| Title |
Inhabitedness in Architecture:Marcel Breuer's Modern Inhabitability and Mr. Stillmann's Constructive Maintenance |
| Keywords |
Topics of Architecture ; Modern Inhabitability ; Inhabitedness in Architecture ; Constructive Maintenance ; Cultivating Construction ; Bi-nuclear Plan |
| Abstract |
Modern houses designed by Marcel Breuer and maintained by his client, Mr. Stillmann, will be discussed as representative examples of inhabitedness in architecture. In order to trace the inherent tradition of inhabitedness in architecture, the characteristics of the mid 19th Century English domestic architecture, such as practicality and the connection between inside and outside, will be interpreted as an embodiment of 'modern inhabitability.' The arguments and practices of Adolf Loos, Walter Gropius, and Marcel Breuer will be introduced as the modernization of inhabitability. It is not intended to make a chronological connection of them, however, but to suggest a topical concept of inhabitedness in architecture. In sustaining modern inhabitability in American context after the second World War where automobile culture and mass-production culture prospered, architects focused on interior plan making strategy, the use of exterior spaces, and the application of modern construction technology. Simultaneously, creative clients and dwellers, adapting their life style to modern houses, have practiced the renewal of life style change and accordingly the enhancement of their house and site configuration. It could be explained that if architects' design follows foresight, constructive mind, and technology, dweller's constructive maintenance follows hindsight, experience, and cultivation. Both modes of constructive mind and cultivative dwelling are necessary to accomplish inhabitedness in architecture. This paper examines semi-outdoor spaces such as deck, terrace, and porch to explain the contention between architect's intention and real dwelling experience. In Stillmann House I, II, III, and renovated Stillmann House I, decks and screened porches will be dealt in depth as a place of contention as well as an originator of further changes of house and site configuration. |