Dwell December 2015 - January 2016

When building a house, predictability is a privilege. Think about all the variables that can wreak havoc on even the most organized program: environmental calamities, unexpected expenses, erroneous measurements. As with any complex enterprise, there are myriad opportunities for error. This is but one reason why prefabrication as a methodology offers a smart option—control mitigates risk. In putting together this issue, we are reminded that prefab in an urban setting has potential to change the way we look at housing in cities. It offers a quick way to increase the density that the growing metropolis demands; the challenges are craftsmanship and precision. Demanding tolerances are required to snap together multiple dwellings within a complex framework of structure, plumbing, and envelope. Yet, as the projects in the following pages indicate, a…

LETTERS Great story (“A Family Affair,” September 2015), especially when they realized that they could build things the way they wanted them. Love it when people think outside the box! @guzzi_g Posted to Instagram I loved the July/August issue on tech-driven domestic engineering. It’s not only the way of the future, but a means to help salvage it. As usual—“Dwell done!” Malcolm Leigh Guthridge Posted to Facebook As a Canadian subscriber to Dwell who’s proud of my heritage, I was very surprised that “Tuning In” (July/August 2015) did not include the Canadian– produced “G” series made by Clairtone in Canada during the ’60s. For me at that time, the G and the G2 were right out of my price range, but a G3 was affordable. The sound was spectacular— it…

Joakim Blockstrom Based in London, Swedish photographer Joakim Blockstrom typically shoots still lifes, food, and interiors. He is currently working on an online project that highlights the objects that people inherit. He captured “The Outer Limits,” a prefab home in the suburbs of Paris, on page 96. “The house had a really nice, long garden from which you could see a very urban landscape,” he says. “I was impressed by the double sliding doors and house-wide staircase connecting the outside to the inside.” Would you live in a modular home? “I lived in three 1960s prefabs in the south of London for some time and I loved it. They were all super well-planned, with lots of light.” Ron Broadhurst Covering architecture and interior design for publications including The Wall Street…

The boundaries between art and design have long been tenuous, and in some distinct cases, wholly embraced. “Pop Art Design,” opening December 19 at MCA Chicago (through March 27, 2016), examines the fertile cross-pollination of ideas in the postwar years, during which artists and designers alike placed notions of the object, image, and popular culture under the lens with equal scrutiny and awe. Pairing works by Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenberg alongside designs by (clockwise from left) Gruppo Strum, Superstudio, Eero Aarnio, Studio 65, and more, the exhibition itself will be presented in tandem with a Pop Art survey from MCA’s permanent collection. mcachicago.org…

PROJECT Avalon House ARCHITECT ArchiBlox archiblox.com.au LOCATION Avalon Beach, New South Wales, Australia When Richard and Jackie Willcocks started looking to build a house on the northern beaches of Sydney that could be completed by Christmas 2014, less than a year away, they knew it had to be prefab. Richard, who runs a boutique snowboard business, and Jackie, a medical student, once lived in a shipping container apartment building in Canberra and had watched as one half of the six-story block was assembled in three weeks. “It was phenomenal,” Richard recalls. Online, they found ArchiBlox, a Victoria-based prefab company with a portfolio of modular houses in New South Wales, and the couple turned to the firm to design their 1,140-squarefoot retreat. “We can do a single dwelling much quicker than…

PROJECT The River ARCHITECT SANAA sanaa.co.jp LOCATION New Canaan, Connecticut Known for asymmetrical structures that subvert traditional rules of space, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of renowned Tokyo-based architectural practice SANAA, are now bringing their forward-thinking vision to the verdant pastures of New Canaan, Connecticut. For the first time since winning the Pritzker Prize, in 2010, the firm returned to the USA to design Grace Farms, a spiritual center and community gathering space that opened in October 2015. We asked the architects to tell us about the meandering 83,000-square-foot facility. “We wanted to build a place where people could feel respect for the environment.” —Ryue Nishizawa, architect Grace Farms offers faith-based programming, art installations, an area for communal dining, athletic facilities, and more—all open to the public. How did you…