Miniatures of houses and landmark buildings become a décor trend

Small enough to fit on the shelf, yet with presence to spare. Miniatures of houses and iconic buildings have been taking on a new place in décor – that of reproducing and translating ideas, proportion, form, and language from emblematic works of architecture. As a trend, they are appearing more and more in interiors, condensing references into creative décor pieces that are easy to incorporate into any little corner of the home. Check it out!

(Little Building Co./CASACOR)

Among the most recurring examples are the modernist houses, whose formal clarity makes it easier to translate them to a reduced scale. The Eames House, by Charles and Ray Eames, with its modular structure and distinct palette, almost resolves itself as an object. The same happens with the Farnsworth House, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the Villa Savoye, by Le Corbusier — projects that, when reduced to their essence, work almost like small three-dimensional diagrams.

Barbican Estate, de Chamberlin, Powell e Bon. (Barbican Centre/CASACOR)

If lightness predominates in modernism, brutalism finds another kind of power in miniatures. The Trellick Tower, in London, by Ernő Goldfinger, is one of the most emblematic cases: its rigid, repetitive silhouette gains even more presence when condensed into a block. The same goes for the Barbican Estate, by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, whose volumes, reorganized in scale, take on an almost abstract character.

Miniatura da Eames House, de Charles e Ray Eames. (Kettal/CASACOR)

In the end, these miniatures reveal a subtle change in the way we relate to architecture. Between memory and desire, these objects allow buildings that are geographically or symbolically distant to find a closer place, inside the home.