Home Sweet Home
Hello my sweeties - and welcome home. I have a question for you today, just something to mull over. It’s something designers get asked all the time, and I want to toss this one back to you - what inspires you? This question can be so broad that it can be difficult to answer, especially if you’re like me and the creative process is a little more intuitive. It can sometimes be hard to pinpoint the exact moment or source of inspiration.
Architecture and design themselves show up as the source of inspiration in lots of different media, and vice versa, whether it’s a fashion line inspired by art deco, a movie with clean lines and modern set design inspired by a piece of art. And for me, it’s a source of pure joy to see different arts shape each other.
This can even happen with food and If you know me, you know nothing makes my heart sing quite as loudly as when food - of almost form - is paired with design.
This could be a modernist plating at a five star restaurant, an inspired interior that takes its design cues from food, or even a midcentury modern gingerbread house.
When I was a super-green young professional, enjoying my new life in the big city, I remember perusing the ice cream section at a grocery store, and came across a product that was seemingly made and developed just for me, as I often feel things I love are - artisanal ice cream with an architect pun based flavor menu. I mean come on, for me this was the ultimate cool factor. It was like someone had peered Inside my soul, taken all the things that I love the most, and bundled them up into one easy to consume product. If you haven’t heard of the brand Coolhaus ice cream, don’t worry because I am going to march us through their original line up and why I am so obsessed with this company today. I absolutely love seeing small businesses take off and the creativity that fuels them.
This ice cream is so so incredible, it is extra creamy, almost in the frozen custard category, and the flavors are so fun and unique. I have no affiliation with this particular ice cream company, these are just my opinions, I’m a longtime fan. Today we are talking all about what makes this company so cool, pun intended. You can find Coolhaus in groceries stores all over the country and I would highly recommend checking them out. They even introduced a dairy-free line up a few years back and they make some of my absolute favorite non-dairy ice cream and ice cream sandwiches.
Coolhaus was founded in 2009 by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller. They got an old beat-up ice cream truck, put some fun branding on it, and drove it to Coachella in California. From the truck they sold ice cream sandwiches that even had edible wrappers. Since then, they’ve branched out to selling pints and ice cream bars in the grocery stores. But of course their original ice cream sandwiches are still a star product.
The original logo had a visual play on an ice cream sandwich and a piece of architecture. So it looked like an ice cream sandwich that was tilted, so it looked a little bit like a mid-century modern home. Coolhaus’ original menu consisted of just ice cream sandwiches, all of which had unique flavors that drew inspiration from the owners’ background in architecture and real estate. The name of each one was play on words based on an architect. Now since Coolhaus has gone mainstream, they’ve updated their punny flavor names to be a little more direct, which I totally understand. It’s good to have a niche, but sometimes things are so specific it becomes more of an inside joke, and it’s important to be inclusive. For instance their original Mies Vanilla Rohe ice cream sandwich is now simply Tahitian Vanilla, which I’m sure a lot more people understand. I remember thinking that actually, that it wasn’t super likely that your average consumer would even understand what Richard Meyer Lemon was referring to - so I wanted to honor the original flavors and talk a little about about each namesake architect. When I was first starting design school I had a TA that asked our drawing class if anyone could name an architect whose first name wasn’t Frank, and there was maybe one person who mentioned a name - and these were architecture and design students! So, even though so many of us love architecture and interior design, we’re not always as familiar with the architects that a creating the building we are loving - by name. So today, we’re getting a nice dose of modern architectural history, and you are going to so sound so smart the next time architect is the topic of conversation.
Even the company name is a play on words with architecture and ice cream. The word Coolhaus is evocative of cool temperature, frozen desserts. “House,” like where you eat your ice cream, I guess. This is a play on two things, it’s a combination of the Bauhaus and Rem Koolhaas.
Rem Koolhaas is the Pritzker Prize winning Dutch architect who formed the firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture or OMA as we architect nerds refer to it. This company is well known for designing the Seattle Central Library, CCTV headquarters in Bejing, and of course the Prada flagship stores in Beverly Hills, New York City, and Toyko. Rem is also well know for his writing and public speaking which are filled with bold and creative statement and ideas.
Famous Quote: “Architecture is a dangerous mixture of power and impotence.”
The Bauhaus was a German art school in the 1920’s founded by architect Walter Groupius. I of course cannot even see the name Bauhaus without thinking of my own college professor Jerry Larson who is extremely passionate about modern architectural history, and taught me everything I know about modern design history. He actually has a really great instagram account called The Architecture Professor that I would recommend checking out if you like to nerd out about modern architectural history. Now the Bauhaus was a short lived, but super influential school that focused on functionality, mass production, and complete works of art within the design world. The idea of implementing a concept into every element in a space. This time period is incredibly fascinating and filled with a lot of strong opinions about what art and design should and should not be. Ultimately, the school was closed by the Nazi’s but the teachers and students of the school continued to teach the methods and philosophies in new locations for decades to come.
Starting with the simplest of the floor names, Mintinalism - this was a chocolate cookie with mint ice cream in the middle. Nothing too esoteric here, it’s a pretty start forward play on words. Minimalism, mint-chocolate. That one’s pretty easy to get, but they still didn’t keep this original name. Now I believe this flavor is called Dirt Mint.
The next flavor is call Mies Vanilla Rohe. Which is a play on Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe or just Mies as most architecture nerds call him. This was a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla bean ice cream. So classic! So, speaking of the bauhaus, Mies was the school last director before it was shut down, and he moved to Chicago once the school closed. Mies pioneered what’s referred to as International Style which is what most modern office towers take their cues from today - with very little ornamentation, lots of repetition, rectilinear shapes, and tons of glass. Mies designed the Seagrams Building in Manhattan, the Chicago Federal Complex, and you may have seen his furniture design - the Barcelona chair is considered a true classic.
Famous Quote - “Less is more.”
So then we have Frank Berry, which is a pretty hilarious pun on Frank Gehry. This is a Snickerdoodle cookie with strawberry ice cream - yum! If you know any architect on this its likely Frank Gehry. He’s arguably the most famous living architect, although at 92 years old I should keep my mouth shut. Love him or hate him, Frank Gehry changed the world of modern construction forever with his flowing, fabric like sheets of metal and brick. His work reflects a lifetime of experimentation that builds off a post modern foundation. You may recognize his work at the Disney concert hall in Los Angeles, The IAC building in new york city, The Peter B. Lewis building at case western reserve, just to name a fee, and there are many - trust me.
Famous Quote: “Life is chaotic, dangerous, and surprising. Buildings should reflect that.”
Next, we have Richard Meier Lemon Ginger. This was a ginger cookie and lemon ice cream. We have our first sort of scandal architect on the list. So to begin, Richard Meier is an architect most likely notable for designing the Getty Center in Los Angeles, he also designed the San Jose City Hall, the High Art Museum in Atlanta. Most his buildings are white or light in color and extremely rectilinear, some critics have stated that his work is mostly copying from french architect Le Corbusier. I will link his Wikipedia page here, which you should definitely read. So, it’s not all bad that Coolhaus has gone away from these architectural puns, because not everybody wants to be memorialized into a fun food. For you non foodies out there, a Meyer lemon is a type of lemon hybrid fruit that is slightly sweeter than your garden variety.
Famous Quote: “I think white is the most wonderful color of all, because within it one can find every color of the rainbow.”
Next, we have IM Peinut butter. Peanut butter ice cream with a double chocolate cookie. Architect IM Pei lived to be 102 years old, and in those 102 years he designed and built striking glass structures all over the world, including the pyramid addition to the Louvre, the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland Ohio, and the Macau Science Center. You can identify his work by its strong contrasts and simple geometric volumes. Pei is one of the iconic architects of post modern movement.
Famous Quote: “Success is a collection of problems solved.”
Next is Norman Bananas Foster - a ice cream spin on the classic desert. This is of course referring to Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, the British architect whose focus on high tech buildings has brought him to international fame. His work is often playful and composed of angled glass facets that make up a clean simple volume. Fosters iconic works include the New York Times building in New York City, The Gherkin building in London, and the Reichstag renovation in Berlin.
Famous Quote: “If you weren’t an optimist, it would be impossible to be an architect.”
Next, we have the Louis BaKahn. Which is a chocolate chip cookie with brown butter candied bacon ice cream. So, Louis Kahn may have been one of the last true masters of brickwork, which he often pair with large pours of concrete. You will so so often see the circle-in-the-square motif in Kahn buildings, but it’s done in a may that feel meaningful, often with the circle being a source of natural light or view into a space beyond. His tetrahedral concrete ceiling in the Yale University Art Gallery is breathtaking- other important works include the Salk Institute in L.A., the Kimball Art Museum in Forth Worth Texas, and the Library at Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
The last flavor is Oatmeal Cinnamoneo - and I have to admit, I didn’t know this one. So, this was an oatmeal cookie with cinnamon ice cream. This was a play on Spanish architect Rafael Moneo who is the 1996 Pritzker Price Winner, ad the only Spanish architect to have won this award. He is known for his international cathedral and museum work, and his style is described as timeless and modern.
Famous Quote: “Buildings are always better than drawings and models.”
I hope you enjoyed this run down of famous architects and their namesake Coolhaus treats. Now some of these flavors remain in the Coolhaus rotation and are simply renamed, but others were permanently retired. If you see Coolhaus at your local grocery store you’ll probably notice that they’ve come out with a ton of new flavors that have nothing to do with architecture and focus way more and just fun food- like birthday cake and street cart churro dough. If you’re enjoying this show, don’t forget to to give this podcast a review and five star rating in Apple podcasts and if you’re a Spotify listener make sure you turn on new episode notifications for Soft Landing so that you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep your spaces as sweet as your hearts!
A journey through iconic modern architects via the original flavor menu of Coolhaus Ice Cream https://cool.haus
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