Visiting the Aluminaire House

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Early on in my post secondary education I studied architecture. The notion that one can, in artistic fulfillment, create a work that not only others see, but also encapsulates them usefully for work, endeavors or domestic desires, brings a different sort of satisfaction over the embellishments that painting or other two-dimensional productions provide. In my nascent understanding of architecture the lofty goal of the modernists to design an inexpensive and quickly built dwelling that satisfies economic and social needs of the ordinary person, grabbed me as it has many an architect such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller and for differing reasons.

 

Rosenbaum House, Usonian, Florence, Alabama, Frank Lloyd Wright,1940.
Rosenbaum House, Usonian, Florence, Alabama, Frank Lloyd Wright,1940.

 

Dymaxion House, Henry Ford Museum, Buckminster Fuller, 1930.
Dymaxion House, Henry Ford Museum, Buckminster Fuller, 1930. (By Rmhermen at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1917827)

 

The concept of a prefabricated house built of mass-produced and industrial materials that can be packed up and reassembled like a factory made doll house without a lot of consumed time or resources certainly garners fascination and experimentation.

 

Aluminaire House, Now in Palm Springs, California, A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, 1931.
Aluminaire House, Now in Palm Springs, California, A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, 1931.

 

Asked by Walter Street of the Allied Arts and Industries and the Architectural League of NY exhibition in 1930, A. Lawrence Kocher, who was the managing editor of  Architectural Record, enlisted  Albert Frey, a 28-year-old Swedish architect that had migrated to the US to help in developing a modern design for a house using off the shelf materials. Albert Frey was imbued with the Internationalist Style due to his experience with Le Corbusier’s office. The influence of American manufacture in the ready availability of materials that went into Aluminaire House also strongly pointed Kocher and Frey in the direction of metal and prefabrication.

 

After this experimental house was displayed at the shows the house sold to architect Wallace K. Harrison for $1000 and was moved to his property on Long Island, NY. There it remained until 1987 when the New York Institute of Technology accepted it to prevent its demolition and for its reassembly next to the School of Architecture by students. Although, annual lectures and events surrounded the Aluminaire House, plans to move the house to a location in New York City were not approved and the house, through the auspices of the Aluminaire House Foundation, was set to be moved to Palm Springs across from the Art Museum in 2017.

 

The Aluminaire House incorporated mostly aluminum and steel for the skin and framing of the building. Wood in certain places allowed for the attachment of insulation board and the floors were linoleum. At the time, the designers thought that aluminum would become ever cheaper and abundant and quite useful for building construction.

 

One of the most appealing qualities of the Aluminaire House comes from an overall design that seems quite in place at a more advanced stage of modernism. In fact, with little modification, this house could be built today and stand critical scrutiny. Of course, the use of steel instead of aluminum and a few other small changes would also result in a dwelling not all that expensive to produce.

 

Aluminaire House.
Aluminaire House.

 

Aluminaire Floor Plan.
Aluminaire Floor Plan.

 

Illustration From August 1931 Popular Mechanics Magazine.
Illustration From August 1931 Popular Mechanics Magazine.

 

It is fitting that the Aluminaire House will exist happily in Palm Springs, California where Albert Frey created notable work.

 

The Famous Frey House, Palm Springs, California, Albert Frey, 1964.
The Famous Frey House, Palm Springs, California, Albert Frey, 1964.

 

Interior of the Frey House.
Interior of the Frey House.

 

Interior of the Frey House.
Interior of the Frey House.

 

A future article will include further information on Albert Frey and his unique designs.

For more detailed information about the Aluminaire House visit these websites:

Aluminaire Organization.

New York Institute of Technology Aluminaire Information Page.

Curbed Article on Aluminaire. 

Article on Palm Springs Modern Committee about Albert Frey. 

Article on Architectural Digest concerning the Frey House II. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

HBosler

Watercolor Self-Portrait.
Watercolor Self-Portrait.