10.08.2008

Space Age Bachelor Pad

This is what YOUR space age bachelor pad should look like! If you've ever seen Brian DePalma's BODY DOUBLE, you saw the definition of LA retro-future swank livin' -- even if living in uneasy proximity to a drill killer wasn't disclosed in the lease.

An encounter with the deliciously deadly legs of "Bambi" and "Thumper" may have left Sean Connery's James Bond shaken, the cool-as-a-cucumber interiors of their coctail-hour crash pad may have left him stirred.

What most don't know is that these two dwellings that defined the "party under the mushroom cloud" lifestyle of atomic-aged sophistication were the work of Frank Lloyd Wright protegee (and, in turn, inspiration to Frank Gehry) JOHN LAUTNER. The Hammer Museum at UCLA has an appreciation of his work (including designs and scale models), placing his outrageous and ever-evolving architectural style in proper (and respectful) context.

Maybe you can't transform your duplex into a spaceship of glass and steel perched elegantly on a Hollywood Hills cliffside, but looking into Lautner's philosophy of egalitarian elegance that emphasizes free-flowing, open spaces may inspire the canny cat or kitten to modernize his or her space!

More:

Hammer Museum Exhibit

John Lautner Homepage

NY Times SLIDESHOW

NY Times article

arcspace article

SHOPPIN'


More fun with LA architecture:

0 comments: