Mid2Mod: Greenbelt House

Showing posts with label Greenbelt House. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Wieler Greenbelt Houses

Wieler is a present-day builder offering the iconic mid-century Greenbelt House design of Ralph Rapson as a modular home. The Greenbelt was the #4 Case Study House that was unbuilt during the original project. These homes start at 576 square feet with the Starter model and range up in size to the Greenbelt 2, which is 2660 square feet.

The Greenbelt Starter can be used as a guest house or detached office. It features floor-to-ceiling windows, an efficient kitchen, utility room and bathroom.

Greenbelt Starter

wieler.com

The split-level Greenbelt 1½ includes an additional module underneath the bedroom/office area. The extra space can be used as a garage or finished to provide additional living space.

Greenbelt 1½

wieler.com

The Greenbelt 2 is the largest of the Greenbelt designs, with up to four bedrooms and three full bathrooms. Featuring large kitchen and living areas, the Greenbelt 2 is ideal for big families. It was submitted to the Dwell Home Design Invitational in 2003.

Greenbelt 2

wieler.com

With large front and rear decks and floor-to-ceiling windows, the Greenbelt Piloti is particulary at home in natural settings and temperate climates. The elevated design allows for storage, parking, and utilities to be located underneath the main living area. This reduces the overall footprint and makes the Piloti ideal for small lots or challenging home sites.

Greenbelt Piloti

wieler.com

The Greenbelt Walkout is designed for sloped home sites. The fact that it's intended to be built into a hillside allows for a full-height basement that can easily be converted into living or office space.

Greenbelt Walkout

wieler.com

I was excited to stumble upon the Wieler site when I was researching Ralph Rapson and the Case Study Houses, because I've spent a couple of years looking for a floor plan for a small apartment and hadn't had much luck finding a layout I really liked. I'm really interested in the Starter version of this house, because I've been telling my daughter and SIL for ages now that when I get really old and gray, I'm going to plop a modular home in their back yard and move in. (Yes, you probably hear them groaning right now.)

I think the Starter floor plan would be perfect for a guest house...or a detached mother-in-law's apartment. And how cool would it be to have your own little Case Study House?

Monday, January 3, 2011

Ralph Rapson

Ralph Rapson (1914-2008) was an architect, designer and entrepreneur. He was educated at the University of Michigan and the Cranbrook Academy of Arts, where he studied under Eliel Saarinen. At Cranbrook he met Florence Schust, who would later marry Hans Knoll and then introduce him to the Knoll company, for which he would design a successful line in the 1940s.

Rapson taught architecture at the New Bauhaus School in Chicago from 1942-1946. He Also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1946-1954. He is well-known for his experimental concept houses like the 1939 "Cave House" and "Fabric House," and the 1945 "Greenbelt House," which was Arts & Architecture's Case Study House #4. Rapson was the Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota from 1954-1984.

In 1963 he designed the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He also worked for the U.S. Government's Department of Foreign Buildings in the 1950s, after striking a deal that any work he did would be furnished with Knoll furniture. From this period, Rapson is best known for the U.S. Embassy buildings in Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Rapson's furniture designs employed newly developed materials and mass production processes. In 1945 he helped Knoll introduce the 'Equipment for Living' series of furniture. The program was commissioned by the Kellett Aircraft Corporation, who requested that the pieces be made of metal. Rapson's line featuring a tea trolley, side table and lounge proved to be extremely successful, and Knoll created 'Thermalware' accessories like cocktail shakers and ice buckets to accompany the furniture. Knoll then released the Rapson Line in 1945, which included the now-classic "Rapson Rocker." Knoll sold the playful, organic line to Bloomingdale's in 1945, who then took out a full page advertisement for the rocker in the New York Times, touting it as a modern take on a traditional piece.

Throughout the 1950s, Rapson and his wife Mary had a store, Rapson, Inc., in Boston. The couple sold Rapson's furniture, as well as George Nelson furniture and objects, Harry Bertoia jewelry and pieces from both the Knoll and Herman Miller collections. They also imported pieces that they found to be integral to the energy of modern design like porcelain from Germany and Marimekko textiles from Finland.

From r20thcentury.com and rapsonarchitects.com