La Maison Suspendue (1935-1979)Prácticas domésticas radicales: El espacio inútil

  1. Jorge Tárrago Mingo
Journal:
Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura

ISSN: 2173-1616,  2171-6897

Year of publication: 2017

Issue: 16

Pages: 48-61

Type: Article

DOI: 10.12795/PPA.2016.I16.03 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura

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Abstract

The ‘Suspended House’ research conducted by architect Paul D. Nelson (Chicago 1885-Marseille 1979) is scantly known today, despite its widespread dissemination beginning in 1937 and the considerable impact it generated, in the United States especially. One of the most radical and original studies of contemporary residential practice, it was the precursor of several that followed. The author’s acknowledged anticipatory and exploratory intention spawned a surprising blend of severe functionalism and visionary humanism, of industrialised housing and the integration of art and architecture, of ‘useless’, undefined space versus an exhaustive listing of domestic needs. This first-time account of Nelson’s tireless attempts for over 40 years to popularise his conclusions includes a number of previously unpublished sketches and speculates on what might have been if plans (inferred from letters found in the archives) to build a full-scale prototype in the MoMA’s garden in New York in the nineteen sixties had materialised. Nelson’s rigorous research method may provide valuable insights even today on how to broach any, but especially residential, architectural practice.

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