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Since the first issue of Dwell we have championed one of the most creative, sustainable, and promising building systems that has been a part of the American housing landscape for more than a century. What we love about prefab is its creative pursuit of modern-home-as-product, with sustainability and authenticity at its core. And within these pages, Dwell explores innovative examples of how far prefab—promising for the masses and appealing to the well-heeled who love designing with a “kit of parts”—has come and just how far it still has to go. The allure of prefab is that it continues to fascinate and propel architects, builders, and homeowners to experiment restlessly, hoping to capture prefab’s pledge of precision and economy. We devote 42 pages of this issue to those protagonists of prefab…

Though we couldn’t see all 280-some events at the ninth-annual London Design Festival this September, a very hardworking furniture trend did catch our eye. Shoehorn Hanger by Faudet-Harrison for Tracey Neuls The clothes hanger gains a rather pedestrian second use thanks to the London-based design firm Faudet-Harrison. This hanger, made for shoe maven Tracey Neuls’s new store in Shoreditch, has a shoehorn on each end. faudet-harrison.com Forking Light by Adam Xander Adding a spun aluminum shade and bulb to this pitchfork prototype we saw at the TENT London show takes it from fully functional in the farmyard to a perfect fit for the foyer. adamxander.co.uk Coat Rack from the Pipework series by Nick Fraser The “recontextualization of familiar things” drives Nick Fraser’s design. We came across the powder-coated copper pipes…

By imbuing the most basic household wares—from wall shelves to stereo systems—with near-divine simplicity, Dieter Rams has built a masterful career by designing only what’s necessary. In his 40-years at the German company Braun, industrial-design icon Dieter Rams was responsible for creating a few electric shavers. How does a 1957 edition stack up against a contemporary model 51 years its junior? To see a recent one-on-one chat with Dieter, visit dwell.com/dieter-rams Combi DL 5 1957 Designer Dieter Rams collaborated on this early Braun shaver with Gerd Alfred Müller, a specialist in electric razors. Cost The Combi DL 5 went for 68 Deutsche Mark (about $129 today) in 1957. Power The Combi DL 5 had to be plugged in. Water Don’t get that Combi wet. This old-timer is all about the…

VIDEO//Dieter Rams We spoke one-on-one with industrial design pioneer Dieter Rams at a retrospective of his work on now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In his 40 years at the German company Braun, Rams saw through one of the most well-articulated complete design visions in history. From the stereos, household appliances and electronics he designed for Braun to his classic shelving system for Vitsoe, Rams’ formidable fingerprints are all over post-war material culture. We asked this icon how his ten dictums of good design stand up now, how he captained Braun’s ship for four decades, and who on the contemporary scene is getting it right. dwell.com/dieter-rams GIVEAWAY//Marimekko We’re excited to join Marimekko in celebrating their 60th anniversary by paying tribute to six decades of bold, colorful prints.…

When Danish furniture designer Jens Risom built his summer house in 1967, it was a marvel of prefab design. Almost a half-century later, it’s just as novel. Project: Prefab Weekend House Location: Block Island, Rhode Island Architect: Jens Risom risom.com In the mid-1960s, Jens Risom and his wife, Henny, decided to build a home on a rugged and remote seven-acre plot of land on Block Island, Rhode Island. They wanted something simple and attractive—a haven for summering and enjoying the scenery that reminded them of their native Denmark. “When we looked at listings in the area, they were very, very expensive,” says Risom, now 95. “Prefab was only a fraction of the cost.” He found a basic but flexible model by Massachusetts-based builder Stanmar, Inc., and added custom touches to…

Decades after they met as teenagers on a Montauk beach, Manhattanites Victoria and Greg Pryor returned to Long Island to build a sustainable second home together. Victoria and Greg Pryor met on the beach in Montauk, New York, when they were both just 13 years old. The Hamptons hamlet, the setting of so many idyllic childhood summers, continued to exert a strong pull on the couple into adulthood. So when they decided to build a retreat for escaping Manhattan’s bustle with their boys, Dylan and Lucas, it didn’t make sense to do it anywhere else. Nor did it make sense to work with anyone other than Victoria’s younger brother, Paul Masi of Bates Masi + Architects. For his sister and brother-in-law, Masi designed a house whose defining feature is a…

Project: Wardell/Sagan Residence Location: San Francisco, California In the pursuit of their hobbies, The shipping containers (opposite, top) were stacked, joined with steel tubes, and lashed to reinforced floor joints to make them earthquake-safe. The bottom container houses a guest room; the top is Wardell’s office (right), with a rectangular cutout the couple calls the "dinner’s ready slot" for its bird’s-eye perspective on the kitchen. Jeff Wardell and Claudia Sagan are not laid-back. When the San Francisco couple says they love to travel, they don’t mean trips to Napa. Over the past three summers Wardell put 15,500 miles on a motorcycle he and Sagan keep in Milan on rides from the Arctic Circle to southwestern Portugal. When Wardell began collecting street art in the mid-1990s, he admits, “it quickly became…

Architectural illustrator Carlos Diniz (1928–2001) is one of those characters in the history of modernism who ends up filed away in the archives as styles and technologies change. But without him and his immense talent, some of the most iconic buildings and developments of the movement might never have gotten off the drawing boards. For more than three decades, Diniz’s pen propelled the spread of mid-century design. One of the top renderers of his generation, he was the go-to illustrator in Southern California from the late 1950s until the early 1990s, and his influential hand-drawn perspectives were commissioned by some of the preeminent architects and real estate firms of the time. Extended slideshow at dwell.com/magazine Born in 1928 in Phoenix, Arizona, Diniz trained in industrial design and architecture at the…

Linda Bergroth had gardening and storage in mind when she developed this scaled-down prefab prototype. The Finnish designer collaborated with Helsinki-based Avanto Architects for two years to perfect the compact unit—now available for purchase from outdoor brand Kekkilä—which artfully merges shed and greenhouse into one wood-framed, gabled-roof, glass-walled structure. Sensing its greater potential, she adapted one into a warm-weather retreat for herself on the small island owned by her parents, where she spent childhood summers. Going out to sleep in the shed might sound like an admonition for some, but for Bergroth the opportunity is divine. “The first night I spent there beat any five-star hotel or chateau,” she says. “Nothing has ever felt as luxurious.” See more of the shed at dwell.com/magazine…

What a surprise to read your great piece about Marimekko (Process, September 2011). Thanks to writer Katja Lindroos and photographer Alex Subrizi for such a thorough story about what makes Marimekko so unique. In the 1970s, young architects like me loved Marimekko for its strong colors and patterns. I am retired now but have a new career making large wall hangings and quilts out of Marimekko fabric from the remnant box at a Crate and Barrel outlet. I have made about 25 so far, and I must have more than 50 patterns in my ever-growing fabric inventory. The quality of the material is perfect, the colors are vibrant, and the patterns remain fresh and compelling. Peter Hoyt Cincinnati, Ohio Thanks for the “Inspired by Japan” story (September 2011). The article…

Whilst in London, we met three talents who are making their marks on the local design scene. Soon you’ll be uttering their names along side Morrison, Dixon, and Adjaye. Max Fraser At the tender age of 31, writer Max Fraser is already a ten-year veteran of the London Design scene and is increasingly one of its most indispensable fixtures. His first book—Design UK, a comprehensive shopping guide—was published in 2001, but it’s the second edition of his London Design Guide (which debuted at the festival) that will keep him, and you, on the map. Fraser’s take on a traditional city guide is shot through with a critic’s eye and a journalist’s ear as he editorializes on the best stores, galleries, showrooms, and museums in the Big Smoke—and on everything from…

In this age of iCal, a perpetual desktop or wall calendar makes timekeeping an appealingly tactile pleasure. Just don’t forget to make the manual adjustments! Perpetual Calendar by Gideon Dagan for the Museum of Modern Art 9" H x 13" W x 2" D Magnets rule! One sphere miraculously “floats” toward the month while the other slides along the horizontal rail to indicate the date. momastore.org Calendario Bilancia by Enzo Mari for Danese 3.5" H x 19" W Move these wood strips side to side to align the date in the middle, but beware: They’re a bit wobbly and won’t stay completely parallel when left or right of center. danesemilano.com Round & Round Calendar by David Weatherhead for Seletti 12", 5.9", and 4.5" dia. A spin of the finger rotates…

Prefab construction simplified the building process of this northern Wisconsin summer home, where all materials required ferrying across Lake Superior. Project: Week’nder Location: Madeline Island, Wisconsin Architect: Charlie Lazor flatpakhouse.com When architect Charlie Lazor was commissioned to design an affordable, durable summer retreat on Lake Superior’s historic Madeline Island, he was aware of the location’s challenges. Because of its relative isolation, site-building results in a 20 percent up-charge for ferrying materials and equipment, such as a weighty concrete mixer, to the wooded site. The clients envisioned a modern cabin that evoked a rustic simplicity; Lazor, creator of the panelized FlatPak house, developed a new modular 1,600-square-foot open-plan Week’nder sporting a screened porch, traditional porcelain fixtures, and shed door latches. Mounted on tubular steel posts to minimize its ecological footprint (and…

For Paul and Shoko Shozi, a pair of retiring Angelenos, the goal was to shut out the neighborhood but bring in the sunny skies. Their new prefab home, the Tatami House, designed by Swiss architect Roger Kurath of Design*21, makes a central courtyard the physical, and maybe even the spiritual, center of the home. On a fine Marina del Rey morning, Paul shows us around. Extended slideshow at dwell.com/magazine During our house hunt in and around Los Angeles, we discovered the Eichler homes in Granada Hills and in Orange County, many of which have a courtyard layout. At first we really wanted an Eichler, but it just did not work out. But after seeing a few we knew that we had to have a courtyard home. We’re pretty private, so…

Jean-François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, cofounders of the burgeoning design firm Normal Studio, met as master and apprentice. In 2000, Dingjian taught a workshop at ENSCI–Les Ateliers, one of the leading design schools in France. Chafaï was his student. Until that point, Chafaï had been unapologetically “design-uneducated,” as he puts it. His main activity from ages 14 to 26 was spray-painting graffiti throughout the Parisian suburbs. “The city was my playground, scale 1:1,” he says. “I was drawing letters, not representing forms. It gave me a sense of how to project proportion onto an object.” Recognizing his raw talent, Dingjian took Chafaï on as his intern, then as his design collaborator, and then, in 2006, as cofounder of Normal Studio. In the past six years, the pair has developed a…

Project: Burton Residence Architect: Marmol Radziner Location: Ukiah, California When Abbie and Bill Burton hired Marmol Radziner to design their prefab weekend home, their two requests were “simple-simple, replaceable materials,” says Abbie—such as concrete floors (poured offsite in Marmol Radziner’s factory) and metal panel siding—and “the ability to be indoors or outdoors with ease.” Deep overhangs provide shade and protection from rain, so the Burtons can leave their doors open year-round and hang out on their 70-foot-long deck even in inclement weather. They visit the house once a month, usually for a week at a time, with Vinnie and Stella, their rescue Bernese Mountain dogs. Their two adult children occasionally join them. The couple hopes to one day retire here. Bill and Abbie Burton have experienced their share of construction…

Love at first sight is a powerful thing. Wiet Hekking had worked as a buyer in the Dutch textile industry for almost two decades when, in 1988, he first spotted the chair that changed his life—Grete Jalk’s iconic GJ, a 1963 marvel made out of almost impossibly bent plywood. The design potential of this industrial process was a revelation to Hekking; his infatuation with the seat provided the foundation for a personal collection of like pieces that eventually outgrew both his home and the storage space he rented to accommodate it. In 1999, he opened a small storefront called, appropriately, Wonder-Wood. “I put aside a few items that I wanted to save,” Hekking says, “and began to sell the rest of my finds.” He has since moved locations to a…

Ty Cole Ty Cole journeyed from his home in Brooklyn to the end of Long Island to photograph the Pryor Residence (Off the Grid, p. 58). Upon arriving in Montauk, he thought he might have taken a wrong turn. “No way that house is here,” he recalls thinking. Nevertheless, he found the expansive, floating structure and the family at the end of a long, gravel driveway. “They were so hospitable and made the experience a real pleasure,” Cole says. Jessica Haye and Clark Hsiao Los Angeles–based photographers Jessica Haye and Clark Hsiao visited Paul and Shoko Shozi’s nearby home for this month’s My House (p. 46). “While we were shooting, Shoko made a batch of homemade banana-nut muffins and packed them up for us with Japanese cookies and rice cakes…

In London, we came across a pair of exhibits that showed off the highest of contemporary design while hearkening back to the stalwart Britain of yore. Parlor Trick For all the British design on display at the festival, nothing truly hit home—or recreated it—better than the Living Room, a stylishly cozy collection of English goods curated by design journalist Alyn Griffiths and designer Jonathan Krawczuk. The pair set up shop in a small room in the store Luna and Curious in East London, kitting out the diminutive space with the work of 18 different brands, all made in the UK. Their selections included a few boldfaced names of contemporary British design—Established & Sons, Donna Wilson, Matthew Hilton—but a Drone table by Dare Studio, a teapot by welovekaoru, and a sideboard…

The revamp of Clover—a new fast-food joint in Harvard Square—complements the original interior and hidden skylight of the Josep Lluís Sert–designed building from 1966. Clover Food Lab, a vegetarian restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, began as a group of food carts. Recently, however, it opened stationary digs in the Holyoke Center, designed by Josep Lluís Sert, former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Clover’s founder, Ayr Muir, hoped to affect a dash of social change through the marriage of high design and healthy grub, so he turned to John Hong and Jinhee Park, principals of SsD Architecture. The low-budget build-out revealed a smorgasbord of Sert’s stunning original details. cloverfoodlab.com A. Brick of the Trade In tearing out the office that previously occupied the space, the architects discovered the original…

It took a mere six months—three in the factory and three on-site—for this prefab to come to fruition on the shore of Sweden’s Müsko Island. Project: Folded Roof House Location: Muskö, Sweden Architect: Claesson Koivisto Rune ckr.se Prefab ubiquity remains a pipe dream in the United States, but the process is a specialty in Scandinavia. Multi-disciplinary Swedish firm Claesson Koivisto Rune created the plans for this home for design-minded kit-house manufacturer Arkitektus. Considering the unique balance of the facade, as well as its climate-specific construction—the asymmetrical “lifted” roof allows for both water drainage and maximum light during the dark winter months—Claesson Koivisto Rune’s approach to the project is some what surprising. “We design buildings from the inside out,” explains principal Eero Koivisto. “The exterior is more or less a product…

Capable of casting a warm glow or shining as bright as high noon, a lamp can define a space and give it character. Looking to set the mood for a night in? Need a direct beam for your nighttime reading? We plugged in, turned on, and tested out an array of lamps, from a futuristic LED to a retro walnut model, to see how they shine. PROS & CONS Table Light by Iacoli & McAllister 8" W x 12" H $198 shop.iacolimcallister.com Pros: It’s short and squat, but this lamp’s stubby looks—matte black shade, oiled oak legs, and aqua cord—grew on us. Changing bulbs is a breeze—just reach in from the top. The design also accommodates LEDs, which are often awkwardly sized. Just keep ’em at 75 watts or under.…

A SHOPPER’S GUIDE So you’re building a house. You’ve done a little research, and, after a hazy half-calculation of your carbon footprint and liquid assets, you think that prefab is the way to go. Here’s the bad news: You haven’t decided much. The American consumer has struggled with the question of how to best go prefab since at least 1906, when the Michigan company Aladdin offered the first proper kit house. Sears, Roebuck & Co. followed suit in 1908, offering sets of mail-order plans and numbered pieces, and selling nearly 100,000 by 1940. In 1921, Hollywood (a decent indicator of when an idea starts to stick) contended with prefab in the short Buster Keaton film One Week. In it, the elastic slapstick master wrestles with a recalcitrant build-by-the-numbers kit of…

Wee Approve Inflate the scale of the support trestles, add floors and ceilings, and you have the core of the QuaDror prefab house. The QD 01-06 dwellings, created in partnership with Minnesota prefab outfit weeHouse, range from 900 to 3,000 square feet—“single and double story, and two versions that are elevated off the ground, which is beneficial for certain climates,” Benshetrit says. As with the trestles, the QD interlocking frame modules, constructed from eight beams, are shipped flat and set up onsite. “The whole house shouldn’t take more than a few days to assemble,” the designer says. “It’s really and truly a kit—a lucid system that results in a product you park on your land.” QD 01-06 houses will be available this spring. “I feel we have not done justice…

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