Josef Frank—Spaces is the first comprehensive study devoted entirely to Frank's single-family houses, tracing the residential design thinking of one of modernist interior design's most consequential figures through built and unrealised projects alike.
About This Book
Josef Frank (1885–1967) is well known for his furniture and textiles, yet his architecture has received comparatively fragmentary attention — until now. Architects Mikael Bergquist and Olof Michélsen reconstruct the intellectual and formal evolution of Frank's residential work, mapping the competing influences of Adolf Loos's spatial plan, Le Corbusier's spatial ideas, and Hermann Muthesius's study of the English house. The book gives particular attention to Frank's treatment of movement and the stair as spatial devices within the home. Six houses are examined in depth — built and unbuilt — making this an essential reference for anyone engaged with European modernist residential architecture and the history of domestic space.
Key Features
- 96 pages of floor plans, previously unpublished drawings, and close analytical text on six individual houses
- Authors: Mikael Bergquist and Olof Michélsen, architects
- Case studies include Villa Claëson, Villa Wehtje (Falsterbo, Sweden), Villa Beer (Vienna), House for Vienna XIII, House MS in Los Angeles, and Fantasy House 9 (Accidental House)
- Published by Park Books, ISBN 9783038600183
What You'll Discover
- How Loos's Raumplan, Le Corbusier's spatial principles, and Muthesius's analysis of the English house each shaped Frank's approach to residential design
- Frank's architectural use of stairs and choreographed movement as defining elements of the single-family home
- A comparative reading of built villas in Sweden and Vienna alongside unrealised projects, revealing the range and ambition of Frank's domestic imagination
- A complete catalogue of Frank's single-family houses, drawing on new material and many previously unpublished images and plans
About the Author
Mikael Bergquist and Olof Michélsen are architects who have brought their professional practice to bear on this scholarly study of Frank's residential architecture. Their dual authorship brings an analytical rigour grounded in architectural thinking rather than purely historical narration.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 96
- Dimensions: 17.8 x 24.2 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783038600183
- Publisher: Park Books
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and architectural historians with an interest in European modernism, interior designers drawn to the intellectual roots of twentieth-century domestic space, and researchers focused on the work of Josef Frank or the single-family house as a building type.