About the Book
Ein Photoessay über die Renovierung und Architektur eines Hauses von 1920 im mittleren Westen der USA. An architectural photo essay about the renovation of a 1920s house in the American Midwest. Auf Englisch und Deutsch mit einer Einleitung und vielen Fotos. In German and English with an introduction and numerous photographs.
Dieses Buch erzählt-zum Grossteil durch Fotos-den kurzen Teil der Lebensgeschichte eines Hauses das ein unbekannter Tischler im mittleren Westen der USA 1920 in einer Siedlung in der Nähe der Innenstadt von Ames gebaut hat. Ames ist eine kleine Universitätsstadt, die ziemlich genau in der Mitte des Bundesstaates Iowa liegt, oder was man vielleicht als die Mitte ansehen könnte, wenn man etwas blinzelt. Das unregelmässige Grundstück liegt auf der Südseite der 5th Street, die in diesem Bereich eine Sackgasse ist, die von der Northwestern Avenue Richtung Westen abbiegt, nicht weit vom Wheatsfield Bioladen. Das rautenförmige Grundstück ist 20m breit, 41m auf der längeren Seite, 28m auf der kürzeren Längsseite, und 24m an der diagonalen Südgrenzlinie. Das eingeschössige Haus hat eine durchgehende Raumhöhe von 3m und ist voll unterkellert. Auf der Nordseite ist eine Veranda angebaut, und der ursprüngliche Grundriss zeigt ein Badezimmer flankiert von zwei Schlafzimmern auf der Ostseite, und Wohn- und Esszimmer, sowie eine Küche, auf der Westseite. Das Buch erzählt die Geschichte der Transformation des Hauses von einem unterisolierten Bau mit fragwürdiger Infrastruktur zu einem modernen Musiksalon und einem Verlagsbüro. Die Fotos, mit einigen Notizen, machen den den Rückbau und den Wiederaufbau deutlich. This is a story, mostly told through photographs, of a slice of life of a house constructed by an anonymous builder in the American Midwest in 1920 in a subdivision to the west of downtown Ames, a small college town smack in the middle of the state, or what could be considered the middle if one squints, slightly, while looking at a map of Iowa. The building sits on an irregular lot along the south side of 5th Street, which is a cul-de-sac at this point, off of Northwestern Avenue and a stone's throw from Wheatsfield Coop in Ames. The rhomboid-shaped lot is 60 feet wide, 123.5 feet on the long side, 83.6 feet on the shorter side, and 72.6 feet on the diagonal south boundary. The house has one story with 9'-3"-high ceilings, and a full basement, except for a small pedestal in the northeast corner of the basement. There is a porch along the north side, and the original floor plan is divided into bedrooms and one bathroom along the east side, and more public spaces, such as living room, dining room, kitchen, on the west side. The book chronicles the renovation of the house from an under-insulated structure with questionable plumbing into a contemporary music salon and publisher's office. The photos emphasize the process of demolition and renovation with a few written notes.
About the Author: Mikesch Muecke is a German-born designer and academic who lives and works in the United States. His work is disseminated through academic, commercial, and philanthropic venues that are part of a larger network of interdisciplinary endeavors concerned with the built and unbuilt environment in its material, historical, cultural, theoretical, and temporal representations. To say it differently, he enjoys the following activities: imagine, draw, think, make, build, write, design, and publish. Currently Muecke makes the bulk of his living and working at Iowa State University (ISU) in the Department of Architecture where, in his role as an academic pinch hitter, he teaches studios at almost any level of the professional undergraduate BArch or the professional MArch degrees, and leads history/theory seminars and/or digital courses.
Miriam S. Zach, Ph.D., organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist is the Charles and Mary Sukup Endowed Artist in Organ at Iowa State University in the Department of Music & Theatre. Her CD Hidden Treasures: 300 Years of Organ Music by Women Composers (1998) was recorded in Princeton University Chapel. After completing degrees at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, she lived in Germany for five years teaching piano at the Universität Bielefeld, singing in Kantorei St. Nicolai in Lemgo, and touring Europe with her husband, Mikesch Muecke. Since 1997 she has organized annual International Festivals of Women Composers which have been crossroads for networking among women composers and their advocates.
