heron street remodel

objective

Restore the entrance of a 1900s bungalow to its original street side and add craftsman elements appropriate to the neighborhood historic regulations

location

Boise, ID

before

after

Anglepoise Lamp

George Carwardine designed the first Anglepoise desk lamp with the original intention to build a lamp that could offer pristine illumination for his workforce. Using the human arm as inspiration, he created a system of perpetual tension using springs. The result was a lamp that could be angled to provide maximum illumination with minimum of fuss. The design was so revolutionary that word quickly spread and Carwardine’s design soon became an icon of British home lighting.

“Original Collection.” Angelpoise. Web. 15 March 2011.

Savoy Vase

The Savoy Vase is a world famous piece of glassware designed by Alvar Aalto. This vase was created, along with many other custom fixtures and furnishings, for the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki, Finland. The undulating forms of the vase echo the Finnish landscape with its thousands of lakes. The original size of the vase was five and a half inches high. Since its creation, a variety of colors and sizes have been produced by Iittala, where it continues to be meticulously crafted.

Paimio Chair

Also known as the Scroll Chair, this furniture piece was designed by Hugo Henrik Alvar Aalto during the same time the Paimio Sanatorium was constructed. Alvar Aalto was the most important figure of the 1930s. His furnishings were a natural extension of his architecture. He revolutionized the aesthetic and technology of furniture design; the Paimio Chair was one of the first chairs with no steel framework. Instead, it was constructed of laminated plywood, a signature material of Alvar Aalto.

Paimio Sanatorium

  Alvar Aalto’s tuberculosis sanatorium is remotely situated in thick forest in Finland. His starting point for the design of the sanatorium was to make the building itself a contributor to the healing process. Alto and his wife, Aino, designed all of the sanatorium’s furniture and interiors. The reinforced concrete frame construction is fully exposed and fully exploited aesthetically: taut and muscular yet gracefully modulated. Today, the building has been converted into a general hospital.

“Paimio Sanatorium.” Mi Modern Architecture. Web. 15 March 2011.

1930s

                        “Every building, every work of architecture, is a symbol which has the aspiration to show that we want to build a paradise on earth for ordinary mortals.”

ALVAR AALTO

 

Eliel Saarinen

                            Eliel Saarinen was a Finish architect that also designed furniture. He designed a side chair for the dining room of his Cranbrook home. The fluid lines and restrained elegance are typical for Saarinen’s work. He designed the fabric for the chair, which is made of horse hair. His Blue Collection was designed for his wife’s studio in Cranbrook, carrying overtones of Art Deco. The chair in the collection is made of beech wood and lacquered grey-blue with gold leaf accents.

“Blue Suite.” Elierl Saarinen. Web. 8 March 2011.

Emile-Jacques Ruhlman

                                 Ruhlmann was known for his popular and extremely expensive furniture pieces. He used rare and costly materials such as Macassar ebony, shark skin, and tortoise shell. These materials would be accented by delicate inlay of ivory in lines, dots, and circles. He would often use tassels for drawer pulls. The legs of his pieces were slender, reeded, and tapered, generally ending with a little ivory foot. He would not accept that any detail of his design could not be executed.

Chrysler Building

                                                                  William Van Alen was a Beaux Arts trained architect that designed the Chrysler Building. Often cited as the epitome of the Art Deco skyscraper, this building’s sunburst patterned, stainless steel spire remains one of the most striking features of the Manhattan skyline. Briefly, it was the tallest building in the world until the opening of the Empire State Building. Exotic marbles and granites were used in the stunning lobby. The massive ceiling mural by Trumble is a tribute to transportation.

Art Deco Period

Art Deco was the time period following World War I during the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Its early years were characterized by stylized organic forms, an elitist philosophy with little thought to social purpose, extravagant materials such as rare woods and ivory, and bold colors due to Ballet Russe. The later years featured sharp angles, sunbursts, ziggurats, skyscraper motifs, movement and speed, Bauhaus modernist philosophy, simple geometric designs, and curved forms.