ABSTRACT
Kocher and Frey's Aluminaire House was built for exhibition in New York in 1931. A.Lawrence Kocher was the managingeditor of The Architectural Recordand the facilitator. Albert Frey, a Swiss who had arrived in America only the previous yearhaving recently been working for Le Corbusier, was the designer. And the Aluminaire House was novel, innovative andwidely broadcast. Framed with aluminium pipe columns, decked with steel and clad in profiled aluminium sheeting, itpromoted a lightweight, prefabricated construction process which allowed for flexibility and multiple application. As a housetype the Aluminaire House drew heavily upon Corbusian precedents, evoking the Maisons Citrohan and the Esprit NouveauPavilion in its section, and the Maison Cook in its plan. Since its first building, the Aluminaire House has been relocated threetimes and is currently framedup but awaiting completion on the campus of the New York Institute of Technology at CentralIslip, Long Island. This last move was funded by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation:this shows an awareness of the Aluminaire House's importance and a recognition that Modern Movement architecture hasassumed the age and status of historic building.
