The Spaceship House, built in California by architect Mary Gordon, is a place that E.T. could call home: It’s a curvaceous white beacon topped by TV-shaped towers and encircled by an outdoor staircase that looks like a radar dish.¹ It could only have been built in the 1970s. Back then, the United States faced the twin specters of war and recession. These grim prospects forced some into spiritualism and yoga (Iyengar and Ashtanga both put down roots during that decade) while others sought solace in astronomy and acid. Architecture, music and film (see Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Invasion of the Body Snatchers) followed the Space Age trend.² NASA became so confident of finding extraterrestrial life This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Five Buy Now Related Stories Design Issue 19 David Rager David Rager, co-founder of design firm Weekends, shares his tale of LA and Paris and how he makes time for life’s little distractions. Design Issue 19 A Day in the Life: Frida Escobedo With her own firm and scores of global projects in her inventive portfolio, this architect is transforming Mexico City, one artful building at a time. Design Issue 19 In Anxious Anticipation The effects of adrenaline are positively pulse-pounding, but the physical whoosh we feel in our bodies actually starts in our brains. Design Issue 18 Happiness by Design Think more like designers: The strategies employed to create a perfectly proportioned bookshelf can also be used to enhance our personal well-being. Design Issue 18 Sense in Symmetry From radial swirls to mirror images, the natural world often shows that there’s beauty in balance. Design Issue 18 The Nature of Desirability The head of Harvard’s Desirability Lab examines what consumers like and why so designers can create products that hit the sweet spot.
Design Issue 19 David Rager David Rager, co-founder of design firm Weekends, shares his tale of LA and Paris and how he makes time for life’s little distractions.
Design Issue 19 A Day in the Life: Frida Escobedo With her own firm and scores of global projects in her inventive portfolio, this architect is transforming Mexico City, one artful building at a time.
Design Issue 19 In Anxious Anticipation The effects of adrenaline are positively pulse-pounding, but the physical whoosh we feel in our bodies actually starts in our brains.
Design Issue 18 Happiness by Design Think more like designers: The strategies employed to create a perfectly proportioned bookshelf can also be used to enhance our personal well-being.
Design Issue 18 Sense in Symmetry From radial swirls to mirror images, the natural world often shows that there’s beauty in balance.
Design Issue 18 The Nature of Desirability The head of Harvard’s Desirability Lab examines what consumers like and why so designers can create products that hit the sweet spot.
