Mak Center Celebrates Mackey Apartments' Re-opening

Mak Center Celebrates Mackey Apartments Re-opening
The MAK Center for Art and Architecture represents a unique venture, bonding the art and design communities of Los Angeles and Austria in a continual process of exchange and reinvigoration.

In addition to exhibitions, events and publications centered at the Schindler House in West Hollywood, the MAK Center Artists and Architects in Residence program has been a key component of the MAK initiative.

R. M. Schindler's 1939 Pearl M. Mackey Apartments, purchased by the Republic of Austria in 1995, have been "home" to the residency program for more than a decade.

Because the apartments were put into use almost immediately, the Mackey renovation has been rolled-out in phases, with Phases 3 and 4 finally reaching completion this year.

Located on a flat lot in a residential, Mid-Los Angeles neighborhood, the originally four-unit (since converted to five) apartment building is one of a series of residential projects Schindler built in the 1930s.

Unlike international-style architects, Schindler seldom designed identical apartment units; his apartments are as complex, individual and innovative as his houses.

The Mackey possesses typical Schindler characteristics: compact apartment layout, exceptional incorporation of natural light, built-in furniture, variable ceiling heights and private outdoor gardens or mini-balconies.