Friedrich Kiesler: Endless House 1947-1961

by Harald Krejci, Valentina Sonzogni

Friedrich Kiesler was an architect, artist, designer, set designer and theoretician. His was the vision of a radically new concept for the interior: the idea of a polydimensional living space, an organically shaped continuum blending colors, forms and light with magical-mythical ideas to create an individual microcosm. Begun in the 1930s, his biomorphic design for an Endless House was based on this vision. It was to serve as his life-long dream and, though never realized, it nevertheless exerted a greater influence on architects and artists than have many of the built buildings of the twentieth century. One of the many merits of Kiesler's architectural concept for the Endless House is that it wedded profound artistic exploration to different academic disciplines such as psychology, the natural sciences, the social sciences and the arts. With respect to its demands on living space, Kiesler's approach to design set the standards to which today's ubiquitous "bubble architecture" must measure up.

110 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003