Opening Thursday, June 22, 6:00 – 8:00 PM EDT at the Center for Architecture, the exhibition Kaneji Domoto at Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonia features rare video interviews with Usonia residents, projected within an intimate subterranean gallery using the Portable Ultra Short Throw Projector from Sony Life Space UX. Music at the opening night reception will play from Sony's Wireless Glass Speaker—RSVP for the event here and share your take on the exhibition using #kanejixsony!
Curated by Lynnette Widder, Lecturer in Discipline, Sustainability Management, at Columbia University, and designed by Studio Joseph, the exhibition presents the five houses by Japanese American architect and Taliesin fellow Kaneji Domoto in Westchester County’s Usonia, a national historic district.
The community of Usonia in Pleasantville, founded in 1944, 35 miles north of New York City, is the only fully realized example of Wright’s vision for an exurban United States and a unique example of what it meant to design, and live, within Wright’s millieu. Wright designed the site plan and served on the building committee, defining the architectural style for the community. He eventually built three of the cooperative’s 47 homes. Five of the remaining houses in Usonia were designed by Kaneji Domoto, who used the houses to translate Wright’s idiom into low-cost construction.
Featuring material from private archives never-before shown publicly, the drawings, artifacts, models, letters, and photographs exhibited show how Domoto’s work applied Wrightian idiom and provide a glimpse at life in Frank Lloyd Wright’s inner circles. A site model of the Usonia community, custom-built by students at the Rhode Island School of Design, and furniture by Smilow Design, a company with roots in Usonia, will also be on display.
Photography by Thad Russell.
Mid-Century Japanese American Designers
Monday, July 10, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Speakers include: Lynnette Widder, Lecturer in Discipline, Sustainability Management, at Columbia University; Ken Tadashi Oshima, Professor, Department of Architecture, Washington University
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Exploring Usonia (Site Tour)
Saturday, July 22, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Meeting at the Center for Architecture, a small group will travel from NYC to Pleasantville for a walking tour of Usonia focusing on the five Domoto houses and including visits with residents.
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