Midcentury Topiary

I am wild about funky shaped bushes outside of midcentury houses.

 

Some of my favorite shapes are called Cloud, Pom Pom (or Ponpom), The Platter, and Swirl (not so much the Spiral, in fact, not at all).  There are a lot of really great specimens in the neighborhoods of Colorado.  I will try to get some pictures of my own soon, but for now here are a few I found on the web.

 

Cloud (this is simply fantastic)

 

Platter

 

Swirl

 

The three photos above were taken from the blog “Printer and Piemaker.”  I suggest visiting the site (the link is to anything on the blog tagged “topiary”) to view some great “real life” photos of topiary bushes in San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods.  Thankfully there are no animal shapes –ugh.

 

The house across the street from us has some really great bushes, that are just kind of amoeba-like in shape.  Eventually I will head over there to see if they’ll let me take a look (and pictures!).  Maybe they’ll even give me some tips.  They’ve obviously been around for decades though (they’re huge!), so who knows how much information they’ll have.

 

I spent this morning looking for good tutorials (video or picture illustrated) on trimming bushes in the Midcentury Modern style.  You know how many I found?

Exactly zero.

 

What the what?!  I scaled back my search to simply “topiary,” but most of the tutorials were either Martha Stewart types creating dorky looking table decorations, or people who were really proud of their pig and giraffe bushes.  There was also quite a bit of Bonsai stuff, and while I would love to get into that someday, I just wanna start trimming my bushes.

 

I have two low lying Junipers, some Sea Green Junipers, and a Golden Tam Juniper that I planted two years ago.  I think they are big enough to start shaping, but I don’t want to ruin them by using incorrect tools, starting the shaping process incorrectly (cutting the branches wrong), or beginning before the bushes are ready (both time of season and overall age and size of the plant).

Here are some photos.

 

Sea Green Junipers after planting.

Two years later.

Old Gold Juniper right after planting.

Two years later.

Some of the bushes have flourished.

 

Others have not.

Some really have not.  Colorado can be really hard on plants!

Of the five boxwoods I planted to create a new hedgerow to mimic the one in front of the windows (see below)…

…only one sad plant remains.  And, mysteriously, cacti have started growing in this spot!

Here’s the nice, mature boxwood up by the house.  It’s pretty easy to keep shaped by simply hitting it with a trimmer a couple times a year.

 

So anyway… I’m on a quest for topiary instruction, and I hope to start shaping my bushes soon.  I’ll post more photos from houses around Denver and Boulder in the future, and I’ll be sure to share any information I find regarding proper trimming and other tips!

 

In memory of the fallen.

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Help Save (by creating) the Andrew Geller Archives

You know those crazy (crazy-awesome!) geometric beach houses from the 50’s and 60’s like the ones pictured below?  Well those were built by Andrew Geller, and currently his grandson, filmmaker Jake Gorst, is trying to raise funds to create an archive and shoot a documentary about Geller’s works.

You can find out more about the kickstarter project and donate to the cause at this link.

More information can be found at AndrewGeller.net.

Why I Think People are Scared of Modern Houses

[this is a re-posting of an entry I posted on another blog March 31, 2007]

 

We’re starting to look for a new house.

 

We are very excited about the prospect of getting into something modern. The modern that we’re looking at getting into will likely be something built in 1958 or thereabout, but modern has existed since the early 1900’s and continues to be built today.

 

In considering this, we often lament and puzzle over the fact that “100 years later” the vast majority of the world still hasn’t caught on. Why do people insist on living in beige, tract mcHouses? It’s not cost (if done right, modern is actually cheaper, especially when pre-fabrication, meaning elements built off-site, comes into play). It can’t be looks (do people really think the cut-glass in their Lowe’s front door is fancy, although I realize: to each his/her own…?). And modern houses are much more responsible when considering the world and those who live on it (passive heating and cooling, renewable resources, energy-efficient pre-fabricated components, money/energy saving technologies and responsible amounts of square footage are all inherent to modern architecture).

 

So I think it has to be fear. People are scared to live in a house that they don’t understand. People are afraid to leave “the house they grew up in.”  People think modern means uncomfortable, stark and cold. But I believe that is all because they’ve never had the chance to experience the joys of modern.

 

When I think of modern, I think of the word “poignant.” Things are done for a reason. And when something is beautiful and poignant, it’s so much more exciting than something that is only pretty (if even that). I admit that I’ve been in plenty of houses where the idea of “modern” has trumped functionality, but personally I think this is irresponsible of the architect (sorry Phillip Johnson and friends).

 

Don’t get me wrong; there are lots of modern houses that I think are extremely elegant, visual masterpieces even, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live in them. Where do I put my rake and shovel? my table saw? my piles of laundry? the pieces of my childhood (Star Wars figures, roller skates and the Animal muppet) with which I simply can’t bear to part?

 

Modern architecture is a matter of really understanding the person who will occupy the home. And maybe this is where Mr. Johnson is off the hook. He was building the house for himself. Perhaps there are people who don’t have/need stuff, and they can live in a glass house, but I sure as hell am not one of them. I think a lot, if not most, people feel the same way.

 

ps Phillip Johnson built himself a giant “barn” on the Glass House property, along with a bunch of other buildings, to house his “stuff.” I guess when you’re rich you don’t need rooms; you can have whole separate buildings.

 

I believe clutter (rather, the fact that it’s “not allowed”) is the biggest issue that scares people away from modern houses. There’s so much openness that requires responsibility which in turn translates to discomfort. Well, I say screw responsibility! There is an easy solution. Just make sure your modern house includes an abundance of storage space (under the stairs, in the basement, in the garage, behind the Noguchi screen, in the Herman Miller wall unit)! When it comes time to organize and clean up, you should be able to simply throw everything that’s “out” into a storage unit, hidden space, separate room, the closet, or bins. You can still have your clutter (which seems to instill comfort in a lot of humans), but it’s not out for all to see. You can have the best of both worlds! Order and chaos.

 

This idea plays into one of my favorite things about modern: there’s little to no wasted space. You maximize your dollar amount for your sq. footage. You don’t have to have a giant house (somebody please blow up all the mcMansions) to have a lot of space. It’s my addiction to Tetris at an “adult” level. It’s actually fun to figure out where to hide all of my junk, and still have the house look open, clean and uncluttered.

Thank god for Ikea closet systems and storage solutions, especially when you can hide even those solutions out of site (Storage systems in closets? How dreamy).

 

p.s. Another important notion concerning modern, and one I will perhaps elucidate upon later, is distinguishing between “modern” and simply “contemporary” or “now.” On top of that, the word “contemporary” has grown it’s own connotations over the years, inferring a sort of 80’s style (think deco-based (but bastardized), Miami Vice drug lord beach house). A lot of time the architectural objects that people refer to as “modern,” especially when wandering around Lowe’s and Home Depot, are what I would refer to as contemporary, actually more post-modern, and most often, in my opinion, “bad.” Modern and Contemporary are very different things. Joey’s porcelain greyhound and rain-window fountain reek of Contemporary (do NOT call them modern), and would both be smashed with hammers if brought anywhere near my modern house.  However, I would consider housing a Tiki bar or 1950’s ray gun collection (things often referred to as Googie or Lounge) –but that’ s another story and aesthetic in and of itself.

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Visual Acoustics :: The Modernism of Julius Schulman

I had the pleasure of seeing a film by Eric Bricker last year at the Tivoli Center in Denver.  The film was about the life and work of national treasure Julius Schulman, who’s photographs have educated us on the beauty of Mid-century architecture.  Recently I was reminded of the film when it popped up on my Netflix suggestions.  I’ve watched it several times since then.

 

Not only was the subject matter of the film beautiful and informative, but the graphics and typography employed in telling the story were also a joy.  Trollbaeck and Company did a fantastic job with the animation and design.  I love the simplicity of the first animation sequence (right after the opening titles), the way the photos open up to one another.  It’s such a simple idea, but such a fantastic effect, and it features Schulman’s photos with a wonderful dynamism.

 

The film is narrated by Dustin Hoffman.  Bricker told some great stories about Schulman and the film during the Q&A at the Tivoli, and it was fun to hear how they got Hoffman to agree to the project.

 

If you have the chance to see Visual Acoustics on a large screen, I would highly advise you to do so.  Schulman’s photographs at such a grand size are a wonderful thing to behold.  If you can’t make it to an actual screening (and even if you do), buy the DVD.  It’s worth having in your permanent collection.

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Mies van der Rohe: Coming to a Theatre Near You (if you live in NYC)

The Clurman Theater is currently playing host to The Glass House by June Fifer.  The subject of the play is of course the Farnsworth House.  A house might seem an odd (and possibly boring) subject for a play, but the story behind the Farnsworth house is filled with drama and intrigue (the story is one of the most famous architect-patron relationships in American history).  Dr. Edith Farnsworth commissioned van der Rohe to build her “something ‘meaningful.’”  The rumor is that during the creation of the glass house, the two had an affair.  When the project was over, van der Rohe moved on to another project and another woman, thus the spurned doctor began slinging mud.  She took her grievances public in 1953 when she told House Beautiful “I wanted to do something ‘meaningful,’ and all I got was this glib, false sophistication.”  A public back and forth ensued, and eventually lawsuits followed.

The Glass House runs from May 9 to June 5 at the Clurman Theater, 410 2. 42nd St. (between 9th and 10th Avenues), Times Square, NYC

http://theatrerow.org/theclurman.htm

The Flaming Lips House

To be specific, the house belongs to Wayne Coyne, not the entire Flaming Lips clan.

 

And while the design is a little more 70’s Pantone than my beloved Midcentury Modern, not to mention a little more mish-mosh than what I’d typically go for, it’s still a pretty cool pad.

 

And kudos to Coyne and his wife for choosing to stay in Coyne’s childhood neighborhood rather than move to a more “uppity” locale.

 

There are some more photographs on the architect’s website (FitzSimmons Architects), but the video below gives you a more in-depth view of the project and the owner (though the bathroom area is not yet complete in the video).

 

From the architect’s website:

The owners have been actively engaged in the renovation of their house from design phase through construction, resulting in a one of a kind collaboration, that will continue in future phases.

 

For example, the Artist Wife, and General Contractor, who is also the Architect, together installed the celestial patterned family room and outside terrace floor of the recycled granite waste materials (ode to the original mason home builder). Other unique assets resulting from the collaboration, include hidden doors and passage ways leading from the Private areas of the House into the Bunker, a concrete masonry clad Box that is now used as the bands rehearsal and recording space. And the customized seats in the bathing pods tub portion, sculpted around the Husband and wife while they sat.

Planters: why are they so hard to find?

I have an affinity for house plants. Luckily, it's not antithetical to the whole mid-century modern ideal (I have a massive collection of great, mid-century Sunset "how to" books on plants, planters, potting, containers, etc., to prove it!). However, it has been infuriating trying to find period containers for my little friends.

I scored a couple good, giant vessels in the style of Architectural Pottery (http://www.architecturalpottery.com/) at a thrift store for $30 a piece (that was a major find), but for the most part, I've had a heck of a time finding anything. Even online I've had trouble, so I decided to put together a little list that I'll try and update as I find more sources.

The most obvious prospect is the bullet planter. These used to be a fun little icon of the 50's, but now they cost upward of $165 (just for the medium size). Freaking ridiculous. I'm not even going to put links, 'cause that's just an insane amount of money to pay for something to stick a plant in.

You can usually find some decent Haeger on E-bay for not too much cash, but if they're of any sort of substantial size, shipping is a killer. The same problem (shipping) exists with any pottery you find online.

Why can't I find just a simple cylinder shape with no taper?

Chiasso makes this one, but it looks too thin to be ceramic or terra cotta, so it's probably plastic or aluminum (why wouldn't it say what it's made of in the description?), not to mention it's $68 plus shipping for a 14"x14" size (what they call large). Lame.

I just want to walk into Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up a very simple plant receptacle. White or cream, no little squigglies or faux finish, no stupid shapes. Just a plain cylinder for my plants.

Is that too much to ask?

Gainey makes some cool stuff, but again, it is cost prohibitive.

David Cressey made some really cool stuff too, but it's a little too "decorative" for my taste. Plus, since it's highly collectible, good luck finding an affordable piece.

I'm probably going to end up building my own planters from poured concrete. They'll be heavy, but they'll be simple!
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