Madison Avenue (Doll)House - Rex Architects for Calvin Klein

CLIENT Calvin Klein, Inc.
PROGRAM (Doll)House for the “Calvin Klein Woman,” displayed in the Calvin Klein Collection storefront on Madison Avenue during the 2008-2009 holiday season
AREA Dollhouse: 4.0 m² (43 sf); Concept House: 190 m² (2,000 sf)
WEIGHT 450 kg (1,000 lbs)
PROJECT COST Confidential
STATUS Completed November 2008
ARCHITECT REX
KEY PERSONNEL Jeffrey Franklin, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Jacob Reidel, Alejandro Schieda, Eugenia Zimmermann

CONSULTANTS Magnusson Klemencic, Situ Studio

Calvin Klein’s Senior Vice President for Creative Services approached REX to design a concept house showcasing pieces from the company’s apparel, accessory, and home lines. The catch: the house would be realized in miniature and displayed in the main window of Calvin Klein’s Madison Avenue store during the 2008-2009 holiday season. REX dubbed this fusion of concept house and doll house a “(Doll)House.

For a practice committed to using constraints as generative opportunities, the project was challengingly whimsical, presenting an exciting (and fun) opportunity to test the limits of our methodology across multiple scales.

A response to two markedly different scales and purposes, the (Doll)House had to reconcile—in one design—the contradictory constraints of a concept house and a doll house:

1. The concept house had to be designed for the “Calvin Klein Woman,” a professed city-dweller; the doll house typology is traditionally a suburban, detached, single-family dwelling.

2. The concept house had to provide privacy for its hypothetical inhabitant; a doll house has to be open, at eye-level, and easily viewed in the round.

3. The concept house had to respect the minimalist aesthetic of Calvin Klein; the doll house had to be bold enough to attract the attention of holiday shoppers.

4. The concept house required a hypothetical site in New York City; the doll house site was already fixed—a Madison Avenue storefront.

By siting the concept house in the ‘landscape’ above a Manhattan intersection, the competing demands of the two scales begins to reconcile. Suspended in air, the concept house remains a freestanding residence while capitalizing on underutilized urban space. Undeniably frivolous, the Madison Avenue (Doll)House nevertheless contains a kernel of an idea for accommodating growth in rapidly-densifying cities.

Meanwhile, elevated and freestanding within the storefront, the doll house can be seen closely in the round and from afar, and can be opened from all sides for play.

The conflicting constraints that remained unresolved by the selection of the concept house’s site are reconciled by the (Doll)House’s design itself. The design begins as four, minimalist floor plates (dining room, living room, bedroom, and rooftop pool terrace) following the precedent set for Calvin Klein by John Pawson, the store’s designer. The plates are then shifted to maximize visibility into the doll house, and to provide views out for the imagined occupant of the concept house.

To balance the opposing desires for views and privacy, the (Doll)House is wrapped in a cocoon of translucent white textile. Conceptually, this fabric layer operates as a sunshade, outboard of a glass façade.

The interiors and roof terrace are furnished with miniature replicas of pieces from the company’s apparel, accessory, and home lines. These items were designed by the company’s creative directors: Francisco Costa, Calvin Klein Collection for Women; Italo Zucchelli, Calvin Klein Collection for Men; Ulrich Grimm, Calvin Klein Shoes & Accessories; and, Amy Mellen, Calvin Klein Home.

Architect Joshua Prince-Ramus in front of the Madison Avenue (Doll)House

Images Credits: James Lattanzio; Luxigon; Situ Studio

(text from REX Architects)

Season's greetings!

It's this time of the year again to be with friends and loved ones and family and enjoy the warmth of love and steal a bit of well deserved rest to enter the new year with a renewed energy and zest! I wish all of you, my readers, a happy and healthy new year, full of love and joy and many many fulfilled desires!

I photographed Jason Wu's Androgyny Avantguard doll dressed in Mel Odom's Gene Marshall Criss Cross gown - wig by Facets by Marcia, jewellery by ...(if anyone recognizes these, I got them ages ago from a great lady in Prego and lost her card, cannot remember her name), shoes by Joe Tai, chair by Bella! Studios, ornament on her hand by Depot in Dusseldorf.

Black & white dollhouse by artist Janine Rewell

Janine Rewell is a Helsinki-based freelancing illustrator and graphic designer. She has studied illustration and graphic design in University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH, Finland) and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD, United States). Rewell has won several awards for her work, including a bronze Design Lion at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Her works have appeared for example in avertisements, product packaging, interior designs, book covers, magazines and posters. Rewell's clients are Nokia, Qatar Airways, Finlandia Vodka, Marimekko, just to name a few. As an illustrator she’s represented by illustration agency AGENT PEKKA. Janine’s computer-based vector style combines basic geometrical forms with small decorative elements. Inspired by by the geographical location of Finland, her illustrations represent an original mix of Scandinavian design and Slavic folk art. In the photo you can see her modern, black & white dollhouse, created for personal use, with imagery reminiscent of playing card illustrations. It looks incredible! Proof that a dollhouse does not have to be stuffy or old-styled to be appreciated!

Resume text and photo from the artist's website.

Kensigton Dollhouse Festival 2009

Established in 1985 by Caroline Hamilton & Sue Atkinson, The Kensington Dollshouse Festival (formerly the London Dollshouse Festival), has become the top international show for quality dolls' houses, miniatures & models. this year it was held on the 21st of November (only one day unfortunately), attracting thousands of collectors and shop owners. Enjoy some photos of the festival, published by The Guardian. The next one will be held from the 14th to the 16th of May 2010, at the Kensigton Town Hall, Hornton Street, London.

Furniture is the obvious thing to see in a dollhouse...

...but how about some miniature cheese and ham!

Vegetables for the vegetarian dolls.

Of course no doll is ever without her handbag and shoes...

...but pickles are necessary too!

This photo gives you the sense of scale...

... and even on the hands of a child, things look small indeed.

Dinner is served! Notice how even the lids are hand-painted!

Everyone is charmed by beautiful doll houses!

Teddy bear anyone?

Flowers are always a welcome decoration at any home, real or miniature.

Toast anyone?

A sad day for Gene Marshall fans

Mel Odom has officially announced that he will not continue the Gene Marshall doll line any more. Read his letter below, where he explains his reasons for this and announces his plans for her farewell.

This is a letter I've been writing in my head for quite some time, but have not been able to actually put down on paper. It's a tough letter to write and I've been pretty emotional about it. (Big breath) I've been feeling lately like it's a perfect time for Gene and her friends to retire. I've been working on Gene since 1991. That's when the first drawings of her are dated and I'd probably had her in my head for some time before that. The point is, she's been a consuming interest of mine for close to 20 years. It's been the most detail intensive project of my life and certainly the most fun. I've been given much because of Gene; acclaim, financial security and the best bunch of friends and collectors anyone could ever expect from their profession. It's been an amazing journey for me- completely different than what I had imagined.

This year, we've had a really wonderful collection, with awards and popular triumphs and a great sense of energy among you guys. I've really enjoyed it. It's been amazing. And the Hollywood Royalty minis being a hit was just the sprinkles on the cupcake for me. I just think it's always better going out a winner, while you are on top.

This is the thing...I want to do something else. I'll be (gulp) 60 next year and feel like there are other things I can accomplish if I can devote my full attention to them, like I have done with Gene. I've practically ignored my first loves, drawing and painting, for far too long. For twenty years before Gene, I was known as an illustrator and graphic artist. I don't think I can go back to being an illustrator; that's over for me. But I'd like to be known as a painter and I'd like to maybe teach art. As some of you know, I've been knocking on the doors of art galleries with my paintings for the past few years and am not about to give up on that particular dream of mine. I feel like I have enough time for one more great phase in my career, even though I'm not positive what it is.

Gene is in my head and heart and nothing I can ever do will change that. She's always been with me in some form and will stay with me and very probably morph into another phase of whatever it is I do, paintings maybe. But I've always had to change every so often, like when I stopped focusing on illustrating and created a fashion doll. This is one of those times. So Gene and I are pulling a Garbo, and retiring, but not without a fabulous send-off.

I have gone over my plans with Integrity and we all want to make sure that we have a proper celebration for Gene and her friends (both plastic and human). I have really enjoyed working with Integrity and making these past few years some of Gene's best ever. The Integrity team and I are planning one last, big blow-out for all of us- a 15th Anniversary convention to celebrate Gene and all her friends, to be held in early June in Philadelphia. And for this special party we're creating one more collection, "The Stardust Collection", a curtain call of sorts for all of our characters, and get this... including Trent. Ashton Drake is graciously allowing us to use the original molds to create one more classic Trent for the party. So, Trent will be there and Oona and Ivy and Violet and Madra. I'll be there and hopefully everyone will be there, to celebrate 15 years of the coolest thing to happen to fashion dolls since high heel feet.

Facts and forms will be forthcoming, but I wanted to tell you all this personally. There will also be a special Gene happening in early 2010; you'll be privy to the information later on. It'll be fine, you'll see. Gene will be a perfect 15-year long phenomenon in the doll world, a story with a humble start and surprise ending- a beautiful arc of stories, characters and costumes that changed the doll world. And as long as Cher and Barbra Streisand are in this world, there's always a chance of a comeback somewhere down the road.

I'll still be blogging; the W Club has happily agreed to continue to send all of you my "Mel Mail updates", right through the big party in June. Later on, I'll be blogging from my own website www.melodomart.com, which should be completed and up soon. Any of you who are interested can come along with me for the rest of the journey as well. You're all invited. Thank you for everything and remember to always....

Play nice Kids,