Better Homes Than Yours:

My Dad was a modernist architect that began his practice in 1955 and a lot of the homes in which we lived were homes that he designed and built. My favorite home was a Brady Bunch style home that was situated on a lot that retained it's natural setting with the home placed in the middle of the wild growth. It had a glass box feeling about it and radiated around a central atrium garden with a water feature, tropical plants and a free standing rail less staircase. It was so cool growing up in the houses that everyone wanted to visit and were envious that you lived there. They usually included custom built jungle gyms or 20 foot platforms with rope swings or salvaged bomber plane fuselages where we played captain and stewardesses. The point is that during this incredible period of forward thinking, visionaries created unusual spaces for their families to dwell and call home. I was one of the lucky ones who experienced this type of alternative living, while neighbors had to be content with the cookie cutter, Dick Jane and Sally style variety of homes available at that time.

Witness in the above photo a modern construction that separates rooms as capsules connected by common areas of recreation. The bedrooms are completely dislocated from the living areas only accessible through outdoor corridors. Completely enveloped by a natural setting. Bright colors, natural material choices, flat planes and overhangs, with large expanses of sliding glass encouraging an indoor outdoor lifestyle. How it takes me back to my own Brady Bunch house. Learn more about mid century modern houses and architects of the period and more importantly The Case Study Houses, experiments in residential architecture.