Laurie Simmons

Kaleidoscope House
2001
Projects Index

Conceived and designed by Laurie Simmons and architect Peter Wheelwright.

The Kaleidoscope House, a collaborative project with Bozart Toys which produces toys with leading contemporary artists, is an interactive creative play environment for 6 year olds and above. The 1:12 scale modernist architectural house, with sliding transparent color walls, invites children and adults to fill it with an accessory line of modern furniture from contemporary furniture designers including Dakota Jackson, Karim Rashid, Ron Arad, Keiser/ Newman and Robert Kitchen. The house features paintings, photographs and sculpture by Peter Halley, Carroll Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Mel Kendrick, Mel Bochner and realistic "action figures" of the artist, architect and family. As the interchangeable exterior walls of the dollhouse slide open and overlap one another, their colors change in hue and value. The floor plan measures 22 x 28 x 24 inches.

The Kaleidoscope House came out of our shared interests in domesticity and in particular the changing practices of home and family. Our individual work in photography and architecture has focused on these issues, and the promptings of our respective children have often figured in our thinking. Clearly, there is a need for a new dollhouse in the family playroom. Our hope is that The Kaleidoscope House with its sliding transparencies and changing aspects will view give a colorful view into new playful possibilities.

Kaleidoscope House