The Iconic House

For any lover of modern architecture this new book by Thames & Hudson The Iconic House is a must have.  

The Iconic House is an essential book on modern architecture featuring one hundred of the most significant houses of the past hundred years.  The images in the book are delicious and it's so nice to see updated pictures of buildings that haven't been shot for such a long time. Photographer, Richard Powers (Richard has a few shoots on the blog) and author Dominic Bradbury have been travelling the world for the last couple of years gaining access into buildings where most can't. For example I have been trying to get into The Eames house forever and Eames Demetrios has always had some excuse. Well guess what? It's in this book all shot by Richard. I'm so excited about this read.

GUSH GUSH Falling Waters is why I fell in love with architecture and design. This is a home so ahead of it's time.  Frank was connecting with nature and telling the world before the 40's the importance to do so. From the first stirrings of modernity in the early twentieth century to the present, the house we call home has served as a test bed of design experimentation, the place where architects have sought to create new forms and to offer new domestic lifestyles. Alvar Aalto, Buckminster Fuller, Rudolph Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Charles Gwathmey, Carlo Scarpa, Herzog & de Meuron: most great architects of the past hundred years have begun or catalyzed their careers with an iconic house.

Concise architect biographies and a list of key buildings accompany each house, while photographs and easy-to-read plans bring the words to life.

I want to live here in a sculptured house like this... How could you NOT do great things in life when you have an inspirational building oozing brilliance.

The glass house is another favourite home of mine. Perhaps some feel they are fish in a glass bowl when inside but for me the concept of blurring the outdoors with the inside begun here. 

Now I know I wouldn't normally tell you what to buy but this bit of reading needs to belong on your bookshelf. You should click here to own one.