How Much House?
The space we live in, reduced to a minimum, has been fascinating us for generations – the writer Thoreau lived in a self-built hut in the forest from 1845 –1847. In 1952, Le Corbusier built a hut at the Côte d'Azur for himself and his wife. Inspired by this, Urs Peter Flückiger, together with his students, built an ecologically and economically sustainable cabin in the Texan prairie. All three projects share the idea of minimal space and its relationship with the surrounding nature. In text, drawings, and photographs, this book analyses the three projects and shows parallels and similarities. Inspired by Tolstoy's story How Much Land Does A Man Need?, the author asks: "How much house does a man need?", thereby providing a pointed contribution to the current discussion on the requirement for housing.
Swiss-American Urs Peter "Upe" Flueckiger, was born in Herzogenbuchsee, Switzerland. He is a Full Professor in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas USA, where he also maintains his architectural practice. Prior to 1998 he worked for several architectural firms in Switzerland including the office of Mario Botta in Lugano, Switzerland, and in New York City in the office of David Rockwell (Rockwellgroup). In 1998 he joined the faculty of the College of Architecture at Texas Tech. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. His design and research interests are economical ecological housing, minimalism in architecture, design build, and modernism in the 20th century to the present. In 2004 he and his wife Carol designed and built their current house and studio, basing it on Flueckiger's design philosophy. He is the author of the book: "Donald Judd, Architecture in Marfa Texas." His design work has been published in "The New York Times", "Texas Architect Magazine", among other books, journals, and magazines. He completed a Sustainable Cabin, a design build project with his students and several projects for Charles Adams, Gallerist in Lubbock, Texas. In his latest book, "How much House? Thoreau, Le Corbusier and the Sustainable Cabin" (Birkhauser October 2016) he writes about minimal living, the Sustainable Cabin and its inspirations by Le Corbusier and Henry David Thoreau. When he is not thinking architecture or playing with his family, he loves riding his classic BMW Airhead motorcycles across the High Plains of West Texas.