The High-Tech Industrial look in Esquire, 1978

Here, specifically the Pompidou Center, the Shulitz House, the de Bretteville-Simon House, and the Eames House.






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Jan Kaplický's High-Tech Dinghy

Future Systems architect Jan Kaplický's self-contained living room with attached tv, telephone, lamps, and probably stereo, circa 1980. Kaplický was the architect behind Deyan Sudjic's Space Station pad and a slew of unbelievably incredible futuristic buildings, but I like this early effort, complete with all the coolest bits of the High-Tech movement (Pirelli rubber flooring, retractile cords, Plia folding chairs, and of course the billboard as wallpaper.


More evidence that High-Tech was probably Kaplický's favorite book:





Images from Decoration and Design for the 80's by Pamela Ferguson (London, 1983)

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Deyan Sudjic's London Spacecraft, 1985

British journalist and author (then) and now Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic's awesome London loft, designed by Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. It actually looks like a small Design Museum itself, or a spaceship that's been travelling around galaxies, curating. The only thing missing is a Braun KF 20 coffee maker. 

from Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff's amazing The International Book of Lofts (1986).
...and not actually designed by Kubrick and Scott, but by Jan Kaplicky in London and David Nixon in Los Angeles, two architects in the transatlantic firm Future Systems.

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Brian Henderson's Aalto-filled Country House

Back in May I posted the photo of the Alvar Aalto bookshelves in the little closet library, but it's the house as a whole (and the loads of Aalto) that's the really great thing. Especially so in the sun-room photo (top), with the Josef Albers posters, gangly green plants, Aalto furniture, Noguchi lamp, and British colonial/1970's-Habitat campaign furniture.
All from the Queen Anne country house of London-based Architect Brian Henderson (post-rake, above), and via the 1984 book English Style, by Suzanne Slesin (highly recommended).

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When The Pottery Barn was Lo-Tech with High-Tech

1978 Pottery Barn insert from New York Magazine advertising all the things you can buy to style up your house with the High-Tech / Kids' Stuff design.
I wish I had a time machine.

Related: a little post on High-Tech
and
A big post on Kids' Stuff.


Muchas Gracias to David John from You Have Been Here Sometime for sending over the New York Magazine archive Google Books link! Check it out.

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Aa - Z

From Suzanne Slesin's 1984 book English Style.

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Are you ready for the country?

Only if it's tempered with a heavy dose of contemporary, ideally the 1970's 80's contemporary of white formica, tile grids, and High-Tech details, all interior design staples from when the American Country/Primitive look was in its renaissance.

From the top:

Designer John Saladino's country house (literally), featuring  Noguchi lamps, Saladino-designed leather sofas, and other modern lighting, including the Colombo-looking ones and the cool clear-glass table lamp next to the fireplace.

Two photos of Mary Emmerling's apartment (the first from House & Garden Sept. 1978), with tile grids, factory lamps, formica, and even a sheepskin-seated ten-speed among the antiques.

Below that more tile and a I'm counting the round white lamp cord as the modern element, and most likely that  gridded apron was from Conran's. The real star though is the table, with old iron cow-feeders built in to the corners.

Bottom: In a French country farmhouse is a different take on the farm table, with a sink and cooktop conveniently set into one end. Stereo speakers (with very European-70's retractile cord) are hung on the window shutters so that sound can be directed inside or outside- my favorite photo from Suzanne Slesin's French Style (1982). All other photos from Mary Emmerling's  American Country (1980)

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Boing Boing

Awesome cantilevered hangout with springy net seats from Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin's seminal 1978

industrial style & design opus, High Tech. 

Which, if I had to choose only two design books to have in a library,
would be one of them. 

Mezzanine into the woods made by Michael Jantzen (of Illinois, who has very lucky kids).

click to enlarge.

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Brutalism & BMWs

Brutalist pegboard- notice how the lights can be moved to any hole.

Above, from Suzanne Slesin's 1987 book "Japanese Style", including Toyo Itoh's awesome ping pong courtyard, Tadao Ando's supercool partially bermed brutalism, and Kenji Hongo's vertical bunker with its 1978 BMW 530i parked in the rock garden garage.

Below: the cover of next month's Brutus Casa (from Japan). Related? Probably not, but those older BMWs do go nicely with giant slab architecture.

Read more about the cover house above over at What We Do Is Secret

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