BOOKSHELF
Bohemian Residence:
Metropolitan Apartments
and Interior Design
EDITED BY Robert Klanten
and Sally Fuls
(Gestalten, 2017)
PP 272 • RRP $
Celebrating projects that reject
the safe design choices of
“square bourgeois types,” this
book offers a whirlwind tour
of apartment interiors that
embrace the bohemian spirit.
It features diverse, idiosyncratic
interiors from across Europe and
America and profiles the work
of eight interior design studios.
In Berlin, Gisbert Pöppler’s
grand, colourful work is shown
to challenge the dominance of
Bauhuas-inspired Protestant
sparseness; in London, designer
Hubert Zandberg combines a
modern design aesthetic with a
passion for collecting beautiful
objects; and Kelly Wearstler,
based in Los Angeles, imbues
her designs with the bombast
and glamour of old Hollywood.
The apartments and designers
featured in Bohemian Residence
do not eschew opulence or
luxury, but they are unmistakably
urban, global and in some way
transgressive. The designs, which
at times veer into the territory
of kitsch and excess, will not
be to everyone’s taste; but one
thing they are not, is boring.The Other Moderns:
Sydney’s forgotten
European design legacy
EDITED BY Rebecca Hawcroft
(NewSouth Books, 2017)
PP 286 • RRP $49.
The story of the influence of
European émigrés on the birth
of Australian modernism has
often been dominated by two
figures: the Viennese-born
architect Harry Seidler in
Sydney and the Swiss-trained
architect Frederick Romberg in
Melbourne. The Other Moderns
posits, however, that this
narrative ignores the presence
of a prolific community of
émigré designers in Sydney and
elsewhere who were also of
great influence. Well-researched
and engagingly presented, the
book tells the story of architects
Henry Epstein and Hugo Stossel,
designers Susan Kozma-Orla
and Steven Kalmar, along
with many others working in
Sydney from the 1930s to the
1960s. By highlighting the direct
connections between Sydney
and European design, this work
provides a new understanding of
the development of Australian
modernism. As Nectar Efkarpidis
writes in his foreword, it is also a
timely reminder of the enormous
contribution migrants and
refugees have made to Australian
culture and society.Ornament is Crime:
Modernist Architecture
BY Matt Gibberd and Albert Hill
(Phaidon, 2017)
PP 224 • RRP $59.
Taking its name from a 1910
treatise by early modernist
architect Adolf Loos, this book
reflects the philosophy of the
architecture it features. Stripped-
back and minimalist, it presents
notable examples of modernist
houses designed from the turn
of the century to the present day.
It features limited text, mainly
comprised of evocative quotes
from figures such as Le Corbusier,
Loos himself, and thinkers and
artists from other fields, such as
Susan Sontag and Roxy Music.
Combined with black-and-white
photos, these quotes present an
arresting depiction of modernist
architecture as a defining cultural
movement of the twentieth
century and beyond. The book
begins with a personal tale from
co-author Matt Gibberd about his
architect grandfather, Sir Frederick
Gibberd, his architect father and
how architecture “got its talons”
into his family. It seems an
incongruous start, but it is soon
apparent that Ornament is Crime is
about cross-generational influence,
continuity and adaptation; it’s
about the trailblazing history of
modernism, a form of architecture
still thriving today.The Archisutra: The
handbook’s final chapter
BY Michael Bolivar
(CreateSpace, 2017)
PP 192 • RRP $ 16.
Architect and author Michael
Bolivar describes The Archisutra,
ostensibly a joke book, with
surprising earnestness.
Referencing da Vinci’s Vitruvian
Man and Le Corbusier’s human
form-based system of designing
(the Modulor), he says the book
pushes the idea that buildings
should be designed around
human life and asks, “How
should we design for sex?” The
book, an architectural take
on the ancient Hindu text the
Kama Sutra, uses scale drawings
and detailed descriptions to
demonstrate novel sex positions,
from “Eames it In” (“perfect
for the office environment”)
and “Truss Me” (based on the
Warren Truss, patented in 1848),
through to “Get an Eiffel.”
Whether it achieves its lofty goal
of advocating for human-centric
design remains to be seen. But
even if (or perhaps because)
many of the positions seem near
impossible to achieve, it should
be a hit in architects’ bedrooms.
As Joanna of the USA is quoted
on the back cover as saying,
“Nothing turns me on more
than when my husband reaches
for the measuring tape.”READING