MODERN TIMES
Another Schindler Makes Three
The MAK Center in Los Angeles was founded in 1994 by Peter Noever, director of MAK Vienna, the museum of modern and contemporary art and design, to foster cultural exchanges between the two cities. It has been a pioneer in the acquisition of significant examples of architecture for public benefit, showing special regard for a native son, Viennese architect Rudolph Schindler, whose Kings Road home of 1921–22 houses the center. While inhabited by Schindler and his wife, Pauline, in the 1920s and ‘30s, the house was a vibrant gathering place for avant-garde artists and designers, and the MAK Center has worked to revive this creativity with a regular program of exhibitions, architecture tours, film series, seminars, salons and experimental music concerts. In 1995, the center began housing its artists- and architects-in-residence in Schindler’s 1939 Mackey Apartments, which had been purchased by Austria.
Now the MAK Center has received a gift of Schindler’s only spec project, the 1936 Fitzpatrick House in Laurel Canyon, from real estate developer Russ Leland, who lived there for 15 years. Designed for developer Clifton Fitzpatrick, the 2,400 square foot International Style home is situated prominently at the edge of a cliff on a large lot with a front yard swimming pool. An unusual feature of the three-tiered stucco-clad structure is an L-shaped exterior catwalk that runs from the living room along the canyon side, then turns into the garden. Offering a perch for contemplating the view, it also links the house, the garden and a lower level terrace.
Leland purchased the house in a severely dilapidated state. He undertook a major restoration effort with architect and contractor Jeff Fink, shoring up the foundations; removing a wall hiding the second-floor balcony, plaster from the brick fireplace and sheetrock from the large windows; and recreating Schindler’s steel-framed windows and sliding glass doors.
The house, newly named the Fitzpatrick-Leland House in honor of the gift, will be the site of a new fellowship program, the MAK Urban Future Initiative, which aims to improve the future of cities worldwide. It provides two-month residencies to cultural researchers from around the world to investigate urban issues, including sustainability, immigration and social justice. The MAK Center is offering tours of the house on the first Friday of each month, by appointment. For more information, visit
www.makcenter.org.— Andrea Truppin
Bright and Tall
As green design matures and its principles enter the mainstream, efforts to recycle and repurpose used materials are spawning some suprisingly beautiful results. Susan Woods of Aswoon/Susan Woods Studio in Brooklyn, New York, has garnered attention over the past couple of years with screens made from the metal springs of cast-off mattresses. Now she has turned the technique to lighting with her Light Tapestry Tower, which debuted at May’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. The metal frame of the glowing 10-foot-tall column, lit from within by 6 thin neon tubes, supports four panels of recycled chain-link mattress springs backed by a translucent polycarbonate lining. The lamp is available in standing and pendant versions, as well as in custom sizes. Prices start at $3,500. To order: 718/858-7006,
www.aswoon.com. — AT
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