Oleksiuk - Modern Architecture and the Flexible Dwelling, Living in Motion, Robert Kronenberg

In "Modern Architecture and the Flexible Dwelling," a book chapter of _Living In Motion_, author Robert Kronenberg discusses notions of place and home and concludes that these ideas seldom and only tangentially impact construction of typical western residential buildings or houses. Further he states that as the archetypical dwelling, the house as typically static goes against notions of flexibilty and economy. Kronenberg's treatise brings into focus the need for flexible living spaces that are truer to our nomadic past and desire for functionality. He traces some modern architectural experiments and highlights some interesting examples of flexible dwelling. Two specifically mobile architectures inpired me: Eckhart Muthesius' Shikari hunting caravan (p48-49), and the Nhew PAD by OpenOffice(p58-61). In researching these two works I discovered an an interesting Bauhaus-era German architect and a contemporary architecture collective.

I chose two designs that I like the best from the readings to relate what I consider to be important elements of architectural design as reflected by Kronenberg. The first example is Eckhart Muthesius' Shikari hunting caravan for the Maharaja of Indore, 1939, described as "four transport vans converted as bathroom, work space, bedroom and dining room, parked in a cross formation with a connecting tent structure in the middle." This work is mobile, has indoor and outdoor features and a work space. Eckhart Muthesius also built the Maharaja's Manik Bagh palace called "Garden of Jewels" which is now a functional building of the government of India. He also designed the art deco interior of Maharaja's Luxury State Rail Coach



which was an air conditioned train, cooled by ice. It featured an internal telephone system and pink mirrors. While Muthesius train exterior resembles a mobile home (p50-51), the funky exteriors of the caravan units remind me both of the boxy Eastern European cars and Indian Tata brand cars and also vaguely of the American custom vans of the 80's that fueled my adolescent wanderlust.

The second item I found interesting is the Nhew PAD by Open Office. Again, because of its mobility, integration of indoor/outdoor, and though small, emphasizes a work space. The work was photographed in Denmark but there are several locations of Nhew PAD in Europe, North America and Greenland/Denmark. You can custom order a Nhew PAD online and have it delivered, even to a vacation spot. OpenOffice art collective has now split ways, but did a show called Houses X Artists. In this show, artist Stan Douglas's contribution is described as follows:

Stan Douglas’s site-specific house circulates around a central void, into which images of the site at the present and at its inception/construction are simultaneously projected via camera obscura and mirrors engraved with photographs of the original site. Douglas’s plan demands that you consider how the property looked before the house was built.

This is an interesting point of cultural memory that recalls and plays upon Kronenberg's definition of place (pg 21). Interestingly enough, Stan Douglas's house was inpired by Thomas Edison's rotating, sunlit production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It is widely referred to as "America's First Movie Studio." The studio had rotating windows to always give the maximum amount of sunlight.

What I like about the design of both Eckhart Muthesius'Shikari hunting caravan, and the Nhew PAD by OpenOffice is that they are both fully temporary, mobile and functional, use an indoor as well as outdoor element, and have a workspace. I consider the functional to be a very important part of the "living space" and while it is important to keep work and living separate to some extent, I think the tightly knit harmonizing aesthetic of a combined work/living space is better than the industrial age house // factory aesthetic. I doubly like the idea of a mobile work space because I think travel (like safaris) can and should be stimulating experiences that have immediate crossover for artistic cultural production. Having said that, I am not for a complete abolition of separate, strictly work or living spaces. Sometimes its nice to have a space where work does not intrude on daily living. More often than not, however, work spaces can be less than humane in their lack of support for more than basic human living activity.

http://www.geocities.com/naneria/holkar.html

Art for Architecture's Sake John J Sulivan, http://architecture.mit.edu/house_n/web/resources/articles/Metropolis%20Feature%20Art%20for%20Articture%27s%20Sake.htm, Metropolis December 1999.