20 Feb MAD about Modern? First Up in U.S. Cities, Austin Modern Home Tour!
Austin Modern Home Tour home, with indoor/outdoor pools, by Steve Zagorski Architect, 4404 Red River St. #8 on map.
10th Year Celebrating Leaders in Austin’s Modern Home Movement
Modern Home Tour – Saturday, February 24th, 2018, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
MAD about Modern? We’ve got you covered here on The Pillow Goddess, as this week is an exciting week in the history of the Austin Modern Home Tour (AMHT). If you love modern architecture and interiors then sign up for our blog HERE . To snag a discount ticket and a Modern Home Tour “Insta Giveaway”, follow along on Instagram @deborahmaindesigns cause I’ll be featuring more of the architecture and interiors of Austin Modern Home Tour (AMHT) and home staging design by, Vazzo Spaces.
Founded by GoodLife Luxury 10 years ago, and produced by Modern Architecture + Design Society (MA+DS), Modern Home Tour’s goal (sponsored this year by the above local businesses) is to introduce modern architecture and living to those in Austin. On Saturday, February 24th from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., ticket holders will enjoy a rare opportunity to visit 12 striking homes. The tour, presented by Treehouse, allows visitors to interact with the architects, builders and design professionals that conceptualized and executed these homes.
I had the opportunity to talk with production partner, James Leasure, Founder of Modern Architecture + Design Society who produces the Austin Modern Home Tour and other tours across the country.
PG: You must be excited to kick off the Modern Home Tour this weekend. Can you tell us a little about why this year is special?
JL: We’re EXTREMELY excited to kick off this 10th Anniversary event! It’s so hard to keep people excited and interested about anything for very long today, and it’s speaks highly not only of Austin’s community, but also of our creative professionals in the architecture, art and designs fields that keep bringing new ideas to the Tour every year. Personally, I’m just proud to be associated with such an amazing group of professionals, and I’m honored to be able to help bring their work to modern enthusiasts all over Austin.
PG: I notice there’s a real wide variety of types of homes. I even found one right around the corner from my vintage bungalow in the Zilker neighborhood. Who is the tour for and why?
JL: The Tour attracts a huge variety of people. Many of them are looking for design ideas for their own homes, some are actively scouting architects and designers, and many just want too spend the day with their friends visiting some incredible homes and meeting the owners and architects. We even have some local universities that offer their students in related areas of study extra credit for going on the Tour!
On the professional side, there’s no better way to meet potential clients than by showing living examples of our work, and the Austin Modern Home Tour is the one day of the year when you can count on a critical mass of interested people that are specifically out and looking for “modern” ideas.
Austin Modern Home Tour home by Abode Modern Homes, 1713 Bluebonnet Lane, Unit A. #11 on map.
PG: I know Mod Home Tours has a few other tours in major cities in the U.S. Please tell us briefly about those coming up and do all the tours share any other commonalities besides being about Modern Homes? Or are they all uniquely different?
JL: Our schedule is roughly divided into spring and fall series of 5 Tours each, and in the next few months we’ll have events in Seattle, Portland, Denver and the Silicon Valley area (that one is usually a must for mid-century fans!) It’s really interesting to see the regional influences on architecture and design – the Seattle area, for example, often features incredible waterfront views, and even modern “houseboats” that are permanently parked ON the water, whereas Silicon Valley often features amazing renovations of historically significant Eichler homes. We even have several tourgoers that travel to multiple Tours in any given year and it’s always a pleasant surprise when I run into someone I last saw in Portland coming out of a home here in Austin!
PG: That is really fascinating to hear! What makes the Austin Home Tour unique from the other tours?
JL: Austin is where it all began, so it will always be special. But ironically, for such a progressive city, Austin’s traditional architecture was maybe a little bit more resistant to modernism than some of the other cities we visit. Recently though, we’ve been making great strides and now Austin features one of the widest ranges of styles, sizes and price points of any city we visit!
Austin Modern Home Tour home by Winn Wittman Architecture, 204 Westbrook Dr. #6 on map.
PG: You’re so right! I remember the very first one in 2010 when Deborah Main Designs staged a home with our pillows and meeting Krisstina of GoodLife Luxury. It was great fun!
Please give me 5 reasons why people should attend the tour this wknd ? And perhaps attend the VIP event?
JL: This weekend’s Tourgoers will see an amazing modern renovation of a classic bungalow that honors the original, some fantastic urban infill in the hot North Loop area, and an extremely clever and livable multi-unit property. They’ll also have the chance to win a NEST courtesy of our awesome sponsor, Treehouse and see some great art and design accents courtesy of Jo Hyman (http://www.johymanart.com/home.php), Deborah Main (http://www.deborahmaindesigns.com) and some of my own photographic fine art (www.jclarkgallery.com). Finally, our VIP guests will get a free copy of the recently released book, “Marfa Modern: Artistic Interiors of the West Texas High Desert “ written by Helen Thompson.
PG: That sounds great and I can’t wait to see the book! Helen was one of the very first supporters of my work.
James, this year you’ve added “Architecture + Design Week” Tell us a bit about the events you have scheduled.
JL: We’re very excited about it! For the first time, in the days AFTER the Austin Modern Home Tour, we’ve created a lineup of special small-group events tailored to more specific discussion areas, and we’ve brought in friends like Dick Clark + Associates and Laura Britt Design to co-host. Our tour is so popular that it can be hard for Tourgoers to spend as much time as they’d like with a specific architect or on an item of special interest, and these events are a way to let the folks that are very interested in a certain topic get a little bit more deeply involved. The whole lineup can be seen at http://mads.media/2018-architecture-events/
Austin Modern Home Tour home exterior pool by Bercy Chen Studios, 5930 Bold Ruler Way. # 10 on map.
Austin Modern Home Tour (AMHT) offers a wide array of modern designs from the hillside home of Bercy Chen Studio, composed of a collection of stucco-and-glass volumes, a full-height window wall looking out on a pool with spectacular Hill Country views, to the sculptural nature of Steve Zagorski Architect’s elegant design, which showcases water inside and out.
Austin Modern Home Tour home, with Interior pool under the staircase, by Steve Zagorski Architect 4404 Red River St. #8 on map.
ABOUT THE AUSTIN MODERN HOME TOUR
“Founded by Krisstina Wise of GoodLife Luxury, the Austin Modern Home Tour highlights and promotes the collaborative exchange between Real Estate Professionals, Architects and Developers and invites Austinites to join the Modern Movement. With co-owner and production partner James Leasure and his Modern Architecture + Design Society (MA+DS), the Austin Modern Home Tour has grown to showcase spectacular examples of modern design, construction and decor throughout Austin’s premier neighborhoods. With over 9,000 visitors attending the annual tours to-date, the Austin Modern Home Tour offers something for everyone.”
ABOUT MA+DS HOME TOURS AND DESIGN SERIES
“Our nationwide event series was created to introduce modern architecture and living to people in their own communities across North America and beyond. Through fun and informative tours in dozens of cities across the United States and Canada, as well as carefully cultivated introductions to the people, places and things that define “modern,” over 13,000 attendees gather each year to view some of the most exciting examples of modern architecture and design coast to coast. Our annual season kicks off with our premier event – the Austin Modern Home Tour, on February 24, 2018 in Austin TX.”
Thanks so much James for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be interviewed and share all this information with our readers. I’m so excited to be part of Austin Modern Home Tour again 10 years later! Can’t wait to see all the homes.
Till next time this week, when we speak with Ruby Cloutier of Vazzo Spaces about the Newcastle home she’s staging, get your tickets HERE now Austinites (enter promotion code DMAIN for discount), enjoy the rain and think positive thoughts that it will be gone by Saturday, just in time for the Austin Modern Home Tour! XO, PG
Note: This blog post is sponsored by Austin Modern Home Tours. All photography is by the architect firms noted on the images. Opinions are my own with info from AMHT press release.
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