“Our hope is that the Kaleidoscope House with its sliding transparencies and changing aspects will give a colorful view into new playful possibilities.”
—Laurie Simmons and Peter Wheelright
Kaleidoscope House was conceived and designed by architect Peter Wheelright and artist Laurie Simmons, who is known for utilizing dollhouse imagery in her photographic work; Wheelright, regarded for his residential work, was the college roommate of Carroll Dunham – Simmons’ husband –and later designed the couple’s real-life apartment. Stemming from their dual fascination with interior spaces, the pair said of the impetus for the dollhouse: "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…”
As an interactive creative play environment intended for “6-year-olds and above,” the 1:12 scale modernist house invites children and adults alike to play interior designer, outfitting the house with miniature modernist furniture from lauded designers like Karim Rashid, Dakota Jackson, and Jasper Morrison, along with scaled-down artworks by Mel Bochner, Cindy Sherman, Peter Halle, Carroll Dunham, Barbara Kruger, and others. Adding sonal ambiance, a scale reproduction of a Steinway piano plays 'Gymnopedie No. 1' by Erik Satie for the house’s occupants: dolls of the artist, architect, and family – including interpretations of Simmons’ two children, Lena and Cyrus Grace Dunham. As the interchangeable exterior walls of the dollhouse slide open and overlap one another, their colors change in hue and value, providing an introductory lesson to color theory.
Through its architecture, Kaleidoscope House offers the tenets of the International Style: pleasure, transparency, and efficiency. Breaking the nostalgia of traditional dollhouse design, Kaleidoscope House embodies a modern vision of living, succeeding in both style and democratic ambitions – a new-age Barbie Dreamhouse.
