Comments on: A Wing And A Foyer

A Wing And A Foyer

mattdidthat — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:15:16 -0800

Francie Rehwald said she wanted a curved, feminine-shaped house for her Malibu lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean, so architect David Hertz designed her a home built from a scrapped 747.

By: generichuman

generichuman — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:18:27 -0800

Warning - autoplaying sound on the first link. "Welcome! The approachable architecht podcast..."

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:18:33 -0800

An interesting tidbit: He says they had to register the roof of the house with the Federal Aviation Administration so pilots flying overhead would not mistake it as a downed aircraft.

By: Malice

Malice — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:19:05 -0800

That thing is hideous.

By: rkent

rkent — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:20:24 -0800

A decades-old junked jetliner will soon be the dream home of California woman. Francie Rehwald wanted something curvy, "feminine," and eco-friendly for her remote 55-acre hillside property in Malibu. Pro tip: when your plan involves transporting a discarded airline hulk across the US by helicopter, it is not "eco-friendly." Whatever emissions savings she might hope to achieve by using recycled plane parts - and, I mean, is that even a realistic assumption? - it will probably take years to recoup the shipping emissions. To say nothing of net savings.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:21:04 -0800

Yeah, this is pretty bad. Also, can we quit calling anything that requires a helicopter to build "green?"

By: Malice

Malice — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:21:48 -0800

rkent, not to mention the amount of space she's building on just for herself (and her husband?) There is nothing environmentalist about this. Was it masquerading as such? I must admit I didn't read very far, I just saw the house and was repulsed visually.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:22:18 -0800

You guys are jerks. I am building a 500-ft. tall statue dedicated to the concept of modesty; you would probably knock that too.

By: Babblesort

Babblesort — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:23:44 -0800

Is she happy with it? My first thought was that it was angular and jarring. Doesn't really shout curved or feminine to me.

By: hanoixan

hanoixan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:24:27 -0800

Why are feminine forms.. always with wings?

By: mmmbacon

mmmbacon — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:25:27 -0800

I tried to make my house look more feminine, but my fiance told me to put my box of tampons back in the cabinet.

By: stoneweaver

stoneweaver — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:26:04 -0800

Yeah, 3,000 square feet is not eco-friendly. It's just not. It takes a lot of energy to maintain that at temperatures North Americans like to live in. Not to mention, that house is hideous. I was expecting something at least modestly attractive.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:28:10 -0800

Francie Rehwald wanted something curvy, "feminine," and eco-friendly for her remote 55-acre hillside property in Malibu. In other news, various charities in the Los Angeles area are closing their doors for lack of funds. "If only we had a rich benefactor that needed ideas for what she should do with her mountain of cash," said Sister Mary Theresa Concepcion, as she was redressing the burn wounds of a homeless orphan.

By: TooFewShoes

TooFewShoes — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:30:19 -0800

I'm all for recycling and being responsible for the Earth, and I even like really odd architecture. This is just crap. Self important, really expensive, not even good for the Earth, ugly looking crap.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:32:20 -0800

maxwelton: "Also, can we quit calling anything that requires a helicopter to build "green?"" Well also anything built on a "remote 55-acre hillside property" doesn't sound very eco-friendly. How far does she have to drive from that remote site to buy groceries?

By: valkyryn

valkyryn — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:32:56 -0800

Okay, cool and all, but the whole three-tiered thing just looks massively impractical. I wouldn't want to have to actually try to live in a home laid out like that. I've no problem with a 3,000 square foot home as such, but most 3,000 square foot homes only take up 1,500-2,000 square feet of real estate. This thing just sprawls, both vertically and horizontally. Also, not sure how practical the construction materials would be anywhere it routinely gets below 50F, but t Still, the adaptive re-use of the plane is pretty cool. The only reason they had to use a chopper is probably because the property is basically inaccessible by road. You could totally truck those parts most other places. I chalk this up as another "Potentially green idea rendered completely counter-productive by rich wankers."

By: sio42

sio42 — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:34:46 -0800

she doesn't drive to get groceries - she has a helicopter drop them off. from an organic CSA in Vermont. or from the LOST Island.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:38:00 -0800

Is the huge roof area relative to the interior footage a feature of a bug? Is there some practical benefit to all that area? It seems like one could use the space to harvest sunlight and put it to some use, perhaps the generation of steam to drive turbines and other household appliances?

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:38:13 -0800

It takes a lot of energy to maintain that at temperatures North Americans like to live in. This is actually not much of an issue in Malibu.

By: rocket88

rocket88 — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:42:35 -0800

I'm surprised that someone whose claim to fame seems to be inheriting a car dealership (albeit a Mercedes-Benz dealership) can get 55 acres of Malibu hillside and a custom-built mansion.

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:42:49 -0800

The Edge is also trying to build a "green" Malibu mansion, and neighbors are up in arms. Even the mayor--a guy called "Zuma Jay"--has spoken out against it.

By: The Michael The

The Michael The — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:44:25 -0800

You guys are jerks. I am building a 500-ft. tall statue dedicated to the concept of modesty; you would probably knock that too. Could we please not get into a discussion of The Fountainhead? Thanks.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:44:33 -0800

Oh, some car dealers are filthy rich. Especially with a luxury marque like MB you can pull down a tidy sum.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:46:30 -0800

Well also anything built on a "remote 55-acre hillside property" doesn't sound very eco-friendly. How far does she have to drive from that remote site to buy groceries? Well, there's a Ralph's that's pretty convenient to many of the hillside mansions in Malibu. I bet every single item on the shelves on the store have traveled further to get there than she'll have to picking them up. 'Remote' is a misleading descriptive anyway—if her property really is in Malibu then it's not further than a mile from PCH. (Malibu is 17 miles long along the coast and 1 mile deep.) Anyway, yeah I don't get how the 'feminine curve' comes through in the design, phan'sies of the rich, etc, etc, etc.

By: klanawa

klanawa — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:48:04 -0800

rich != smart Film at 11.

By: ook

ook — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:02:48 -0800

I actually thought this was pretty nifty. Yes, it's an ostentatious mansion. But it's a snazzy ostentatious mansion. Which is a lot more than you can say for most ostentatious mansions. Certainly if I lived in this ostentatious mansion, I, too, would wake every morning and sprint away from the exploded airplane while shouting AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! at the top of my lungs.

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:12:40 -0800

I really, really want to like this.

By: Carmody'sPrize

Carmody'sPrize — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:16:04 -0800

3000 SF of awful is only unusual in Malibu because it is relatively small. Most of what is there is the kind of awful to which we've become immune, or at least inured. I'm surprised that someone can still shock me. There is no part of plane that can make a good building. Can this be a rule for all designers?

By: mattdidthat

mattdidthat — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:16:21 -0800

I really, really want to like this. posted by backseatpilot I laugh aloud.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:16:51 -0800

Is it not weird that someone whose careers involve film (cars, trucks, temporary constructions, planes), clothes model (sweatshops, chemicals, industrial waste), and surfboards (toxic waste, epoxy, fibreglass) is complaining about ecological impact of housing in his area? And we'll not even mention politics (hot air adding to global warming).

By: special-k

special-k — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:17:34 -0800

I bet every time they host a party, their guests are going to have sex in their tiny bathroom.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:18:12 -0800

(And, if I lived there, the first thing I would do in the morning, after the bed dumped me on the conveyor belt, would be the autoshower...)

By: echo target

echo target — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:18:21 -0800

For a big, high-profile architectural project, those are some seriously ugly 3D renders.

By: hal_c_on

hal_c_on — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:28:48 -0800

Yeah, this is pretty bad. Also, can we quit calling anything that requires a helicopter to build "green?" Welcome to Malibu. That's pretty much par for everyone here.

By: BeerFilter

BeerFilter — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:55:47 -0800

Even the mayor--a guy called "Zuma Jay"--has spoken out against it. I heard the Chief of Police is a fucking fascist.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:02:12 -0800

Hertz, who founded Studio of Environmental Architecture.... You'd probably have to be an architect, or at least an architecture nerd, to understand quite how pompous and grandiose a name that is for his company, but obviously not an architect to recognise how ridiculous and disingenuous this is as a work of 'environmental architecture.' Karma, or at least irony, dictates that at least one of the people involved will perish in a plane crash

By: nestor_makhno

nestor_makhno — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:22:51 -0800

Stay out of Malibu, Rehwald.

By: SaharaRose

SaharaRose — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:27:52 -0800

Makes me curious what other things you could do with a junked 747 that would be more eco-friendly. Can you take it apart and re-use the metal for things that aren't houses? Would it be a good idea to make an underwater reef out of it? (I know they do that with some concrete and metal. But not sure how they control for leaching of chemicals.)

By: mannequito

mannequito — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:45:36 -0800

from an organic CSA in Vermont. or from the LOST Island. mmmmm, electromagnetic tomatoes .....

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:59:06 -0800

San Francisco's late, lamented Caribbean Zone was a much better use of a repurposed plane. The cocktail lounge was a "crashed" Martin 404 that was one of the Doobie Liners (tour planes for the Doobie Brothers).

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:20:44 -0800

You could build like a million cans of Zima out of it.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:30:00 -0800

It's a bit shit, innit?