In 1941, trained architect and director of the Walker, Daniel S. Defenbacher, launched what was a radical project: the Idea House. This innovative design program featured full-scale, single-family homes for public exhibition. It encouraged people to think creatively about their living spaces and feel empowered to work with an architect to make their own unique, well-designed home.
The success of Idea House (1941) led to the creation of a second home, Idea House II (1947), and the newest incarnation, Idea House 3, opened over eighty years after the project’s debut.
Celebrating the opening of Idea House 3, the series Houses of Ideas looks back at the Walker’s Idea House projects and dives headfirst into in-depth interviews with some of today’s Midwest-based designers.
I Rarely Saw People Who Looked Like Me: Norman Teague on Community, Chicago, and Creating with Your Hands
Chicago born and based Norman Teague blends a passion for handmade design with community to discover new forms for objects and collaborations alike. With his work included in Idea House 3, Teague sat down to describe his journey from trade school to the Venice Biennale and why Chicago is the city.
Anybody Can Do Anything: Evan Fay on the Freedom of Design Constraints
Having discovered furniture design by way of a watercolor-painting class for architects, Evan Fay explores the freedom found within design constraints and what Detroit’s ghost gardens can tell us about not holding back.
I Creatively Misuse Tools: Cody Norman on New Possibilities for Automation and Robots in Design
Chicago-based artist and designer Cody Norman explores the possibilities of reworking robotics, pitfalls of our plastic crisis, and how to best misuse digital fabrication.
Collective Forms: Hennepin Made’s Jackson Schwartz on How Glassmaking Can Give Form to Light and Community
Embracing the collaborative nature of creating glass, Schwartz co-founded Hennepin Made, a Minneapolis artisan factory that brings studio-art thinking to the creation of lighting. Sitting down with the Walker, Jackson Schwartz shared his thoughts around glassmaking’s ability to give form to communities and light alike.
We’re a City that Makes Things: Aleiya Olu on Detroit, Design, and Energy
Born and raised in Detroit, designer Aleiya Olu explores how her grandmother’s love of patterns, exploring childhood memories through wood finishes, and the influence of the singular city of Detroit on her work.
From Tokyo to Pontiac: Ayako Aratani on Design, Craft, and Nature
Japanese-born, Michigan-based designer Ayako Aratani reflects on relocating from Tokyo to Pontiac, the importance of handmade design, and how wrinkles can invite us to have less anxiety.
The Idea House Project of the Walker Art Center, 1941–47
An architect turned museum director, a few acres of land, and a bold idea for the future of design in America formed the Idea House project. Learn how this innovative design program featuring full-scale, single-family homes for public exhibition debuted at the Walker Art Center in the 1940s.
