Kannustalo’s “Touch” at MoMA in New York
Best known for its collection of traditional prefabricated houses, the Finnish Kannustalo company’s modern model Touch will be displayed at an exhibition of prefabricated homes opening on 20 July at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
The Finland-based Kannustalo’s prefabricated house Touch was designed by the renowned Finnish architects Mikko Heikkinen and Markku Komonen.
Demand today is increasing for smaller prefabricated houses, and the exhibited Touch will be included in this collection. But using high-profile architects to design prefabricated houses is not an everyday affair. The starting point for designing a prefabricated house differs in many ways from designing an individual house, built in situ and fitted to a specific landscape. A prefabricated house should adapt to a large variety of environments. Touch is a prefabricated wooden house suited for urban and sparsely populated rural environments alike, but it serves equally well as a modern leisure-time home, either Finnish-style by the water or in more exotic landscapes.
Outwardly clearly rectangular in shape, the house belies diverse spaces inside. The interplay and contact between shadow and light emanating through the wall strips and roofing gave the house its name. “You can take in views anywhere in the house according to the site and landscape,” say the architects. The yard of the first-ever Touch accommodated the Heikkinen-Komonen Architects trademark sail canopy over a jetty-like terrace.
When designing the house, the architects wanted to create a modern version of the living room of a traditional Finnish farmhouse, a central space that the other rooms frame. Touch has a 1½-storey “farmhouse” living room. The stairs leading upstairs in the middle of the room and the fireplace divide off the kitchen and dining areas. The upstairs houses bedrooms and studies. The house comes in three mutually compatible configurations of upper and lower floors, giving altogether nine alternatives with a surface area of 146 –186 m2.
‘Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling’ is being organised by Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA. The exhibition will include a total of 63 projects: five prefabricated houses on view in the outdoor space next to the museum, and 58 projects on view in the sixth-floor International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Gallery.
