Watch a trailer of Coast Modern
Like many of us, filmmakers Mike Bernard and Gavin Froome are drawn to the romantic modernism of North America's West Coast, the landscape where the architecture of glass, wood, concrete and steel could be at its most expressive and fertile.
Coast Modern begins with Arthur Erickson's 1972 Eppich House, with Bernard and Froome's camera going on to pan lazily through some of the lesser known marvels of post-war architectural design, a mouth-watering array of domestic design that offers up a truly utopian vision of how things could be, as well as visiting many of the classics, including Rudolph Schindler's Sachs Apartments in LA, the Case Study Houses and The Sea Ranch near San Francisco
And yet there's a shadow of regret underpinning the whole enterprise. As one of the interviewees puts it, 'modernism is a beautiful failure - you can't call it a success when 90% of people do not want to live in a Modernist house.' Tear downs are still all too common as the relentless march of neophilia sweeps away many perfectly decent buildings.
The tide is slowly turning in favour of the old, however. Douglas Coupland goes further, citing Wallpaper's early focus on this once obscure arm of international modernism as one of the main drivers behind its recent revival (and the film also makes a sly dig at the hipsterisation of modern design).
Coast Modern might appear to be preaching to the converted, with hazy, dreamy photography that shifts between crisp focus and fashionable blurs and a cast of commentators - architects, writers and designers - extolling the virtues of these relentlessly verdant sets for a very singular type of domestic life. But it's the feeling of longevity and life and the slow assimilation of building and landscape that stands out, decades of interaction between place and nature that can't be recreated overnight.
Hopefully Coast Modern will open up closed minds a little further, bringing more people into the light, space, air and nature that defined a truly fertile phase of architectural design.
Coast Modern will be screened at the Architecture & Design Film Festival in New York, which runs from 18 to 21 October
A still from the film, showing Hoke Residence, designed by Jeff Kovel of Skylab Architecture, 2007, Portland OR
Reunion House, designed by Richard Neutra, 1949, Los Angeles CA
Smith House 2, designed by Erickson/Massey Architects, 1964, Vancouver BC
Watzek House, designed by John Yeon, 1937, Portland OR
Dunbar House, designed by Barry Downs, 1958, Vancouver BC
Case Residence, designed by Ron Thom, 1965, Vancouver BC
Coupland House, designed by Duncan McNab, 1958, Vancouver
Glendower House, designed by Bestor Architecture, 2006, Los Angeles CA
Glendower House, with Frank Lloyd Wright's 1924 Ennis House in the upper background
Henrik Bull (FAIA) shows us the modernist treasure map of Northern California
-
Pharrell Williams’ latest Louis Vuitton show celebrates a ‘friendship for life’ with streetwear legend NigoLouis Vuitton men’s creative director Pharrell Williams looked towards his long friendship with BAPE founder Nigo to create a collaborative A/W 2025 menswear collection shown in Paris this evening (21 January 2025)
-
Think small, think electric, as Hyundai attempts to revolutionise the classic Indian three-wheelerHyundai’s Micro Mobility strategy, in collaboration with Indian manufacturer TVS, has revealed two conceptual takes on small electric urban transport in a bid to cut the country’s crushing pollution issue
-
‘Just beneath the surface there’s another world’: How David Lynch used hair and make-up to create his singular universeFrom Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, David Lynch used hair and make-up in his films as a narrative device, writes Laura Havlin
-
Tour 21 lesser-known modernist houses in EuropeTake a tour of some of Europe's lesser-known modernist houses; architectural writer and curator Adam Štěch leads the way, discussing the 20th-century movement's diversity under a single vision
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
-
The case of the Ontario Science Centre: a 20th-century architecture classic facing an uncertain futureThe Ontario Science Centre by Raymond Moriyama is in danger; we look at the legacy and predicament of this 20th-century Toronto gem
-
Alvar Aalto: our ultimate guide to architecture's father of gentle modernismAlvar Aalto defined midcentury – and Finnish – architecture like no other, creating his own, distinctive brand of gentle modernism; honouring him, we compiled the ultimate guide
-
Design Awards 2025: Alvar Aalto's Finlandia Hall is a modernist gem reborn through sustainability and accessibilityHelsinki's Finlandia Hall, an Alvar Aalto landmark design, has been reborn - highlighting sustainability and accessibility in a new chapter for the modernist classic
-
The three lives of the Edith Farnsworth House: now, a modernist architecture icon open to allThe modernist Edith Farnsworth House has had three lives since its conception in 1951 by Mies van der Rohe; the latest is a sensitive renovation, and it's open to the public
-
A revamped Edinburgh apartment combines Californian-style modernism with modern craftArcher + Braun have transformed an apartment in a historic house with finely tuned contemporary additions and sympathetic attention to detail
-
A look inside the home of George Homsey, one of the fathers of pioneering California modernist community Sea RanchGeorge Homsey's home opens for the first time since his death, in 2019; see where the architect behind some of the designs for Sea Ranch, the pioneering California modernist community, lived
