Entries categorized as ‘Architecture’
After reading the Fall 2008 issue of Modernism Magazine (which I highly suggest you scoop up) and learning about Teco Pottery, I felt compelled to share my newly acquired information with you. If you know nothing of Teco, then get ready for a fascinating education about the Arts and Crafts Movement medium that was modern before modern was a celebrated aesthetic.
Teco — a compound of the word Terra Cotta — was first introduced to the world via architecture. It was originally used on the facades of Chicago skyscrapers because it was cheap and provided good insulation. Why Chicago skyscrapers? Well, Teco was local and produced just outside of the Windy City, In Terracotta, Ill., where William D. Gates founded his Terra Cotta Tile Works company in 1881 and where Teco would go on to be produced for 30+ years.
Gates began experimenting with the Teco clay in hopes of creating functional and affordable pottery in line with the Arts & Crafts Movement. Using the geometric (Art Deco) designs created by architects of the Prarie School (Frank Lloyd Wright famously crafted a vase inspired by a skycraper and even built a Teco storefront specially designed to accentuate the pottery), Gates eventually crafted around 500 pieces of pottery. The first pieces of Teco were all glazed with dull browns and reds, but when Gates accidentally created a green glaze giving the pottery a patinaed finish, it stuck and went on to define the look of Teco. Unfortunately, Gates hung up his hat as a potter during the 1920s and Teco production was relegated to architectural materials. The craft’s relatively short lifespan makes Teco pottery very valuable and highly coveted.
Today, Teco pottery has made a quiet resurgence after Prarie Arts began producing authentic reproductions using the same materials popularized by Gates. However, noticeably missing is the grayish color/texture that speckles the original pots; this is due to the absence of lead in the glaze.
If you’re lucky enough to come across original Teco pottery, expect to pay a pretty penny. What originally sold for $25 dollars could probably go for hundreds today. And larger pieces are valued in the thousands. But if you still want to own a piece of art history, perhaps a Prarie Arts reproduction is the best (and cheaper) solution.
Categories: Architecture · art · artists · design · sundry goods
Tagged: art, design, Terra Cotta Tile Frank Lloyd Wright pottery, Works, Modernism Magazine, William D. Gates, pottery, Teco pottery, Arts and Crafts Movement, Prarie School of thought, Terracotta, Prarie Arts
I’m dreaming about Case Study House no. 8 . . .
Peeped at An Amateur photostream.
Categories: Architecture · design
Tagged: Architecture, case study house, case study house no. 8, Charles Eames, Eames
The aftermath of our July Fourth party left me obsessively watching on-demand episodes of Swingtown and drooling over doll houses on the Internet. I know, totally strange. But you have to understand, these are mind-blowing, handcrafted, professionally architected doll houses that make my old Fisher Price model (bought second hand via the good, old newspaper classifieds) want to slink back onto the assembly line it came from.
And now, two days later, I’m still wondering how I can possibly fit the Villa Sibi inside my teeny apartment, or better yet, how I can befriend a child who owns one of these without their parents thinking I’m a weirdo. I need to find the offspring of an architect . . . or perhaps the offspring of a parent who’s raising a budding Mies van der Rohe, but I’m at a loss. The only mini person I know is my cousin’s kid, and he seems to be into sports cars (scroll down) these days.
Oh well, I can always dream . . .
The Citadel, Lolly’s Dollhouse
The Kaleidoscope House by Peter Wheelwright, 2002
Villa Sibi, Wolfgang Sirch
Categories: Architecture · design · home goods
Tagged: designer toys, doll house, peter wheelwright, toys, Wolfgang Sirch
Something I came across that I thought I’d share, seeing as it combines three of my favorite things: Architecture, Letters, and New York!
Categories: Architecture
Tagged: alphabet city, Architecture, New York architecture, photography, typography
When I was very young, I wanted to live beneath the sea. The thought of travelling to a man-made undersea environment via bathyscaphe was fascinating to me. Now, as alternative architecture becomes more and more prevelant, it seems as though we are possibly on the verge of a return to Retro-Futurism.
In tribute, I am delighted to post these four images of undersea cities, proposed as habitation for an unknown future:
Categories: Architecture · technology
Tagged: alternative architecture, bathyscaphe, retro-futurism, Science Fiction, undersea city
