land rover comes home to the modern house

In a TV commercial for the Land Rover Discovery we see a wide range of settings, all with traditional architecture, that is until the driver comes home. And they come home to none other than the Modern House.

Of all the places the driver encounters none but the home are modern - including an Art Museum. Even an Art Museum is a perfect candidate for modern architecture. But why not? Well, its simple. The driver does not own the Art Museum. The driver owns the house.

If you want the house to cast good vibes on your product, to make your product look desirable, to look like a possession of somebody who knows "the good stuff" to own, then of course you want to show your car owner pulling up to a modern house. You want viewers to desire your product, then you show them as the choice of people with good taste, people you want to be like. The thing that everybody seems to know is that we want to be like the guy with the modern house. Almost everybody knows that. Everybody but the housing industry in the US it seems.

Much thanks to Preston at Jeston Green for this one!

lexus says the modern house is natural

In this new tv spot for the Lexus RX suv the modern house makes an appearance.

The incredbile thing is the theme of this new ad is "Act Naturally". Through a number of examples Lexus shows us how the operation of the technology in the RX is familiar, the same as using the mouse for your computer, pushing the button for the elevator, and even turning on the lights in your house. Yet the "Natural" example for a house is this very nice looking Modern House.

Amazing. So why the Modern House? Why not a traditional house, as we are sure that most Lexus buyers have? Its simple really. Its because Lexus knows as well as we do that the Modern House makes their product look better. It makes its technology seem more advanced, it makes its style seem better designed, it makes their product more desirable. Yet home builders in America have not caught on that the Modern House will do the same for their product. How come they don't seem to understand what the rest of us seem to know for sure?

caprica new tv series lives in the modern house

A new series on the Syfy channel, Caprica, is set on a fictional world that appears very similar to our own. Perhaps a near future version of real life, the setting shows a city with buildings of all ages, new and old. One of the characteristics of this fictional world is that the setting is largely multi-theistic culture such as ancient Rome or Greece. As a result there the scenery often shows classical sculpture of gods and monumental buildings. Despite that one of the series main characters lives in an overtly modern house that has none of these classical references.

In the program this character is a the head of a large technology company, a successful tech company, hence the large home, the beautiful waterfront site, all the trappings of success. Yet the home is modern, not classical in a culture based on classical beliefs.

This is not really a big surprise. The home is highly technologically enabled. It contains a high tech lab for the owner's work, the enormous glass wall facing the water doubles as an enormous digital display, and the house is tended by an automated butler. But these things could all be incorporated into a classical house. Here the modern house is used to reinforce the character's role in technological change. The modern house frames the way we see him, and embodies a forward looking stance.

No indication if its a real house or a set. If anyone recognizes this we would love to hear about it.

Caprica at Syfy

Addendum: A little more Google research located this account of by someone who had visited the sets - apparently the Pilot for this show used a real house, and now the series is filming in a recreation of that house as a set. A quote from that link:

While not Galactica’s CIC, the Graystone mansion is magnificent. Pictures of it can be seen on various science fiction news websites, from Syfy’s Digital Press Tour last year. It is a recreation of the original house that was used in the pilot, and is indistinguishable from it; a testament to the construction and set decoration team on Caprica. The thing has two levels to it (upstairs and downstairs) and you could literally live there, with the minor exception that the “basement”—where Daniel’s lab-office can be found—isn’t really down below the main level at all. Furthermore, I’m not sure where the bathroom is, but I know what’s in their walk-in closets! The view of the water and mountain range from the massive living room windows is tremendous… and a fake backdrop that is, itself, completely impressive in its detail.

So for reference, the first picture above is from the Pilot and although this seems to have CGI additions it may be an alteration of a photo of a house in Vancouver. The second image is from the Pilot which means its the real house, and the third is from the series which means its on the set. The curtains seem to be a new addition to the space that we don't see in the second image.

I also found some photos of the set on this site where you can see clearly that the scenery outside the windows is painted. So where is this house, and who designed it? Arthur Erickson? YES! I believe I've found the actual house, and it appears that yes it was used for the inside, and the landscape around the house looks similar but the exterior appears to be something created for the show.