 1926-1928 and it is located in Garches, France.

House 4: Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Plano, Illinois, 1945-51

House 5: The Constance Perkins House by Richard Neutra in Pasadena, California, 1952-55

House 6: Vanna Venturi House by Robert Venturi, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, 1961-64

Stay tuned to learn more about these houses and how their women patrons of architecture were catalysts for innovation.

All photos are from Alice T. Friedman’s book.

This is Rochelleâ€™s fabulous home. Rochelle and her family have recently moved back to Canada after living abroad for the last 23 years, and in Hong Kong, for the last 7.Â Rochelleâ€™s interior design degree from Parsonâ€™s in New York has served her well as is evident through the house. Wanting a pied-Ã -terre in Vancouver while her kids finished school, Rochelle and her husband took an old Kitsilano house and undertook a massive renovation.

They maintained the exterior character of their shingled Kitsilano house to respect the context of the neighbourhood. Only the large modern front door hints at what lies on the other side.

Typically homes of this vintage are comprised of small rooms where one must pass through one room to get to another. To offset this rabbit warren feel, Rochelle has opened up the rooms and totally modernized the aesthetic. Â The living room, dining room and kitchen are all one large space. She recognized that with so much openness, ample storage would be a must. So all along one wall are built in storage cabinets setting a clean datum line for art and accessories.

The stairs are pure sculpture. Glass rails are bolted with stainless steel fasteners transparently enlarging the space.

Cleverly tucked away behind the kitchen is the generous â€˜back of houseâ€™ where laundry, more storage, and home office reside. Recognizing that life happens, here the kids can drop their backpacks, shoes and what-have-you without impacting the pristine interiors of Rochelleâ€™s home.

Of particular beauty is Rochelle’s homage to China and Hong Kong, manifested through artwork, ceramics and the cinnabar high-gloss tiles in the powder room.

The couple are avid art collectors, and have acquired work ranging from graduating artists at Emily Carr to eclectic pieces that span the globe.

Above is the Scandia Easy Chair, 1957, by Hans Brattrud of Norway.Â Their sophisticated design aesthetic clearly shines in their collection of classic modern furniture pieces, right from the entry porch with its Verner Panton chairs through to the Saarinen dining table with Tulip chairs, nicely rounded out by the Arne Jakobsen Egg and Saarinenâ€™s Womb chairs.