apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i think the nine rooms of the house create an unfortunate echo of "hollywood squares".

is this a real, functioning residence?

Fun for him, and I think I'd like to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

To each his own...but I'm voting "pretentious".

Hilarious, Flavorpacket. Extreme makeover (or whatever that show is) was just in Raleigh and tore down a house to give someone a dream house. When I saw the photo in the newspaper,I was shocked, the house they tore down was better than a house I am paying alot to have moved to my property (This Month!!) so I can fix it. The preservation society was opposed to the tear down in Raleigh

It reminds me of a dollhouse with all the furniture laid out ready to be put in the rooms.

I want to live here! What a fun place to reside. Happy Holidays!!!!!!!

i like the shed, and it looks great in its setting, but i just feel very sad for the original house. i kind of think the juxtaposition brings them both down...

The first thing to come to mind was: wasteful. It's redundant to have both the home exterior and the shed. I also wouldn't want the inside of my home to be a concrete floor and the corrugated steel walls of a shed. I did warm to it a little when I saw the exterior nighttime shot, but overall it's just unnecessary.

Yeah, I'm not a fan at all. Just seems like a pretentious experiment. Interesting for a gallery, maybe, but not a home.

I think it's pretty cool. It makes for an interesting indoor/outdoor/indoors-but-outdoors feel.

Elspeth, you say its wasteful, and thats exactly what I love about it! Pure ostentatiousness.

I think it's fabulous! Who knows, this may be the start of an interesting trend in historic preservation. Keeping the original house out of the way of natural elements may be the ticket to making it last longer. I see this being especially important for homes built post-war (WWII, that is).

FUN. I'd love to live there.

There's a stage set/fourth wall quality about this which really appeals to me.

I'd be pretty tempted to put on some plays here, or make films.

I,ve seen this in magazines and it disturbs me. It's like the time I tried to put a galosher on my toddler and she screamed in dismay and wore only the
galosher. Putting a shoe on a shoe was a violation. It's like seeing this house inside a house. Maybe if it were a movie set or something. I could love the giant hanger or the house but the juxtaposition
jars me uncofortably, like a house dream gone too surrealistic.

The bunny house rocks! I wish I could visit.

There is a Kalkin house at the Shelburne Museum, near Burlington VT. You can go inside and explore it for a full experience of Kalkin's vision.If you get anywhere near Northern Vermont, make sure to visit. The entire museum is worth at least an entire day. Fascinating exhibits and gorgeous grounds. Great for kids, too. Not open during the winter. It will reopen May 20th.

FYI, the Kalkin house at the Shelburne museum will be the site of an exhibit by Brooklyn artist Jason Miller, opening May 20th. see www.jasonmiller.com
www.shelburnemuseum.org

So you think this is wasteful, yet if he tore down the original house, you'd be screaming that THAT was wasteful ("squandered heritage," anyone?).

This is a TOUGH crowd.

Better, and more inventive, than a McMansion.

The iconic house shape cut-out on the side is too literal, or not literal enough, for me, although I always love that Monopoly-house shape in all other forms. But in this instance, I'd like to see the actual silhouette of the contained house. Or just another square cut-out.

It reminds me of a Turducken.

i adore it. it's a piece of art, not advocating that people actually build houses like this. Blocks and blocks of suburban megamansions is a lot more wasteful than one giant piece of art.

I love this. Utterly creative in every regard. I think the house-shaped cutout is a wonderful element. I love the layout and furnishing, the farmhouse feel even in a contemporary loft environment and I would live there in a heartbeat.

I think it is an interesting experiment. I'm kinda diggin' the "hollywood sqaures" view. But I think there is something off with the relationship between the old and new house. The juxtaposition seems haphazard.

I think what they are trying to do is interesting...but the end result? Big ugly metal shed.

I think it's tremendous, innovative and fun, and I'm amazed that people are expressing such disdain.

I think it is fascinating and truly original. Modern and Traditional - the best of both worlds! I wouldn't choose to live their long term because I think the space is not very conducive to relaxing, but I would love to rent it for a weekend and see what creative living ideas of my own I would have. And I think the shed/outer-house is a smart use of industrial building materials for personal use. Does anyone know if industrial building materials like this are much cheaper than regular materials?

Turduckhen...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Is there a yet even smaller house inside?

Actually makes me think of Sam's Club, if they could sell prefab homes inside and a fork-lift operator could just pull it outside and bring it to your car. But all coolness and turduckhen comments aside, I agree with Matthew, it's a big old ugly metal box.

That's hilarious! I just sent the pictures to some colleagues and the subject line was: from the makers of tur-du-cken comes This New Old House

Funny you should talk about prefab homes from Sam's Club. I've become a big fan of dwell magazine, and in researching prefab homes I found that IKEA sells prefab homes in Britain and some parts of Scandinavia. Imagine that: you can get a house, furniture, decor AND groceries from one store... not sure whether it's a good idea or just scary.

Reminds me of the two-story Barbie house inside the Times Square Toys R Us. Or those model homes they build inside giant malls t showcase various products.

I am SOOOOOOOOOO surprised to see so many negative comments on this home. About two years ago I saw this home for the first time and fell in love with the whole concept. This would be very close to my dream home. I would love having the best of both worlds - the authentic "old" house inside of the new MODERN house is such a GREAT CONTRAST. I like design that is "out of the box" and this is pure eye-candy for me.
ADAM, you should win an award for this house!

I love it ... especially the Hollywood Square end.

It's a great concept and out of the box thinking, so to speak. I love the contrast of space from cozy to open/airy.

However my main problem is how cheap the steel shell feels - visually. It seems to me from these photos that there is no inner wall, just the support structure and outer skin. I think it would work better with an inner wall - both to look more finished inside, and to provide insulation.

Turducken-that deserves an lol award.

Oh no no NO! NOW I remember what this reminds me of ... it's been driving me nuts since I first read the post. It reminds me of that movie Blast From the Past where Christopher Walken builds a complete full-sized replica of his family's house underground down in their bomb-shelter. It's the exact same house (complete with an astro-turf backyard full of lawn furniture!) only it has a big ugly industrial ceiling.

Looking at the main space here in front of the original house inside looks just that absurd to me (and for the record, I love very unique homes, in general) ... like having your living room in your cement front yard.

A FANTASTIC idea but not executed well - for a start the old house inside is not centered in the buliding - making it look like its being stored there in one corner rather than part of an actual design - also the house-shaped wall cut-out would have looked better if it open onto the the old house inside

I also hate the industrial loom of the inside of the hangar - so unfriendly - and at such a large space with no insulation it must be freezing cold and a bugger to heat

If I lived here I am sure I'd spend all my time in the old house

and part of the joy of coming home to a beautiful house is seeing it as you arrive - you wouldn't get that thrill as you drove up to a metal hangar

However, it is good for developing ideas...

A former manager of mine had a house built *inside* an old church. Basically it's a two storey cube with bedrooms and bathrooms that you can walk around. Some info here: http://www.vivenda.nl/Redactiearchief_Detail.asp?id=209

Yeah! That's a much more interesting idea–build a modern minimalist home inside the structure of an old traditional house! How cool would that be?

Very cool design, personally i love it. could see myself building something like this to live in.