Himmelhaus For Sale

Brian Linder's The Value of Architecture lists a a house in Venice, California designed by Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au. The asking price for the 2,271-sf house, what Linder calls "the first project built by the Austrian team in the United States," is just under $2.6 million. I'm a fan of the Viennese duo, but this house isn't one I'm familiar. Most likely this stems from the fact it was never widely published; it's not in either of the monographs I have on their architecture, and it's not found on their web page.

According to a fairly recent Architectural Review article by Michael Webb (text but no pictures here), the 1995 project was a spec house completed after their widely published Open House failed to materialize. The Webb article further indicates that the single-family house, originally a duplex and subsequently owned by interior designer Virginia Moede, was "enhanced" by architect Michael Hricak and contractor Roland Tso in 2007. So the photos below reveal a project saved by a dozen years later...of course the original desire for communal living is eschewed in favor of a single owner and family. Regardless it looks like something that Coop Himmelb(l)au should now be proud of, as it certainly fits in alongside their more well known buildings with its dynamic form and disregard for context.


[Photos from The Value of Architecture | Aerial from Google Maps]