tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post1664326784654344529..comments2008-01-03T01:34:31.148-05:00lavarderahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-28525572514773613412008-01-03T01:34:00.000-05:002008-01-03T01:34:00.000-05:00Greg, that is a great, great story, thanks for that link! There is WAY too much there to take in with a single cup of coffee, but I now understand what "eichler" means ... thanks!<BR/><BR/>The story about his stance on race - and degree to which he took risks, and put his money on the line to pursue his ideals ... amazing. <BR/><BR/>I'm going to buy the book.Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-30412669693682840982008-01-02T14:41:00.000-05:002008-01-02T14:41:00.000-05:00I don't think we can, or should forecast or work towards an end to historical styles. To me this is inconceivable, un-fair - the perfect corollary to the current status quo where modern is boxed out of the marketplace. I don't want to see that happen - its no better than were we are. I always frame this struggle against making modern houses available - giving people who like modern houses the choice of buying or building one. Its about having choice, not taking it away. Frankly that is why I think many people dislike modern houses - they are afraid that they will be forced to live in one! (When I get that from people I say, hey, you are afraid of it, I've been living it!)<BR/><BR/>Look, my own point of view is why would you want to build anything but a modern house in modern times. There are plenty of old houses to buy if that's what you like. If the entire country wakes up and sees it my way, great, no more phony old houses. But until then choice is something that everybody should have.<BR/><BR/>As far as developer champions, yes, there are a good number of small developers out there doing modern. Many of them are into row buildings, or condos, in more urban settings, but there are some suburban developers doing modern out there. Historically Eichler was the champion of them all. I could write an entry about him, but there is already a wealth of info about him on the internet, and in several books. A good place to start is the Eichler Network: http://www.eichlernetwork.com/ There is a good amount of history, a community message-board, and a valuable home owners knowledge-base that has grown up around these homes. Its obvious that there is a whole economy surrounding these homes and their up-keep and improvement. This is a couple of thousand homes in California, and they have their own economy. Don't tell me we can't do the same across the entire country.lavarderahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-77362460168292314512008-01-02T02:12:00.000-05:002008-01-02T02:12:00.000-05:00The metropolis article by Akst, covers a lot of ground and is very well done - how he relates the interaction with his builder, as well as his observations of the market - all fit with my experiences. <BR/><BR/>I don't know how we can support the idea of modern as mainstream or forecast an end to "historical styles" when it is hard to even point to evidence of a trend! To Dave's comment above, the historical styles most certianly have a century of staying power - built as they are on ideas that are, in some cases, thousands of years old!<BR/><BR/>Having had the good fortune of looking at this question from outside the US, it has occured to me that "modern" - in the US doesn't really have a "style" - modern, is more a shorthand for a need to be innovative - its existance as the residence as artistic creation. I think Dwell, for example, re-enforces this by presenting modern as a lifestyle - and not a style. <BR/><BR/>Here in Sweden, modern actually is a style - it has a name here that the locals know and understand, "funkis" - and it can be presented in a totally stylistic manner that the market accepts. The latest incarnation of modern in scandinavia, one that is softened by introductions of wood and use of color - and references to vernacular forms - is called "nyfunkis" - or translated by the developers who are building with it, as "nordic neo - functionalism".<BR/><BR/>I would argue that Wright succeeded in creating a style, "paririe" - and the Bungalow certianly was a recognizable "style" - but modern, it seems to me, simply has failed to become understood as a style.<BR/><BR/>Akst in a way shows us why this is - a modern house is a "one off" that involves an architect ... and in his case, a repurposing of a grain bin. Part of the objective of the exercize is to live in something that is "unique".<BR/><BR/>Do the remodernists have a developer champion - someone who has actually put real money on the line with the ideas of "modern"?<BR/><BR/>I can think of a couple midcentury developments in CT, but these are being pulled down and replaced by homes that are at best, sensitive, "not so big" homes with vaugely craftsman details.<BR/><BR/>Anyone, anywhere? There must be some examples - Akst closes his article with reference to Joseph Eichler - I know that this was a developer or an architect out in California - but that is all I know. <BR/><BR/>Greg would you be willing to do a post on Eichler, and share with us what Akst means by his reference to Eichler?Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-6431168292470038242007-12-31T14:14:00.000-05:002007-12-31T14:14:00.000-05:00I don't know if the future holds a complete turn over to modern housing, but its obvious that the generations of new home buyers are not as interested as past generations in accepting the assumptions of their parents of what their home should be like. To me the mission is to supply he demand emerging from that change. Feed the change - not sure where it will take us.lavarderahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-69129890568335478472007-12-31T02:32:00.000-05:002007-12-31T02:32:00.000-05:00I think we're turning the corner on the typical house design. I'm definitely noticing more modern house designs in new houses that I see being built. I wish it would happen faster, but at least it's happening. It seems inevitable to me anyways, I seriously doubt we're going to be building fake historical styles in 100 years from now, so there will come a day when everything is modern. I think the baby boomer generation tried to resist modernism, but they're fighting a losing battle, and now their kids are reaching the age where they're starting to buy and build homes and don't want a tacky fake historical style house if they can avoid it. Fake architecture is old and busted, modern is sleek, sexy and sophisticated.Davewww.contemporist.comnoreply@blogger.com