Keri - Arab Institute & Glass House

Today was another cool architecture day. 

Arab World Institute 

The entrance

The amazing building with its aperture windows - they open and close like a camera depending on the sunlight (or they used to... we didn't get to see any of them move)

View from the top of the Institute. Amazing view of Notre Dame. 

Inside, staircase

The Glass House

Front of the glass house, same 5 principles of Le Corbusier 

We got a private tour of the building. Very exclusive with a GREAT tour guide. 

I've seen pictures of this house before but being in it and learning all the details behind it really engaged me. The owner still uses house so we were only allowed to take pictures of the outside of the building. I tried my darn-est to sketch and scribble down all the fun-functional-facinating facts. 

The front glass is not the original glass, it had to be replaced. Also, an old lady lived on the top floor who did not want to move, so they built around her. 

Backyard, Andrew - English architecture researcher tour guide extraordinaire, floodlights keep the privacy 

sketches sketches sketches. Notes notes notes. The whole house had movable parts like stairs that came apart so you could wash them. Hygiene and movability were big principles through out. 

The original was a gynecologist who specialized in infertility, so his wife had the windows so you could only see the tops of the trees in case her kids were out in the backyard. The grand staircase was grand and it led from the office/operating room to the living spaces. The glass wall provided a lot of beautiful light in the salon upstairs. 

The house was a treat to visit, and so custom made. 

bye!