"The invisibility of our modernist tradition to the general
consciousness puts an entire and vital period of our heritage at
risk," wrote Arleyn Levee, one of those who tried to save the
house, in an e-mail. "We need to find some way to highlight this
current disaster and turn it around into a positive learning case
study."
The AIA Committee on Design (COD) invites architects, students, and allied design professionals to submit sketches to the international 2009 COD Ideas Competition. In this unique sketch competition, submitters are asked to explore the legacy of modernist design, through a concept design problem.
Winners will receive funding to attend the COD Spring Design Conference in Boston and have their work exhibited at the 2009 AIA National Convention in San Francisco. Selected entries will be displayed on the AIA Web site.
2009 Ideas Competition Poster (pdf)
DESIGN PROBLEM
Design a sustainable home to replace the demolished Rachel Raymond House designed by her sister Eleanor Raymond, FAIA. The challenge will be to design a new home on the original site using the same program brief as the original house. The design should follow the Living Building Challenge and interpret the ideals of modernism that were so important to Eleanor's work.
BACKGROUND
Originally built in 1931, the home was
demolished in 2006. The site is located at 9 Park Avenue in Belmont,
MA on the grounds of the Belmont Hill School.
Cited by Architectural Forum at the time of its construction as
the first true modern house in New England, and one of the earliest
in the United States, the Raymond House was a signature work of one
of the most prominent American woman architects of the 20th
century. Raymond, who was an early advocate of the principles of
European Modernism, created a masterful blend of local tradition
and the avant-garde in a unique, regionally appropriate
contemporary residence.
The Rachel Raymond House (1931) on Park Avenue in Belmont,
Massachusetts, was recently purchased by Belmont Hill School, a
private school for boys. Eleanor Raymond (1887-1989) designed the
house for her sister after a 1930 trip to Bauhaus in Germany with
her partner, House Beautiful editor Ethel Brown Power (1881-1969).
Architectural Forum in 1931 declared the house as "probably the
first modern house in Massachusetts."
Eleanor Raymond graduated from Wellesley College (1909) and the
Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture for
Women (1919). Among her other innovative designs were houses made
of plywood and Masonite, and the Peabody Sun House (1948), a
pioneering solar power design. She enjoyed a long career in Boston,
primarily designing residences for clients who were women. Eleanor
Raymond was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of
Architects in 1961.
REFERENCE
The Rachel Raymond House appears as Fig. 235 in Built in Boston
by Douglass Shand-Tucci, and at this Harvard website.
Published works on Raymond include a biography by Doris Cole
(1981) and a brief catalog by the Institute of Contemporary Art
(Boston), as well as a recent Boston University Ph.D. dissertation
by Nancy Beth Gruskin. All these sources confirm the importance of
the house.
All her drawings and writings are in Harvard's special
collection department, Francis Loeb Library, Harvard Design School,
in container number A7203. Other references to material on the
house are:
* B002 Published and Unpublished Materials / Professional Practice : Rachel Raymond House
Note: Box #1 contains House Beautiful (October 1932) and Architectural Forum Master Detail Series articles.
Published in: Published in House Beautiful, October 1932,
200-207 & 263-264. Architectural Forum, Master Detail Series,
413-418
* C007 Photos, Other Graphic Material and Memorabilia / Professional Practice : Photo Rachel C. Raymond House
Content: Flat file contains 9 black and white photographs: 3
mounted with labels for Boston Society of Architects 1938 Exhibit,
16" x 20"; 6 unmounted 16-1/2" x 24", 8-1/2" x 11", 16" x 20",
16-1/2" x 24", 6" x 9-1/2".
*
Envelope: E007 Eleanor Raymond Addendum : Photographs and Slides
(from Nancy Gruskin) / Quantity: 11 / Dimensions: 3-1/2" x 5" /
Medium: b&w / Support: photographic paper
Note: Interior and exterior photographs of Rachel Raymond House.
Built 1931. Provenance: Photographs in this series are a gift of
Nancy Beth Gruskin.
Please see the following websites for more information:
http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~des00011
http://www.bwaf.org/timeline/architect/show/Raymond_Eleanor_A
http://www.arlisna.org/news/conferences/1997/proceedings/tiptoe.html
This document contains images found in magazine
articles about the project.
SUBMISSION
Submissions will be made in the form of two Powerpoint slides
containing the information and images you choose to present your
vision for the new house. In order for the judging to
be blind, you must not include any identifying information on
the slides. Please be sure to name your project and ensure
that that name is on both your slides and the registration
form.
To register for the competition please email Allison Fax to
request the Powerpoint template and a registration form. Payment
can be made with check or credit card (Visa, Mastercard or American
Express).
Payment by check must be postmarked no later than February
13, 2009.
To submit, please email the slides to codideas@aia.org
by 5pm on March 13, 2009.
The winner will receive funding and one free registration to attend
the Committee on Design Spring Conference in Boston, to be held in
May of 2009.
Fee schedule:
AIA Member: $100
Non-AIA member: $150
Associate AIA member: $75
Student: $30