At the end of the Second World War, the United States awoke from the nightmare in a territory fortunately not devastated, with renewed technological expertise in the field of construction – previously developed specifically for the war industry – and an irrepressible desire to refound obsolete visions of culture and society through the tools of architecture and planning. The Modern Movement, which had already taken its first steps in Europe under the leadership of Le Corbusier, Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, expressed itself in California with a profoundly innovative language, especially in the field of housing. The “Case Study Houses” programme launched by John Entenza, editor of the Los Angeles magazine “Arts and Architecture”, in 1945 and active until 1966, was intended to entrust American studios with projects for prototype houses capable of offering a new, effective and economically sustainable response to post-war housing needs, free of any formalist, rhetorical and grandiloquent regurgitation inherited from the past modus operandi.
11 iconic works of Californian modernism
Under the dazzling sun of Southern California, amidst palm trees and swimming pools, the modernist houses built in the post-war years have redefined the traditional aesthetic and functional approach to living, becoming milestones of contemporary architecture.
Photo Thom Watson from CC
Photo Thom Watson from CC
Photo Lauren Manning from CC
Photo Thom Watson from CC
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- Chiara Testoni
- 18 May 2022
Living is thus stripped of the rigid formal and structural constraints of the past, in favour of constructions with a simple, functional layout, with light, punctiform structures in favour of a free plan and greater flexibility of the spaces, with pure geometries characterised by large windows, and under the banner of enthusiastic use of light and landscape as essential design elements.
Figures of the calibre of Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, John Lautner, Raphael Soriano, Craig Elwood, Pierre Koenig, Robert Skinner, Albert Frey and many others dot the urban landscape – especially in Los Angeles – with iconic works which, despite their expressive differences, convey the same identical message: a feeling of optimism and an overwhelming desire for a better future, under the banner of the “American dream”.
An undisputed icon of Californian Modernism, the house designed by Neutra as a winter residence for businessman Edgar J. Kaufmann, who had already commissioned “Fallingwater” built a decade earlier in Pennsylvania by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a poem of glass, steel and stone set in the desert. In addition to the living area in the centre, the cross-shaped layout has 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Thanks to the large windows, the domestic environment relates seamlessly with the garden outside, where the large swimming pool is located.
When Art and Architecture magazine selected Neutra for its “Case Study houses” project, the architect designed a 185-square-metre house in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles on a wooded bluff on Santa Monica Beach for a young couple looking for an affordable housing solution that could expand over time as their family and wallet grew: a simple, functional three-bedroom home enhanced by double-height living spaces and a large living room for socialising.
The Eames House, where the famous couple lived until their death, consists of two rectangular glass and steel boxes set in a hillside of eucalyptus trees, one housing the living spaces and the other the architectural studio. The functional yet joyful environment expresses the spirit of the duo, who aims to meet the needs of comfortable, made-to-measure living for both residents and guests.
Nestled in the verdant hills of the Pacific Palisades, Entenza House – designed for the editor of the magazine "Art and Architecture" – in keeping with the “Case Study Houses” programme is an economical and functional dwelling and a manifesto of modular steel technology. The metal box with its large, open-plan living room is connected to the back garden through floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that encourage an uninterrupted dialectic between interior and exterior.
Conceived for a family who originally used the property for picnics among majestic oaks and then decided to live there permanently, the house was literally designed around the trees with respect to which it is oriented and distributed: the use of warm, natural materials - from red wood to brick and concrete - gives a warm, welcoming aura to the home in which nature filters continuously through the large windows.
The 370 square metre house/studio for architectural photographer Julius Schulman in the Hollywood Hills is a series of steel and glass boxes overlooking a nature reserve and is an example of the well-established use of prefabricated and modular steel and aluminium technologies applied to high-end residential construction.
An example of architectural exploration on the theme of the practical and economically sustainable living "box", the Anderson House reconciles the values of functionality with those of domestic warmth, thanks to the palette of natural materials (stone and wood), the tactile and raw interiors and the fruitive and perceptive interaction with the garden.
Designed as a manifesto of the principles of the "Case Study Houses" programme - from the light and flexible steel and glass structure, to the free plan, to the use of low-cost technologies and materials - the L-shaped house with the swimming pool as a "pivot" is conceived as a large "panoramic box" that captures breathtaking perspectives on the bright lights of the city.
The 427 sq m house nestled in the hills of Beverly Hills, with its five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a garden with native plants and a swimming pool, a patio with outdoor bar, several barbecues and two covered garages, is conceived in a profound relationship with nature, which penetrates the building from the gardens and the generous glass surfaces.
Designed by Lautner - a student of Wright - for a couple with three children, the residence was conceived as an open cave in the hillside of Beverly Crest, with a spectacular 360 degree view of the Pacific Ocean and Los Angeles. The five-bedroom, one-living room, four-bathroom building, made entirely of concrete, steel and wood, was designed according to a gesamtkunstwerk principle that ranges from the structural envelope to the finishes and furnishings in a unified composition. The building, now owned by a foundation, has hosted numerous photo shoots and film sets over the years (from "Charlie's Angels" to "The Big Lebowski").
The Swiss architect, trained at the school of Le Corbusier, played a major role in transforming Palm Springs into the "Mecca" of Californian Modernism. Frey House II, the house Frey designed for himself, was conceived to create the least impact on the land: perched at the western end of Tahquitz Canyon Way on San Jacinto Mountain, overlooking Coachella Valley, the building with its concrete block base, simple steel structure, large glazed bays, and corrugated metal roof blends into the rocks and native vegetation with such ease that it seems an integral and irreplaceable part of the landscape.