It seems likely that Saarinen’s influence was responsible for this more architectural form of design, distinguishing the collaborative effort from Eames’ independent work on his own home next door.Įntenza lived in his Case Study home for only five years after its completion in 1949. Most of the framework is hidden, with the effect that attention is focused on space and views instead of the building itself. In subtle contrast, the Entenza House makes almost no overt reference to its structural system. From within the living room, one could see the Pacific Ocean framed by the narrow mullions of the windows and, further away, the trees dotting the backyard. The entire rear facade was glazed, connecting the interior space of the living room to the expansive backyard patio. The living room, already a full 36 feet wide, was made to feel even larger by the installation of floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors along the length of the rear wall. This ability to entertain varying numbers of guests was a primary driver behind the design of the house, thanks to the particular professional requirements of Entenza’s journalistic career. A large fireplace divides the room into both a wide, uninterrupted space and a more intimate one, providing accommodation for groups of either size. Almost half the house is given over to it, the intention being to create a versatile public gathering space which could host either a party of almost forty people, or a gathering of only half a dozen. The dominant feature of the Entenza House is its vast, open-plan living room. Only four of the steel columns are exposed within the house, while the rest are hidden within the walls. The roof above the house is a simple concrete slab, finished with birch strips covering the soffits. This structural system allowed the Entenza House to enclose as much space as possible within a minimal frame. Each house’s frame was composed of the same structural elements: four-inch H-columns supporting twelve-inch open web joists. Eames would design a house not only for Entenza, but for his own family as well this house, Case Study House #8, would be sited on the same 1½ acre lot as Entenza’s #9. His project was taken on by industrial designer Charles Eames and architect Eero Saarinen, a pair that had already worked collaboratively for years. One of the houses built under the program was to be used by Entenza himself. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10) (1950) / Julius Shulman Photography Archive. 60 color and 100 b&w illustrations.Save this picture! Case Study House No. Among Saarinen's associates, the author suggests, including such names as Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, and Gunnar Birkerts, Saarinen became""something of a prophetic figure for the way his buildings evolved from an expanding, project-based vocabulary rather than from some modern functionalist ideal."" Posthumously granted the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1962, Saarinen was a master who well deserves a tribute such as this. Saarinen believed his buildings should seek to physically express their intended uses:""Conveying significant meaning is part of the inspirational purpose of architecture and, therefore, for me, it is a fundamental principle of our art,"" he once wrote. As Roman's late colleague Ignasi de Sola-Morales writes in the foreword, Roman seeks to""explore the architectural mechanisms by which an architect can produce a valuable body of work, despite its apparent lack of unity."" Through copious photographs, diagrams and well-turned writing, Roman paints Saarinen as a poster child for a pluralistic architectural practice, and extols his holistic, if sometimes mercurial, attitude regarding the built environment in general. His work, according to Roman, offers an interesting case study precisely for its lack of focus. Although never distinguishing himself with a signature style, Saarinen executed some of our most memorable mid-century commissions: Dulles Airport, the TWA Terminal at JFK and the Gateway Arch in St. Underappreciated second-generation modernist architect Eero Saarinen (son of the celebrated Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen) takes his star turn in this well-illustrated, large format career retrospective, with intelligent, fluid commentary by architect-historian Roman.
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