A ‘Fortuitous’ Imagination. Josef Frank. Thirteen Fantasy Houses for Dagmar Grill

Abstract

Between 22 July and 15 August 1947 Josef Frank wrote thirteen letters to Dagmar Grill, cousin of his wife, met in 1914 in Stockholm. The letters contain several hypothesis for an ideal house to be built in Skargarden, an archipelago to the east of Stockholm, where Dagmar Grill lived. Every letter contains sketches and schemes for an imaginary house. The thirteen projects refer to identical functional needs, but differ each other in shape and size. Although they are “fantasy” houses, the sketches refer to a real imaginative exercise rather than to a simple figurative/compositional exercise.