Authentic living: Case studies of two late timber houses by Henry Kulka

Abstract

Henry Kulka was a pupil, friend, and collaborator of Adolf Loos (1870 – 1933} one the greatest architectural polemicist of the 20th century. Loos’ designs, innovative buildings, and zealous writings formulate an unprecedented collection of ideas in modernity whose impact is still being felt in contemporary design, music, literature and architecture and whose intellectual and artistic depth still challenge its best students. The architect Henry Kulka was not the public polemicist that his mentor and partner Loos was. However he was the most important of Loosian teachers. His representations of Loos’ ideas are often presented in a way that is clearer than Loos ‘himself’ It was Loos himself who championed Kulka as the guardian of his ideas. These ideas and those evolved by Kulka are reflected in Kulka’s writings and also in his realisations. Kulka was prolific in his building in Europe and the Pacific. A diverse and quite extraordinary body of work has been left by him. This study aims to begin the task of considering the relationship between some of these ideas and their expression in time and place in New Zealand. Two residential case studies have been chosen for analysis. This author has based himself in these structures so that their experience could be understood and considered in relation to text. The authenticity and originality with which Kulka was able to evolve and compose beautiful, modern and original interiors in the Pacific proves striking. His subtle spatial plays, uniquely balanced proportions and naturalist material palette represent the truths inherent in the Kulka approach and its timeless appropriateness to place.