Just when people are starting to fear that no one will ever build a house again, design connoisseurs Eugenie Perret and Elizabeth Oliver have managed to erect a village. So what if it's meant to last only two weeks?
Perret and Oliver assembled their little "pop-up" neighborhood for DesignPhiladelphia, the annual event created to celebrate the functional arts of architecture, product design and graphics. Wedged onto a lot between a church and a recording studio south of Spruce Street, their eclectic collection of houses, furniture and practical objects is a manifesto on the state of home building in the city and beyond.
After watching with dismay as Philadelphia developers turned out an array of big, traditional, carbon-guzzling residences during the recent construction boom, Perret and Oliver said, they wanted to prove that small, sleek and carbon-neutral can be beautiful, as well as more practical for the leaner times ahead. This year's DesignPhiladelphia, which began yesterday, provided them with the opportunity to make their arguments in a place that many Philadelphians pass regularly.
"We talk about sustainability and living light on the land. I wanted to make these ideas real for people," said Oliver, who produces design exhibits for Minima, an Old City furniture store that Perret owns. "We're trying to show that you can build these houses here in the city."
They've titled the installation "A Clean Break," because that's what they're hoping for in the world of home design.
The intended life of their little subdivision may be short, but for the moment it offers everything a modern neighborhood could want: good-looking, comfortable homes; spacious decks strewn with cool outdoor furniture; a vine-shrouded garden wall; and a solar-powered bike rack. And unlike conventional neighborhoods, everything in it is recyclable.
