It’s staggering just how many iconic stairs provided value to spaces and rapidly evolved beyond aesthetic and engineering virtuosity into symbolism, power and religion references for maximum impact. From the Tower of Babel to the stairway to the Acropolis.

No matter where you are you find fascinating staircases that make your day more enjoyable. Here are some of the ones I have found during the last couple of years.

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When JAPAN opened our eyes

It all started in Chicago. Towards the end of the 19th century when it was time to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus hitting the beaches in Hispaniola. The World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago became the biggest pastiche of architecture ever built. Disney World would look like razor-sharp minimalism in comparison.

Read more: The Day America Was Not Ready To Be Modern.

The greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was horrified at the exhibition halls, all set in dated Beaux Arts style, made of wood and plaster and coated in white. None of these white buildings made history. Instead, a gift from the Japanese emperor changed the course of architecture when it caught Wright’s attention.

In little island isolated from the rest was the Ho-o-Den, the Japanese pavilion by Masamichi Kuru. It was a scaled-down version of the temple of Hō-ō-dō built in 1052 in Uji, near Kyoto. The Chicago version also called as The Phoenix pavillion, was adapted from a sacred Buddhist temple into a secular one, and it featured some of the greatest hits of more than 1000 years of Japanese building tradition.

It can be difficult to understand how Japanese architecture has been around for thousands of years but was barely known to western architects of the time. That’s why this building stood out and sparked in Frank Lloyd Wright a love affair with Japanese culture. The building felt organic and looked natural, compared to traditional western architecture.

The timing could not have been better. Wright was looking beyond the boundaries of traditional architecture to solve a prehistoric problem: how to design comfortable private homes that normal people would be inspired to live in.

Wright and other modernist architects would go on to create more innovation in the next 100 years than previous builders had done in 2000. In an age when we are continually told about the cutting-edge modernity of Western culture, it easy to forget, that homes had seen little improvement since Augustus was emperor.

JAPAN GAVE US OPEN PLAN houses

While traditional European houses were rigidly divided into separate enclosed rooms, the Phoenix Pavilion presented Wright a free plan schema with interconnected open indoor spaces that could be adapted with movable screens.

JAPAN GAVE US HOMES OPEN TO NATURE

Here is more. While traditional homes had no interaction whatsoever with the surrounding nature, the Ho O den welcomed the outdoors, with sliding doors opening to the nature with terraces.

Wright revolutionized home design, and is now regarded as the most influential American architect ever, setting the style of the new 20th century. Yet the blueprints of Wright’s Prairie houses were built on those Japanese principles of open spaces and interacting with nature. Wright’s Obsidian houses, which were meant to provide quality living for the middle classes, developed even further this Japanese idea of blurring the barriers between indoors and outdoors.

JAPan make us love materials again

The architects of the Case Study program showed what can happen when the new construction materials and Japanese-inspired designs came together, beautifully exchanging wood with steel in the best-looking houses ever.

And the western world love the idea

These Japanese features totally revised the way we consider our modern houses, how we live in them, and even how we see ourselves. Open spaces, interaction with nature, and authenticity in building materials are the lasting ideas. Their continuing appeal is due partly to the fact that they are based on a 1000-year-old proof of concept, and it still rocks.

Wright revolutionized home design, and is now regarded as the most influential American architect ever, setting the style of the new 20th century. The Disciples of Wright such as Rudolf Shindler found the perfect space to pursue their ideas into open plan house that you and I can dream about living in. Neutra, the Eames and Philip Johnson followed after, inspiring also the architects of our modern homes.

So, while you’re sitting in your modern terrace and enjoying a rosé or beer after work, you might want to spare a toast to that generous Japanese emperor who showed us what being modern is all about.

Cover picture by Yuki Yaginuma, Traditional Japanese houses by Wakiiii, Mark B. Schlemmer, Tanaka Juuyoh, and Emile B under Creative Commons license. Neutra house by Julius Shulman, Eames house by Edward Stojakovic and
Philip Johnson house by Mark B. Schlemmer.

The post How Modernism Was Invented In The Japanese Middle Ages appeared first on Modernist in DK.

You missed a real party at the Columbian Exhibition. It was a massive event that drew over 27 million visitors in the Windy City. Is is estimated that a quarter of the American population paid a visit to the exhibition celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival on a Caribbean beach.

The great modern disaster

Few would argue today that the Columbian exhibition was an architectural disaster of gigantic proportions. In a showcase of progress and future mechanical innovations, the architecture in contrast was a gigantic Beaux Arts pastiche. In an age of changes in technology and lifestyle, most architects still remained wedded to the glories of the past.

Ironically, Chicago was ahead of its time in modern architecture. All eyes were on Alder and Sullivan and the other members of the Chicago school who put the city ahead of New York with the first functional steel skyscrapers.

Whether it was a Fine Arts pavilion or the innovations halls, the pompous, wedding-cake neo-baroque architecture was not the best stage to preview the world to come. People got blinded by sham-classical buildings of white-washed plaster and plywood.

One insignificant building changed history

Many modern architects at the time, such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Louis Sullivan, were horrified with the exhibition halls. Not one of these great white buildings made history. Instead, 20th-century architecture was changed by a simple gift from the Japanese emperor.

In an island isolated from the rest of the fair was the Ho-o-Den, the Japanese pavilion by Masamichi Kuru. This building inspired the young Frank Lloyd Wright to consider some of the fundamental tenets of architecture for the next century.

Want to know how? Stay tuned to my next post.

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It was in a remote town in Northern Italy that a guy called Antonio Sant’Elia decided to invent the future in a time when everyone else was looking at the past. Architects were uncomfortable with strange new technologies; as a result, the new railway stations and power plants were disguised as monuments from the past.

Sant’Elia hung around with the poet Antonio Tomasso Marinetti and a bunch of other non-conformists who called themselves the Futurist Group. Rejecting the disappointment and despair of their contemporaries, the Futurists embraced the speed and energy of the emerging modern life and all its machines that would influence generations to come. In Marinetti’s words, “Nothing in the world is more beautiful than a great, humming power station.”

Against all odds these guys managed to lay the foundations of our modern culture and its architecture. While other avant-gardists like Adolf Loos were already working in this direction, the Futurists’ boldness overshadowed all else and inspired the visionaries of the following Modernist decades.

It was Sant’Elia who created a catalogue of drawings so powerful that one doesn’t know where to begin describing them. His sense of the future took flight and projected cities with the user in mind. Form would follow function and a dynamic lifestyle would shape the forms—this in a time when architecture was regarded as the ultimate static art. Presenting solutions that we take for granted today, the Futurists showed the potential of architecture to create mega-skyscrapers towering above huge traffic intersections, thus sweeping away the urban planning of the last 3000 years. Say goodbye to individual buildings and hello to integrated functional systems.

Sant’Elia pursued his dream by simply being himself. Not one of his proposed buildings was ever built. He did not adapt to cultural trends; he simply relied on his talent. In 1915, Sant’Elia enlisted in the Italian army. For the Futurists, the Great War was seen as a historic event and a chance to shape the future. Within a year, Sant’Elia was killed in action.

And yet his ideas have lived on. Sant’Elia’s Futurism is considered one the most influential cultural movements Italy has produced in the last century. The Modernism movement built upon these ideas and completely reinvented the twentieth century to create the modern world you live in today.

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The social problems that flared up in some of these concrete projects fueled the criticism and overshadowed the worthy social ideals of this movement. The rest is history.

Follow your dreams and build your long-desired mini Barbican in Magnolia Street. If you need inspiration, you can easily add some ideas to your Instagram feed by following these amazing accounts. Tough and utterly stylish concrete.

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Mad Men allows us to enjoy smarter quotes than what we hear at the office, memorable situations, and a ruthlessly competitive world. Personally, I have experienced similar events in the advertising, fashion, and now digital media businesses.

If this isn’t enough, the show lets you fill your senses with the most outstanding production design and costume design. The show’s creator, Matthew Weiner, production designer Dan Bishop, set decorator Claudette Didul and costume designer Janie Bryant have conceived one of the most immersive and accurate depiction of Mid-Century culture to date, making it a global phenomenon in the fashion and design industries. I saw myself while working in fashion business when the show first launched, and I recalled how everyone converted overnight to this Mid-Century Modern visual universe. Endless conversations at the photo shoot analyzed every single detail in the series, especially Bryant’s work.

What if we decided to find the real locations of our favorite characters? If we could pretend to match the production work of the team, there would be no other alternative than picking the finest architects of mid-century America, those who inspired the show. The settings’ real locations fit the characters’ hard-edged lives.  Let me hear if we have chosen as you expected. Enjoy.

Betty Draper and the Kauffmann house by Richard Neutra

Few residences can compare to the timeless elegance of the Kauffmann house, but it is second to none to Betty Draper. Ambitious and representative, this Palm Springs residence was commissioned by Edgar Kaufmann, the Pittsburgh department store magnate, who ordered houses from the best architects in the world the way you and I order cups of coffee.

Roger Sterling and the Stahl house

Once upon a time, most elegant people threw parties the Sterling way, as he said, because men in his generation “deserved it.” So, this confident, womanizing, and moody guy deserves and lavish backdrop to his escapades and the days after. Designed to impress as you enter the Case Study House #22, this structure gives you the material to reflect about life for this guy, who is unable to be happy for too long, during the afternoons while watching the view with a scotch in hand.

Don Draper and the Miller Residence by Eero Saarinen

It is a great challenge to move Don from the best apartment set in TV history, but a good Finnish architect can help with the task. A conversation pit and gorgeous interiors do the rest. This residence is considered one of Saarinen’s finest.

Peggy Olson and The eames Residence

No creative in this world would mind moving into the Eames home in Palisades, and no woman is afraid of experimenting by mixing plastic chairs with African masks and Japanese origami. All framed in hi-tech steel and glass construction. most creatives today still dream of such a home. Surprisingly, only a few of the most well-off dare to build something similar.

Bertram Cooper and the Case Study House #16

Cooper loves Japan, and so he needed to pick the perfect house in which to go barefoot. There were hundreds of gorgeous homes to pick from, because Japan has been hot ever since, and the best American architects on the west coast looked across the Pacific for inspiration during the mid-century period. The best choice was Craig Ellwood’s Case Study House #16. With its great volume distribution and semi transparent screens, it is one of the finest houses of the 20th century and the closest you could come to Nagano at that time.

Joan Holloway and the Recreation Pavillion at the Mirman House

Dealing with your mother and your son at home is much easier in the right location. The architects Buff, Straub and Hensman stand behind the recreation pavilion for the Mirman residence and proved that having children at home does not mean turning your house into a mini Disneyland and saying goodbye to your former taste.

Credits:

Stalh house by Ryan Ward. Eames House: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times Julius Shulman: Mirman House and Case Study House #21. Mad Men charcters by ACM.

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Take a look at Snøhetta, the acclaimed Norwegian architectural firm that designed one of my personal top 10 buildings in the Nordic countries, the Oslo Opera House. Few 0pera houses are as well integrated into the urban landscape. The building is a piece of art in itself. Outside, slopes of white marble rise from the fiord and invite you to stroll up to the top. Inside, a keyless lobby, open 24/7, symbolizes the Scandinavian standard of friendliness and safety.

After taking care of a day of business in Oslo, do not resist the temptation to climb to the top.

Pictures by me on a sunny Spring day.

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Normal people have been the focus of the Danish political system for most of the 20th century, providing first-class city planning to improve the living conditions of the lower and middle classes.

This country has succeeded in reducing the gap between the rich and the poor and has achieved one of the best standards of living in the world. Millionaires are few as compared to Mediterranean countries and the big spenders keep lifestyle rather low key.

Planning and design are as quintessentially Danish as biscuits. Strong regulations and first-class city planning have given us a vast array of remarkable neighborhoods where normal people actually live. It is no wonder why city centers are deserted in the evening.

Take a look at these aerial views from the Krak search engine and find inspiration for more economically sustainable and people friendly cities.

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Designed in the mid-60s, this hospital included the most advanced medical technologies of the time. Delivered ten years later, the price tag for the building ended up costing five times the original budget, one of the biggest building scandals in Danish history.

Most of the original design is a well-preserved copy of Moonbase Alpha from “Space 1999”. Just the elevator ride (top picture) is worth the trip.

-“Eagle One Four. This is Doctor Russell…”

My pictures and the ITC pictures of the cast of the British series “Space: 1999.”

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This hotel is a place that I would definitely put on my travel bucket list.

Pictures: Juvet Landscape Hotel and Universal Studios.

The post The Incredible Thing Is That The House In Ex Machina Is Real appeared first on Modernist in DK.