Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was...

33
Tomorrow's small house Tomorrow's small house Edited by Elizabeth B. Mock Edited by Elizabeth B. Mock Date 1945 Publisher [publisher not identified] Exhibition URL www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2346 The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history— from our founding in 1929 to the present—is available online. It includes exhibition catalogues, primary documents, installation views, and an index of participating artists. © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art MoMA

Transcript of Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was...

Page 1: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.

Tomorrow's small houseTomorrow's small houseEdited by Elizabeth B. MockEdited by Elizabeth B. Mock

Date

1945

Publisher

[publisher not identified]

Exhibition URL

www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2346

The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—

from our founding in 1929 to the present—is

available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,

primary documents, installation views, and an

index of participating artists.

© 2017 The Museum of Modern ArtMoMA

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I

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TOMORROW'S

HOUSE

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Museum of Modern Art

archive

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"

TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

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A\<?CfT7

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- c

Exhibition Dates: May 28 September 30

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Stephen C. Clark, Chairman of the Board; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1st Vice-Chairman; Sam A. Lewisohn,

2nd Vice-Chairman; John Hay Whitney, President; John E. Abbott, Executive Vice-President; Mrs. David M.

Levy, Treasurer; Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, William A. M. Burden, Mrs. W. Murray Crane,

Walt Disney, Marshall Field, Philip L. Goodwin, A. Conger Goodyear, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim, James W.

Husted, Henry R. Luce, Ranald H. MacDonald, David H. McAlpin, Henry Allen Moe, William S. Paley, Mrs.

John Parkinson, Jr., Mrs. Charles S. Payson, Beardsley Ruml, James Thrall Soby, Edward M. M. Warburg,

Mrs. George Henry Warren, Jr., Monroe Wheeler.

HONORARY TRUSTEES: Frederic Clay Bartlett, Frank Crowninshield, Duncan Phillips, Paul J. Sachs, Mrs.

John S. Sheppard.

Reprinted with revisions from the Bulletin of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Vol. XII, No. 5.

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TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE � models and plans

The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi

tecture, who also edited this catalog. Assistant Director: Susanne

Wasson-Tucker, Acting Curator of Industrial Design.

MODELS IN THE EXHIBITION

I. House by George Fred Keck. Model by Raymond Barger Studios.

II. Two-story house by Carl Koch. Model by Devon Dennett.

III. House by Philip Johnson. Model house and furniture by Raymond Barger Studios.

IV. House by Mario Corbett; landscaping by Garrett Eckbo. Model by Raymond Barger Studios.

V. House by Hugh Stubbins, Jr. Model by Devon Dennett.

VI. House by Plan-Tech Associates. Model by Devon Dennett.

Page

10

1 1

12

13

14

14

VII. Row houses by Vernon DeMars. Mode! by Devon Dennett. cover and 1 6

VIII. House by Frank Lloyd Wright. Model and furniture of complete house by Raymond Barger Studios.

Model of living room (1 Vi" = T) by Devon Dennett. 17

IX. The House in its Neighborhood. A collaborative project of the Journal and the Museum of Modern

Art. Original site plan by Vernon DeMars, developed by Serge Chermayeff and Susanne Wasson-

Tucker. Community buildings by Chermayeff and DeMars. Apartments by Chermayeff. Houses are

small editions of models I-VIII. Model (^f6" = 1') by Raymond Barger Studios. 18

Models to be added to the exhibition during the summer: on July 11th, a house by John Funk; on

August 15th, a house by Wurster & Bernardi in association with Ernest J. Kump.

Model furniture by Betty DeMars unless otherwise noted.

Exhibition plans drawn by Susanne Wasson-Tucker.

All models are shown by courtesy of the Ladies' Home Journal. Unless otherwise specified, they are at the scale of one inch to the foot.

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HOW THE EXHIBITION CAME ABOUT

A million and a quarter new dwellings will be needed each year after the war, a

challenge without precedent in American building history.

The Museum has for some time felt that a major exhibition might help to

stimulate interest in the problems and possibilities of such vast construction. We

were delighted to find a basis for such a show in the Ladies' Home Journal collec

tion of house models, specially designed for that magazine under the direction

of its enterprising Architectural Editor, Richard Pratt.

These models were not originally made for display, but as means of achieving

the persuasive color photographs which have been appearing in the pages of

the Journal since January, 1944. The purpose of the project is best explained

by Mr. Pratt:

"Our program is based upon the following assumptions:

"(1) That an average American family (of two adults and from two to four

children, with an income of from $2,000 to $3,000 a year) has been unable to

buy or rent a really adequate house.

"(2) That a really adequate home for such a family is one containing three

bedrooms; one but preferably two bathrooms; ample living and dining space;

a pleasant, well organized kitchen and laundry; plenty of closets, and a garage

that might conceivably combine the functions of utility room, workshop and

storage with that of car shelter.

(3) That such a house depends upon the highest standards of design, with all

which that implies in terms of security, attractiveness, comfort, convenience and

economy; not only as to the house itself, but as to its community.

(4) That such a house requires the modernization of the building industry,

the cooperation of labor, the adoption of a universal building code, and the

acceptance among manufacturers of the practice of standardized dimensions.

"(5) That such a house, so conceived, and costing from $4,000 to $6,000, can

be realized by utilizing to the full our present potentialities in planning, materials,

manufacture, assembly methods and financing.

"And that finally, to accomplish the objectives outlined above, there must be a

well-informed and widespread demand on the part of the home-buying and home-

renting public."

Outstanding architects were invited to design small but "really adequate"

houses which would dramatize the advantages of modern planning and building

techniques and the pleasanter possibilities of mass-production. The results are

presented month by month in the Journal, together with the stern editorial admoni

tion that such houses will not be within reach of average Americans until we

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revitalize our home-building industry through the kind of coordination and

research which is winning the war.

The Museum served as consultant in preparing for presentation those models

which it chose for exhibition and collaborated with the Journal in the development

of a model community.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE EXHIBITION

the glass wall

The danger of realistic models is the easy magic of the medium. The delight of

tiny bentwood chairs, workable four-inch lawnmowers and real greenery is so

immediate that one tends to stop right there, missing the forest for the trees.

After all, the models aren't shown as evidence of the model-maker's skill, but as

architecture. If the illusion is to be convincing, you must put your eyes just a little

above the ground level of the model, then imagine yourself five or six inches tall

and walk about each house until you feel quite at home, inside and out. Only

then will you begin to understand the nature of the architects' proposals.

Remember that the houses were designed for the average circumstance of level

land and temperate climate. Major changes would be necessary to meet the

conditions of steep sites, extreme cold, heat or wind.

The most remarkable thing about the group as a whole is the quantity of glass,

and it's there for better reasons than the personal whimsy of the architects. In

almost every case the major rooms face the south with great sheets of glass.

The wide roof-overhangs shade the interior in summer, when the sun takes a high

curve over the sky, but allow the sun to penetrate deep into the rooms in winter,

when its warmth is welcome. Heat loss is minimized by using triple sheets of glass,

separated by dehydrated air for insulation, and by drawing curtains at night.

Carried to its logical end, the principle results in the long, narrow plan of the

Keck house (I), in which all rooms face south.

Such houses have proved to be extraordinarily comfortable and economical,

even in the extreme climate of Chicago. On sunny winter days the heat can be

turned off completely; and appreciable sun-heat radiates into the house even on

cloudy days. People who haven't actually visited houses of this type usually have

a premonition of glare, unfounded in fact. Glare is largely a matter of excessive

contrast: a flash-light in a dark room, a small window in a dark wall. The ample,

even light of well-designed modern interiors has just the opposite effect. There

is, however, too much fixed glass in some of the model houses, and a needless

lack of cross-ventilation.

5

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space

the open plan

cellar? attic?

single-story living

Glass has psychological as well as practical value. When it isn't limited to

the silly artifice of the "picture window" it can bring the whole outdoors right into

the house. By minimizing the boundary between inside and outside, glass walls

enlarge the apparent space and even small rooms seem unconfined. This concern

with the quality and freedom of space is apparent not only in wall treatment,

but in interior arrangement. The small house-holder escapes claustrophobia by

way of the glass wall and the open plan — luxuries denied to his ancestors.

Large sheets of glass are a comparatively recent invention, and the open plan

became feasible only with the introduction of central heating.

The living and dining areas of these houses, often entrance-hall and kitchen

as well, become parts of one large, flowing space, divided at will by curtains,

screens and folding walls. The waste of a separate room used exclusively for

dining is avoided and each square foot has the possibility of multi-purpose use.

The plans are well contrived for the comfort and convenience of the mythical

"average family." In some cases, however, the effect of spaciousness is accom

plished only at the expense of privacy. A "study" which is open to the living room

has purely euphemistic value. And one wonders whether better provision couldn't

be made for indoor play. Some of the houses not only seem large, but are large,

and it is doubtful whether the Wright house (VIII), or even the Koch house (II),

could be made available to a slim pocket-book.

The architects have all voluntarily rejected cellars and attics. Each house is

designed for erection on a concrete floor slab, with provision for radiant heating

incorporated in floor, walls or ceiling, and the compact, fully automatic heating

plants are logically placed on the ground floor. Specialized storage is cared for

by impressive arrays of closets and cupboards, and most of the houses have

adequate provision for undesignated storage — trunks, bicycles, garden tools,

prams and all the bulky odds and ends which every family accumulates.

Despite marked differences in architectural expression, many of the houses are

so similar in basic conception as to suggest that the long, single-story, precisely

outlined rectangle, open to the south and closed to the north, will emerge as the

dominant post-war plan type. One-story houses can have many advantages.

They're quieter, more convenient, better adaptable to changing living require

ments, and their horizontality is usually more pleasing to the eye than the uneasy

verticality of small multi-story houses.

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prefabrication There is nothing very revolutionary about these houses. The principles of design

are many times tried and proved and the only faintly radical assumption is this:

that the amenities which so far have been available only in relatively expensive

tailor-made houses may now be offered to a wider public through mass-produc

tion. House and equipment would all be prefabricated — bathrooms, kitchen,

fireplace, walls and roof.

panel construction With the exception of the Wright house (VIII) and the masonry walls which

separate the DeMars row houses (VII), each house is designed for assembly from

standard-sized, factory-fabricated panels, some solid, some set with fixed glass,

some with doors or movable sash. Study the plans and you will see that while

the various architects have assumed various panel-widths, ranging from three to

four feet, each one has used his chosen dimension as a "module," or planning

unit, to regulate the length of walls and the size of openings.

Panel construction could properly have the great advantage of flexibility.

The houses might easily be expanded, contracted or rearranged to conform to

changing living requirements.

Monotony need be no threat, as the inumerable possible combinations of panel

types and surfaces would provide all the variety which could be desired, even in

a large group of houses. Indeed, the strict discipline of the module, emphasized

by the joints between panels, might well have a beneficial effect on appearance.

Much would depend, or course, upon the careful design of the panels themselves.

COSt and quality The economic advantages of such construction are difficult to assess. It is easy

to over-estimate the possible savings by forgetting that the price of the house-

shell is only one of many factors which determine the running cost of the house to

owner or tenant. Many competent authorities agree that a 15% reduction in the

total monthly cost is the maximum benefit which might be expected through pre

fabrication alone, and it is important to note that even this figure presupposes a

durability which has not yet been technically achieved.

Maintenance costs and life span are no casual considerations. For war housing

prefabrication had the crucial virtues of speed and ofF-site construction; cost was

relatively unimportant and permanence in most cases not even desired. But if

prefabrication is to justify itself under peacetime conditions, it must offer houses

which are both cheaper and better than those otherwise available. It is wholly

probable that economical, durable panel systems will be developed in various

materials as manufacturers turn to civilian production. Already one hears of

plastic-bonded sandwich-like panels which should efficiently replace all the dozen

odd hand-applied wall layers of the average wood frame house.

7

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The rationalization and industrialization of building procedure is, then, a legiti

mate source of hope for better, less expensive houses. But there are two other

necessary reforms, equally dependent upon informed demand. One is cheaper

building money. Well planned, well built housing is a sound investment which

scarcely needs the enticement of high interest.

the neighborhood The third great need is for reasonable over-all planning. A "well-planned"

house implies not only a good interior arrangement, but a good relationship to

streets, services, schools, shopping and recreation.

Unlike an automobile, a house is not a self-contained commodity. A great part

of its value, present and future, depends upon the community of which it is a part.

It is curious that the average American should be so ingenuously romantic about

the new materials and building techniques, but so remarkably unconcerned with

the considerably more immediate benefits which are offered by the new planning

techniques.

THE HOUSE IN ITS NEIGHBORHOOD

Dream houses may be perched on clouds and rocked in nothingness, but the

quality and value of a real house is largely determined by the obtrusive reality

of site and surroundings. No one would think of building a house without a plan,

but the haphazard development of large residential areas is just as foolish and

extravagant, though quite customary. The desired end— good living with a time

guarantee — can be achieved only if sound, imaginative planning is carried far

beyond the confines of the house.

You probably have very definite ideas about the type of dwelling you would

like, but have you ever thought about what constitutes a desirable neighborhood?

I * �

desiderata Whether you prefer the convenience of an apartment or the independence of

a house, there are certain things which you would probably want, each one

dependent upon the lay-out of the community as a whole: safe, quiet, pleasant

streets; trees, grass, view and a place to stretch out; convenient facilities for

shopping and for education and recreation for all ages. If you're a home-owner

you'll want assurance that these advantages are permanent, that the value of

your property won't be decreased by encroaching blight.

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If the pre-war subdivision provided some of these amenities, it was usually by

chance rather than by foresight. But now, as the speculative builder turns to

larger-scale development, he begins to realize the cash advantages of intelligent

street-planning: a supersized block, surrounded by highways and indented with

minor streets for house-to-house traffic, is more economical of land and utilities,

less expensive to build and maintain, than the old-fashioned gridiron scheme of

small, identical blocks, separated by identical streets, each needlessly designed

for through-traffic.

Much more slowly the developer is becoming aware of the sales value of pro

viding the necessary community facilities along with the house. Furthermore, any

large new group of dwellings creates a valuable market. If the area is planned

and executed as a whole, the entrepreneur can do so well on the commercial and

recreational concessions that he can often afford to take a relatively small profit

on the houses themselves. But such a development need not be restricted to private

enterprise. It could just as well be cooperative or municipal.

need for variety There is one more desirability. Even the most serious and able of the planners

tend to overlook the human need for visual and social variety. Our low-rent public

housing projects have been criticised for their monotonous appearance, in most

cases quite justly, and the advisability of bringing together so many families of

like economic status has sometimes been questioned. But is a typical public housing

project any more depressingly uniform than a typical FHA development with its

repetitive acres of small and similar one-story houses, each tenanted by a simi

larly young and fertile couple?

Zoning regulations and tax systems have been largely responsible for the

dreary uniformity of our residential districts, as they've tended to limit high

apartment houses to central areas, single houses to the periphery. This no longer

seems inevitable, or even desirable. Large-scale development demands a new

approach to zoning, with restrictions on over-all density (number of families per

acre) rather than on the height and land-coverage of individual buildings.

Sometimes it makes more sense to concentrate dwellings in apartment blocks

rather than spread them out as houses. On steep land apartments are often

cheaper to construct, and assure the best view to the most people. The released

land can become park, used in connection with both apartments and houses.

Why shouldn't each residential area offer many different types of dwelling

to fit the tastes and income of different types of people? Isn't it possible that the

result would be socially vigorous and aesthetically pleasing? The model discussed

on page 18 is a start in this direction.

E. B. M.

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STORAGE

BEDROOM 2BEDROOM 1

TERRACE

Architect: George Fred Keck. Rooms face south to trap the low winter sun,

but deep eaves provide shade in summer. Although the glass is fixed inplace, screened louvers at the base of the south wall and the top of thenorth wall provide excellent, easily controlled cross-ventilation. Water on

the roof helps to keep the house cool.

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MASTER

BEDROOM BEDROOM

DINING

LIVING

ISIC STUDY

CAR PORT

WORKSHOP. A N - <

STORAGEHEATER

Architect: Carl Koch. Upper and lower stories are defined as separate

blocks, forming a right angle. The geometric clarity of the scheme is appealing, and the advantages of carport and sheltered terrace below, sundeck

above, might well compensate for the extra cost of the construction. Varioustypes of prefabricated panel would fill in the light metal framework. Thelong grid of the bedroom wall is so pleasant in scale and proportion as to

become an important decorative feature.

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DRYING

LAUNDRYSTORAGESTUDYr

KITCHEN

DININGBEDROOM

BEDROOM BEDROOM

EQUALS IOFT

Architect: Philip Johnson

Not a miniature mansion, but a concisely stated

small house, distinguished by the clarity of its plan

and the spare elegance of its structure.

A spinal wall separates the major rooms on the

south from the minor rooms on the north and re

cessed wood columns carry the roof, leaving the

two long walls free for unlimited glass. The garden

side is a rhythmic band of fixed glass and doors,

their narrow gray-painted frames set directly

against white mullions. These doors are the only

source of ventilation for the bedrooms.

Rooms are sensibly planned and well propor

tioned. The kitchen-laundry with its adjoining serv

ice and play yard has been developed with par

ticular care, the storage room is capacious, and the

very private little room at the end of the corridor

would serve a number of useful purposes.

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EQUALS 10 FT

PARENTS' GARDEN

PARENTS

GARAGEII'- 6"

"GIRL'S GARD.

BOYS* GARDEN

DINING LIVING

Architect: Mario Corbett. Landscape architect:

Garrett Eckbo.

Specially designed for California, this small house

takes excellent advantage of the possibility of out

door living. The garden is literally an extension of

the house and every foot of land is planned for

intensive use. Each room has its own redwood-paved

terrace, each with a special character. Sapling

fences give privacy to the bedroom courts and pro

tect them from wind. A louvered roof is partial

shelter for the living room terrace, and the open

dining terrace extends to become a play yard,

overlooked by the kitchen. Although the house is

completely oriented to its garden, the street front

and entrance court are extraordinarily inviting.

Floor plan and site use follow a familiar Califor

nia pattern, but the effect is fresh and positive.

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GARAGE

WORK SHOP

o

DININC

EQUALS 10 FT

Architect: Hugh Stubbins, Jr.

The unusual roof slopes to interior drains. Since it is

carried by steel columns, walls can be freely placed

— an advantage which the architect has exploited.

The house is compact and economical: its spacious

effect is largely the result of the open, rhythmic

relationship between living areas, the great wall

of glass with its sliding door, and the roof projec

tion which carries the eye beyond the glass. The

indoor-outdoor garden is a further contribution to

the cheerful confusion between interior and exterior.

Plans of both house and garage are excellent,

although the corridor is long and dark, the small

bedrooms are sunless, and the study is too public

for concentrated work. Notice how easily the old

furniture takes to its untraditional setting.

EQUALS IOET-,

MASTERBED ROOM

BATH

PRESSING

BATH

BED ROOM

BED ROOMKITCHEN

LIVING

STUDY

Architects: Plan-Tech Associates.

The U-shaped plan gives a quiet, well-separated

bedroom wing and a living area with four expo

sures, but has one great liability: the living room

becomes a corridor which separates bathrooms and

children's rooms from the service wing and most of

the work in progress. The spread-out construction

is best suited to a warm climate.

All the mechanical equipment and fixtures for

cooking and laundering are contained in the pre

fabricated wall-unit between kitchen and laundry.

Notice the window-side breakfast counter and the

easily supervised play yard. The living area is one

large space, pleasantly articulated for various ac

tivities, although serious "study" would scarcely

seem to be one of them.

14

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)

street

SIDEWALK

LIVING

HEATER

LAWN DRYINGYARD

TOOLS

VEGETABLES

STUDY

PARENTS^

Architect: Vernon DeMars

The average person is intolerant of row houses, perhaps because those he has

seen are monotonous on the outside, dark on the inside, and devoid of privacy,

inside and out.

Everyone knows that intensive land use and shared walls make the row house

much more economical than the free-standing house, but here is proof that the

usual disadvantages can be avoided by skillful design, based on how people

like to live.

Projecting party walls and a staggered building line define each house as a

separate unit, and varied colors and textures give each house its own special

character. Privacy is both actual and apparent. The masonry party walls would

be soundproof, and their protruding ends, continued in trellises and fences, are

effective screens. Notice the open passage to the garden and the separation of

outdoor living area from service yard. Flexibility is not limited to the exterior.

Interior partitions can also be arranged in different ways for different needs

and tastes.

Unlike most row houses, this one is shallow and wide, allowing for lots of glass

and good cross-ventilation. Since the living room runs from front to back, the

house can face either north or south.

Such houses would be practical even on fairly expensive ground, and should

be welcomed by people who want their own house and garden, but not at the

expense of urban convenience and atmosphere.

upper f)o3r

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� m m

Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

A house with the audacity of a comet. The masterful

hand of the architect is evident in the freely manipu

lated space and the vigorous, imaginative use of

brick and concrete, steel and glass.

The garden room is a great glass square, set on

a concrete floormat. Its thin, up-swept roof slab of

reinforced concrete is pierced at the eaves for light

ness and centered with a movable clerestory. Under

this hole-in-the-roof, modern version of the Roman

compluvium, growing plants make a green and

fragrant partition between living and dining areas.

The bedroom wing reaches out on the diagonal,

with entry and lofty, top-lighted work-space at the

angular intersection. Ceilings are low over the glass

walls, but rise to the lantern, or clerestory, which

runs the length of the house and provides most of

the ventilation, as well as supplementary light. Thesmall amount of operable sash seems questionable,

also the well-like character of the kitchen.

VIII.

ENTRY

LAUNDR

CAR

PORT BEDROOMBEDROOMKENNELS

ROOM

""it ht/iP' -if-E.QUALS 10 FTIt 4

17

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Page 27: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 28: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 29: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 30: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 31: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 32: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.
Page 33: Tomorrow's small house - MoMA · TOMORROW'S SMALL HOUSE modelans d plans The exhibition was directed by Elizabeth B. Mock, Curator of Archi ... buy or rent a really adequate house.