A model of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye in France is on display at The Corcoran.

You can see the influence of the Modernist movement in virtually every home-design store and neighborhood in Washington. Everything from coffee cups to living room furniture bears its marks of simple graphics, abstract shapes, and bold colors. Modernist architects believed that a building’s form should mirror its purpose and introduced structures of concrete, steel, and glass. It was also the first time building interiors used open plans that integrate different functions.

Through July 29, The Corcoran explores the foundation and meaning of this influential movement. “Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939” comes to Washington from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum—and The Corcoran is the only venue in the United States to host it.

Alvar Aalto's vase is an iconic piece of Finnish design.

In addition to paintings and works on paper by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Pablo Picasso, visitors can browse ideas and designs by such icons of architecture as Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Richard Neutra, and Frank Lloyd Wright. There are also displays of furniture—you’ll get a glimpse of the famous “Wassily” chair and the curvaceous Aalto vase—cars, paintings, and architectural models.

Admission is $14; $10 for students. Hours this weekend are Saturday 10 to 5 and Sunday 10 to 6.

The Corcoran | 500 17th Street, NW | 202-639-1700

Slim pickings on Craigslist today, but I did find this four-panel, painted room divider for $100. Those of us with small apartments sometimes need to make one room serve two purposes—this could be the answer. And the elaborate design would give a studio apartment a stamp of originality.

More finds:

• Wrought-iron and glass dining table with four chairs for $300
• Two-piece, painted cupboard for $500
• Floor lamp for $200
• Stained hardwood park bench for $55 
• King-size sleigh bed for $600
• Cherry bookcase for $200


Thanks, Craigslist!

Run by Mid-Atlantic real-estate firm Corus Home Realty, Realtyinstitute.com offers a wealth of information about Washington-area neighborhoods and real estate.

The site produces hundreds of neighborhood reports organized by Zip code. Each serves up interactive maps, sales-price data, and demographic information such as median household income and population. For-sale listings are broken down by type—condo, townhouse, or detached single-family home—and price. Reports include links to articles about the neighborhood and the chance to talk with a “neighborhood specialist,” a local resident who’s volunteered to chat with potential buyers.

Another useful feature is the “Realty Institute Index,” a rating of the real-estate market for each Zip code. Taking into account the previous month’s sales activity, the index rates the market conditions of neighborhoods from cold to hot.

Here’s this week’s roundup of the ten most expensive sales in the region, as reported by American City Business Leads. Park Potomac Place is on a run—this is the third consecutive week that a condo in the new luxury apartment building in Potomac has made the top ten.  The box score this week:

Maryland: 5
Virginia: 3
DC: 2

$4,640,000—8225 Wolf Run Shoals Road, Clifton
$2,850,000—3502 Cummings Lane, Chevy Chase
$2,760,390—16188 Shilohs Run Lane, Purcellville
$2,700,000—3418 Newark Street, NW, Cleveland Park
$2,518,964—11801 Woodthrush Lane, Potomac
$2,404,450—4421 Lowell Street, NW, Wesley Heights
$2,275,000—7509 Radnor Road, Bethesda
$2,200,000—966 Bellview Road, McLean
$2,050,000—7726 Bradley Boulevard, Bethesda
$2,013,200—12500 Park Potomac Avenue, No. 907,  Potomac

More fun numbers:
1: Number of sales that broke $4 million
10: Number of sales that broke $2 million
60: Number of sales that broke $1 million
129: Number of sales that broke $800,000

In December 1960, Jacqueline Kennedy graced a Sports Illustrated cover clad in a cotton dress by Finnish design company Marimekko. For the next two decades, Marimekko’s colorful, brash prints were a staple in the closets and homes of Americans.

On Wednesday, Marimekko returns with a splash. Chevy Chase native Marni Frankel is opening a 4,000-square-foot store in downtown Silver Spring. In addition to clothing, the store will stock home accessories like bath mats, shower curtains, towels, coffee cups, and duvet covers in its signature patterns of oversized dots, floppy florals, and bold stripes. It will also carry reams of fabric in everything from sateen to linen. An onsite workroom will upholster furniture and create custom window treatments and bedding.
 
Manager Scott Vignola says the store plans to offer interior-design classes and host seminars with the Finnish designers behind Marrimekko’s iconic prints and patterns.

Marimekko | 8519 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring | 800-656-3587

Although George Washington University president Stephen Trachtenberg is retiring July 31, he is staying in Washington.

Trachtenberg, who’s been GW president since 1988, and his wife, Francine, bought this four-bedroom, five-bath contemporary in Kalorama for $2.4 million. The house has a rooftop terrace with monument views and an elevator.

Willow's Tracy O'Grady prepares samples in a Washington Design Center showroom.

Last night at the 8th annual Capital Cooks! event, 12 chefs—including former White House executive chef Walter Scheib—took over the Washington Design Center’s Kitchen, Bath, and Building Products showrooms in the name of charity. All proceeds went to DC Habitat for Humanity.

I dropped by the party to see what’s new at the Design Center and, of course, to sample the food. Here are a few highlights and pictures.

The Showrooms: As patrons waited in long, winding lines to sample food, they took in the latest designs in cabinetry, appliances, fixtures, marble, tile, and ceramics. Italian kitchen designer Studio Snaidero sparked lots of conversation about its colorful, modern displays. People also lingered in the showroom of Rutt Custom Cabinetry, whose beautiful woods inspired comments like, “Wouldn’t you just love to cook dinner in this kitchen every day?” Foremost Appliances featured seemingly endless rows of cutting-edge wall ovens, ranges, refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers from high-end brands like Wolf, Sub-Zero, and Viking.

A modern, colorful kitchen by Studio Snaidero.

The Design House: The Spring 2007 Design House also was open—and packed. Eight interior designers are featured in this year’s “house,” with rooms decorated in themes of an oceanfront summer retreat. My favorite was Kelley Proxmire’s elegant master bedroom. Decorated in predominantly black and white, the room felt sophisticated but still livable—a trait many of the others lacked.

The Food: My favorites were Walter Scheib’s soup with grilled shrimp and red-curried sweet potato, Citronelle’s chilled eggplant gazpacho, and Willow’s fried crab spring roll with avocado and cilantro puree.

More pictures below.