Dream houses

Villa Malaparte 2
Originally uploaded by picacch.

I came across this beautiful picture of Casa Malaparte while finalizing Little Cream Book: Architecture. I still remember the first time I saw a picture of this house in the 16 July, 2002 Sunday New York Times Magazine (it was an article by Herbert Muschamp). I was absolutely stunned by its beauty. And even today, after having seen many different versions of this picture, it still takes my breath away each time. But funnily enough, BKS was just telling me on Saturday that she has bad memories from staying at the house during her AA (Architectural Association) student days. Apparently, her tutor locked her and her other classmates in the house for days to measure each part of the house for her tutor's research. I thought it ironic since Malaparte actually means "he of the bad place". So it was fitting that BKS should have memories of Casa Malaparte as a "bad place".

Another dream house is Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, which unfortunately, did not make it into this edition of LCB: Architecture. I spent a whole afternoon absolutely entranced as I walked from room to room of this amazing house set in the absolutely unexceptional suburb of Paris.