Tony Stark, the genius multimillionaire industrialist in the movie Iron Man has an over the top modern house perched on a cliff side overlooking the ocean! The house is entirely a CG creation and there is not a real house, but they did build limited portions of the interior for scenes in the movie. Usually I don't go for this kind of design which I would call Rich guy modern, but this house was so over the top I just had to love it. Particularly the automation systems which practically made the house itself a sentient being! Not to mention that somewhere buried in the house was a fast prototyping manufacturing machine. Design a robot super suit, hit print, its there in the morning.
So, why does our friend Tony Stark have such a modern house? Why not a nice Georgian mansion like the Beverly Hillbillies? Rich guys like those, don't they? Here's why - because its cool. Simple as that. Now maybe America's home builders might like to sell some houses to people that might like a cool house someday. What do you think? You think they might get by making some cool product along with the rest of their boring product. No, I think we'll just make nothing but boring product..
House images from: Phil Saunders' Random Stuff Check it out for more and big high res images too.
The word is that the modern house will have a co-starring role in the teen vampire movie Twilight set to release later this month. Some photos of a modern house to be used as the home of a vampire family were posted on a fan forum in the spring, and other material published about the movie is already showing images of this modern house.
My daughter who is our resident Twilight expert, and who knows my passion for modern houses, brought this to my attention. I asked her if the house was described as modern in the book - she said no, but that it was supposed to be all white inside. So what's going on with this? Apparently the film makers believed that the modern house would add to the aura of the vampire characters, so they interpreted their house as an overtly modern home.
Once again it is an example of the media blatantly expressing the cultural value we've invested in the idea of a modern house. Now why can't America's builders wake up and catch on to this?
In this Nikon ad with Ashton Kutcher, they have used the modern house as the setting. Of course if you were an impossibly hip bird-brain you would have a cool modern house - I know I would.
But why did Nikon choose a modern house for the setting instead of say a McMansion? Well a McMansion would not actually shed any desirability on your product, would it?
State Farm Insurance is running a tv ad that shows a little girl asking her dad if she can borrow the car. Turns out she is a teenager, and her father is just seeing her as a little girl - cute, but their house is most definitely modern. I'm still searching for a copy of the ad hosted somewhere that I can post. Let me know if you come across it.
Found it, enjoy:
So obviously hip smart parents that would have such great insurance would have a modern house, don't you think so? It looks like a great mid-century house. I wonder if its a real house or just a set - if anybody knows please tell all!
Johnson & Johnson has been running a series of TV ads for its Windex brand that relies on the large glass walls of the modern house. In the spots a pair of birds (crows?) torment a home owner, ringing his bell, closing his sliding door, in order to watch him run into the very clean and clear glass because Windex "leaves a streak-free shine." - much like a poor bird would. In follow up spots the birds watch on while the home owner manages to do it on his own.
I don't know that they have really leverage the desirablility of the modern house in these pieces but they certainly exploit one of its greatest features which is the transparency to its outdoor spaces.
During the opening ceremony for the 08 Summer Olympics Audi ran a new commercial. It starts with a scene of a traditional living room, well appointed, affluent. The camera starts panning around the room, and as it moves the scene starts transforming to modern. The objects on the shelves, the furniture, the wall surfaces and floors all transform, the plaster fades away, then the studs and the solid wall transforms to a glass wall with a view to the garden, and a Mercedes sitting in the driveway, which blinks away to an Audi! Very well done, obviously with computer animation.
Clearly Audi is trying to make a statement about their product representing progress, and replacing the product of one of their prime rivals. And clearly they believe that the modern house contributes to the progressive spirit they wish to imbue their product with. When they want to paint their cars as desirable they apply a healthy coat of modern house. Makes you wonder why America's big home builders are missing this message.
For now you can also see the new spot on Audi's home page in a higher resolution flash movie.
Modern houses and residential interiors often appear in the popular media as a prop to sell other products. Consumer products are often shown in the context of a cool modern house or a hip modern interior to cast them in a desirable light. This represents a great disconnect in our culture. The marketers clearly understand that the Modern House carries positive capital in the pitch of their product. But the housing industry lags way behind, conservative, the last to follow a trend, the first to ignore one. But it is useful to realize that the Modern House has cultural value, that it represents desirability, mainly through its exclusivity, an exclusivity that is primarily derived from its unavailability. Because it is unavailable the Modern House more often than not emerges through a singular custom commission, an expensive endeavor which brings us full circle to its exclusivity and desirability. Astute observers will realize that this represents a window of opportunity. Developers and Builders willing to offer the Modern House will enjoy a virtually untapped market. This Mod House Media Watch is intended as a wake-up call, a location to collect media placements of the Modern House in order to evidence the cultural value of the Modern House to would be Developers and Builders. This is a tool for those trying to move the market, one more piece of evidence to put before those you are trying to sway. We are primarily interested in tracking advertising, however placements of the Modern House in film, tv programing, and other entertainment media is still of great interest, particularly when the placement is meant to influence the context of the program, ie using the Modern House to inject cool factor into a scene or build the aura of a character. We can include programs on home improvement as well when they have a modern focus. Advertising for modern furniture, high end modern kitchens, and other products already inclusive of the Modern House will not have the same significance and we likely will not include them. You can help. If you see a placement post a comment or send us an email, and see if you can track down or capture an image. We will enter it into the blog. Hopefully we can track down the back story about some of the houses in these placements. Who was the designer, where is the house, how did the placement in the ad come about. Some of you may remember this blog was started sometime ago on LiveModern. If you wish to read those older posts you can still find them there.
Mod House Media Watch™ is a weblog featuring a record of the placement of the Modern House in advertising on television, in print, on the internet and other media.
OWNER/EDITOR: Gregory La Vardera, from Merchantville, NJ (just outside Philadelphia), an architect and enthusiast of modern homes, workplaces, furniture, and design.
All photographs, product names, quotes and otherwise are copyrighted and/or trademarked by their respective owners.
Tony Stark, the genius multimillionaire industrialist in the movie Iron Man has an over the top modern house perched on a cliff side overlooking the ocean! The house is entirely a CG creation and there is not a real house, but they did build limited portions of the interior for scenes in the movie. Usually I don't go for this kind of design which I would call Rich guy modern, but this house was so over the top I just had to love it. Particularly the automation systems which practically made the house itself a sentient being! Not to mention that somewhere buried in the house was a fast prototyping manufacturing machine. Design a robot super suit, hit print, its there in the morning.
So, why does our friend Tony Stark have such a modern house? Why not a nice Georgian mansion like the Beverly Hillbillies? Rich guys like those, don't they? Here's why - because its cool. Simple as that. Now maybe America's home builders might like to sell some houses to people that might like a cool house someday. What do you think? You think they might get by making some cool product along with the rest of their boring product. No, I think we'll just make nothing but boring product..
House images from: Phil Saunders' Random Stuff Check it out for more and big high res images too.
