Desert Modernism is a term for the style which captures the Palm Spring mid century movement best.
All posts tagged: Architecture
Eichler homes of America
In the early chapters of Steve Jobs’ autobiography, writer Walter Isaacson details how the Apple cofounder’s upbringing and sense of aesthetic style was profoundly influenced by growing up in an architecturally designed home. And cofounder Steve Wozniak, also grew up in designed home: an Eichler […]
A 2020 modern house #5
Lovely modern houses sometimes come with ample room, but among the early builds, many were extremely modest or even basic. Room sizes were tight, and many were designed to fit with the carpet available. For example, Axminster carpet was in use before Broadloom. You’ll find […]
The Work of John Wardle
One of my favourite architects of recent years is John Wardle. Although well known for the Westfield Commercial Tower in Sydney and several notable city towers and educational buildings, Wardle’s residential work is of most interest. In particular, the Fairhaven Beach House captures my heart. Its full-timber interior […]
When Dad comes to visit
Late August 2016: It was a happy day when my Dad came over for a peak at the progress. My parents tried not to visit the building site, as it was full of hazards. So, when he came around and had a look, he said […]
The Barcelona Pavilion
Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to travel to a few places that have offered us lots of design inspiration. In the middle of our design process, we travelled abroad for work purposes and managed to visit the beautiful Barcelona Pavilion in Spain, the new […]
The Death of Model Making?
Is it real? Or imagined? Since our journey through the design process began for our own home, one thing has struck me. Computers, indispensible as they are, seem to have removed the one thing I loved about the idea of designing or building (or extending) a […]
Pettit + Sevitt Elements
When we first purchased our house, the real estate agent hadn’t noticed it was a P+S. Needless to say after realising they might have been able to sell it for more, their eyes widened. Nevertheless, we confirmed with the seller’s son and it was indeed […]
Philip Johnson’s Glass House: Where is the doorbell?
We’ve been fortunate to see some wonderful buildings and places on travels over the years. With the tourist stuff out of the way, we usually look for more interesting sights when returning to a city we’ve visited before. Philip Johnson’s Glass House has always been […]
What is that? The renovation, restoration or knock down trend
(The above photo is an example of the McMansion home…a mock something or other with little reference to anything vaguely appropriate for our climate, but with a large floor space). It’s a vexed issue. When you become the owner of a home it is for living […]
Sydney House. 