Lawrence-based Architect Dan Sabatini discusses his design work on the Bowersock Powerhouse Saturday, January 26.
We estimated about 150 people attended the event.
The Powerhouse is well-illuminated by natural light.
Thanks to all who attended Saturday’s Bowersock Powerhouse tour. Our most successful event ever! Special thanks to owner/operator Sarah Hill-Nelson and architect Dan Sabatini for adding one more reason why Lawrence is a special place to live. Now, if it would only start to rain …
Lawrence Modern’s own Dennis Domer examines architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s revolutionary and wholly integrated approach to interior design. Thanks to the Kansas City Public Library for their excellent work capturing this fascinating, dynamic lecture.
Lawrence has many interesting midcentury modern homes, each with their own story to tell, but 2145 Owens Lane, where we will gather for our next event, is one of the most intriguing.
Originally designed in 1951 by revered Kansas City architect David Runnells for KU chemistry professor Cal Vander Werff, the house was demolished in the early 1970s and reborn in the shape of three equilateral pyramids. Design and construction took more than two years, cost $1.5 million in today’s dollars, and involved the firing of Dana Dowd, one of the most talented design-build modern architects operating in Lawrence.
We are grateful that the current owners, Rich & Sue Givens, are opening their fabulous and unusual home for us to experience and share stories about. Please bring a treat to share with your modern (and postmodern) friends on this Veterans Day.
My grandfather Paul and his next-door neighbor Pearly built this hunter’s cabin deep in the Maine woods in 1962, and there are few things in our family that are more treasured. Over the years the cabin has provided for all manner of escape—weekend getaways, visits to the lake, skiing and hunting trips, post-breakup sojourns, and writer’s retreats. And though I have stayed there many times since I was a kid, I never fully appreciated the simple beauty of Grandpa’s plan until this summer, when my wife and I enjoyed three blissfully quiet and unencumbered nights there. It suddenly occurred to me that this rustic little shack made of pine is a quintessential example of modern architecture.
All the boxes are checked: post-and-beam construction, structural honesty, an open plan, copious natural light, space-saving built-ins, and a near-monastic rapport with nature. Of course, it lacks, shall we say, some of the modern amenities we’ve come to expect. There is no electricity, no indoor plumbing (an outhouse “privy” services nature calls), no telephone, television, or Internet, and forget about wireless connectivity. Which is the whole point, right?
Thoreau said simplify, simplify, simplify. Modernism, at its essence, is also about stripping away the unnecessary. I don’t think my grandfather was a modernist or thought much about architectural style—and maybe that’s the key. He built only what was essential and functional, and in doing so, created a classic Mid-Maine mod cabin in the woods. Hmmm, I can still smell the pine. Makes me wanna go back theyah ag’in real soon.
—Bill
Lawrence Modern home 