Acid Modernism

While buiding their Venice, California home, Doug Aitken and Gemma Ponsa came up with a new design aesthetic called Acid Modernism: organic, perceptual and hallucinatory.

What does this mean exactly? Well, for starters:

1. The ground-floor walls and curtains are silkscreened to simulate their outdoor hedges.
2. The sky-lighted staircase is angled with mirrors to create a kaleidoscope effect. 
3. The dining room table is a functioning xylophone.
4. There's a full bathroom hidden behind a panic-room door disguised as a bookcase that opens by pulling a fake volume of Ulysses from the shelf.
5. Microphones are installed underneath the staircase so the steps can be played like a percussive instrument.

It's a house you can play with. My kind of place!


{Images via The New York Times by Jason Schmidt}