This computer age, environmental concerns, overpopulation, suburban sprawl, economic boom and bust have all conspired to bring about enormous change in our everyday lives, and perhaps nowhere more so than in our homes. This collection of photographs, drawings, plans and essays features dwelling spaces by architects, artists and individuals that respond to our increasing awareness of architecture's ability to shape the way we live. Whether they are floating on top of water or nestled underground, seemingly transparent or apparently invisible, these homes push the envelope of what is considered "normal" in domestic architecture. Yet each was designed in response to a very real and immediate concern, be it economic, spatial, resource-related or aesthetic. Innovative, bold, and sometimes shocking, these homes, like their Modern predecessors, signal a new way of thinking about what our homes can be. The 45 dwellings featured here include designs by American Ingenuity, Atelier van Lieshout, Shigeru Ban, Dawson Brown Architecture, Cal-Earth, Softroom, Jennifer Siegal, Sarah Wigglesworth and others.
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Whether they are floating on top of water or nestled underground, seemingly transparent or apparently invisible, these homes push the envelope of what’s considered "normal" in domestic architecture. Yet each was designed in response to a very real and immediate concern, be it economic, spatial, resource-related, or aesthetic. Innovative, bold, and sometimes shocking, these homes, like their Modern predecessors, signal a new way of thinking about what our homes can be. They will no doubt set the standard for where and how we live, now and in the future.
About the Author
Courtenay Smith is a curator and writer based in Munich, Germany. She was formerly Associate Curator at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art and has written about contemporary art and design for a variety of publications including ArtNews, InForm, TenbyTen as well as for the book, Icons of Design (Prestel).
Sean Topham is a commentator on architecture and design whose recent projects include Blowup: Inflatable Art, Architecture and Design (Prestel) and Hands That Really Grip, a documentary on Action Man. He lives in London, England.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Read,
By
This review is from: Xtreme Houses (Changed the World) (Paperback)
I don't believe that it's the authors' intention to shock the readers with so-called "extreme" houses. Rather, they are giving us a glimpse of a "quiet" revolution that's happening all around us, be it in a suburb, in a secluded area, by the sea, and so forth. The houses are defined as "extreme" as they don't conform to the norm, not in terms of appearance only but in the way the houses are perceived, constructed, materials used to build them. The authors have done much research in including worthy houses in this collection. They don't wish to include houses that simply look odd or out-of-ordinary and don't have any implication towards their social environment. Both authors have two very different backgrounds and therefore, collections in here are eclectic in nature. There are houses that seemed to defy gravity and "floated" on air by sheer support of tree branches, houses made with aluminium can, cargo containers, houses that look like space-ship, houses that can be docked by the bay and shifted as pleased to change view and directions to maximise sun-light and the list goes on. The authors reinforced Plato's viewpoint that "invention is done out of necessity". Why should we settle for anything less when talking about our homes? It's about time that we should have more say towards houses that would conform to our living requirements. It's time to stop giving the power to property developers and architects. Rather, we should take the helm ourselves in dictating what we should and shouldn't have for our homes. I don't say that this is a must-have book in your architecture book collection but it's definitely ideal as a reference book, where innovative ideas can be sourced for inspirations. At times, I find the literature wanting and the graphics too insubstantial (with no building layouts) to whet any architecture enthusiasts' appetite. Having said that, authors have endeavoured to divide this book into four distinctive categories: self-construct, move to the sticks, bring your own building, and space invaders. They are rather self-explanatory.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Archiporn subverted,
This review is from: Xtreme Houses (Changed the World) (Paperback)
Within the comforting scheme of the shelter mag "livestyles of the cooler than you" compendium, this book slips in a lot of pointed politics. Atelier van Lieshout, for example, upends notions of private property and public propriety with its communal settlements and inapropriaterecreation centers; its mini-state of AVL-ville, in the port of Rotterdam, was apparently so threatening to the commonweal that it was forced to shut down. Many of the architects are ardent recyclers who make buildings out of such castoff consumer materials as shipping containers and automobile tires. Just as artist Michael Rakowitz taps into the heating ducts and hidden crevices of cities for his temporary dwellings for the homeless (when landlords' backs are turned), Xtreme Houses uses the glossy book format to slide agitprop under the radar of the big business/publishing Monoculture. For those who would confine politics to specialized journals and photocopied broadsheets, this may be disturbing. Also, the book is not typographically cute or "webby," as one writer stated. It has text on the left, pictures on the right, and clear captions; Wired magazine circa 1994 it's definitely not.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful, enraging guide to the new nomadic architecture,
By Adam Greenfield "Clean living under difficult... (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Xtreme Houses (Changed the World) (Paperback)
"Xtreme" usefully points out that mobility in architecture didn't end with Archigram, people have continued refining the dome since the day of Bucky, and stacked tires in rammed-earth berms can make for some interesting domestic possibilities. The sheer wealth and variety of innovative concepts presented makes this an excellent sourcebook for ideas.That said, though, the book surrenders to typographical cuteness, and other design tweaks presumably intended to make it look "Webbier" and more contemporary. To precisely this degree, its utility is limited: the essays seem more like graphics than anything actually intended to be read, and the format makes comparing and contrasting the included projects a challenge at best. Finally, and most problematically to me, "Xtreme" presents a work like Michael Rakowitz's "paraSITES" - emergency, ad hoc homeless shelters intended, I believe, as agitprop and protest - alongside works of conventional, client-driven High Architecture. It has the effect, intentional or not, of trivializing and de-contextualizing everything Rakowitz was trying to achieve, almost as if homelessness was one more glamorous lifestyle choice for the new global nomad. Oh well. Buy the book, and have your own arguments with it. It's challenging to find material on most of these projects in dead-tree format - I've tried, believe me - so in that respect at least, Smith and Topham have done us all a favor.
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