Ten years later commissioned to Franck Lloyd Wright the later became iconic Water Falling House at Bear Run, Edgar Kaufmann needed to find an architect to design his new house located in a arid lot near Palm Springs. For his new house, Kaufmann, decided for the lighter style of Richard Neutra; more suitable for the frivolous Palm Springs.
Since the roaring twenties Palm Springs, located at the foot of Mount San Jacinto, became an attractive getaway for Hollywood types and at the same time a desert retreat for those who wanted, and could afford, to escape from cold winters. The Kaufmann villa became the most important example of Palm Springs Modernism. Neutra described the villa as a shiny aircraft that just landed on a 'moonscape'.
The wild desert area surrounding Palm Springs intrigued Neutra. He wanted to bring back the spirit of the flat-roofed with mudbrick boulders houses from the early inhabitants of the nearby 'desert states' New Mexico and Arizona. In a way Neutra brought a polished version of those houses that responded to the punishing climate.
Being aware of inevitable comparisons with the Wright Falling Water House, Richard Neutra highlighted the difference between his and Wright's approach to architecture stating that his designs were "inserted" in to the landscape and "not grown" there. He liked to create the juxtaposition between the building and the surroundings to underscore "the weather, the silver-white moonlight, and the starry sky."
Differently from the Lovell House, the Richard Neutra Kaufmann House volumes expand into the site. The space is divided by shiny horizontal planes sliding above transparent glass. The only vertical element is the rooftop space -that Neutra Called "Gloriette"- flanked by a chimney. Neutra get rid of the gloriette walls replacing them with vertical aluminium louvers that acted as wind shield. The only fixed element included was the fireplace.
In the original drawing of the pinwheel floor-plan Neutra alternated by using loose curves to percolate the landscaping through the straight design, and, in contrast, taut parallel lines drawn on the diagonal represented the high winds and sand storms so common at the northern end of Palm Springs. It animates the drawing, but in reality it turned out that the northwest winds blasts whatever they could carry in the house (even today, despite later attempts to solve this problem). Also the use of much unprotected glass on the south side made it impossible to use the house twelve months a year. But this all was not a problem for Kaufmann, since he only wanted to stay in the villa in January to escape from the cold in Pittsburgh.
The house plan has the living area as hub and the pinwheel provides that the four arms of one-volume rooms get enough daylight and ventilation. At the end of each arm there are bedrooms -for the hosts, servants, children and guests- providing privacy but also revealing a specific social order. The dwellers could only gather along the shaded walkways, common inside areas or outdoor spaces.
Not only Neutra provided the Kaufmanns and their guests with inner comfort and privacy but also with a comfortable outdoor space. As an example, the louvers flanking the lily pond created a cooled patio protected by sand storms. The radiant heat -placed in the low seating wall- accompanied the hosts an their guests from the house to the pool guaranteeing warmness during a pool party on a chilly January night; the only month the Kaufmann lived in the house.
To enhance the designs famous floating quality, the structural system combines wood and steel in such a way that the number of requisite vertical supports (which are slender in any case) are minimized. This is most emphatic in the southeast living room, whose glass-and-steel walls slide away while the roof and the beam supporting the sliders stretch out, spatially linking the house and the pool. This "outrigger" detail became his best-known trademark: the spider leg, the umbilical cord fusing the landscape and the building.
A second strata of contrast is manifest in the materials: the light-colored, dry-set (mortared from behind) "Utah buff" stone Neutra used indoors and out creates a rich chiaroscuro effect, complementing the smoothness of the other finishes. However, even the stonework is carefully chiseled, both in the original -for which Neutra trained the masons who had worked on Falling Water, whom Kaufmann had flown in- and in the five-year restoration by the new owners in the mid-1990s.
One lively detail occurs at the southern gutters. At their eastern end, the fascias suddenly become much narrower just before they terminate, allowing any overflow rainwater to flow east beyond the building before it falls on rocks below; a feature seen in both japanese gardens and medieval cathedrals. Banal gutters become Modernist gargoyles adept at romance. This indeed is a celebration of falling water a long way from Bear Run.
Since the roaring twenties Palm Springs, located at the foot of Mount San Jacinto, became an attractive getaway for Hollywood types and at the same time a desert retreat for those who wanted, and could afford, to escape from cold winters. The Kaufmann villa became the most important example of Palm Springs Modernism. Neutra described the villa as a shiny aircraft that just landed on a 'moonscape'.
The wild desert area surrounding Palm Springs intrigued Neutra. He wanted to bring back the spirit of the flat-roofed with mudbrick boulders houses from the early inhabitants of the nearby 'desert states' New Mexico and Arizona. In a way Neutra brought a polished version of those houses that responded to the punishing climate.
Being aware of inevitable comparisons with the Wright Falling Water House, Richard Neutra highlighted the difference between his and Wright's approach to architecture stating that his designs were "inserted" in to the landscape and "not grown" there. He liked to create the juxtaposition between the building and the surroundings to underscore "the weather, the silver-white moonlight, and the starry sky."
Differently from the Lovell House, the Richard Neutra Kaufmann House volumes expand into the site. The space is divided by shiny horizontal planes sliding above transparent glass. The only vertical element is the rooftop space -that Neutra Called "Gloriette"- flanked by a chimney. Neutra get rid of the gloriette walls replacing them with vertical aluminium louvers that acted as wind shield. The only fixed element included was the fireplace.
In the original drawing of the pinwheel floor-plan Neutra alternated by using loose curves to percolate the landscaping through the straight design, and, in contrast, taut parallel lines drawn on the diagonal represented the high winds and sand storms so common at the northern end of Palm Springs. It animates the drawing, but in reality it turned out that the northwest winds blasts whatever they could carry in the house (even today, despite later attempts to solve this problem). Also the use of much unprotected glass on the south side made it impossible to use the house twelve months a year. But this all was not a problem for Kaufmann, since he only wanted to stay in the villa in January to escape from the cold in Pittsburgh.
The house plan has the living area as hub and the pinwheel provides that the four arms of one-volume rooms get enough daylight and ventilation. At the end of each arm there are bedrooms -for the hosts, servants, children and guests- providing privacy but also revealing a specific social order. The dwellers could only gather along the shaded walkways, common inside areas or outdoor spaces.
Not only Neutra provided the Kaufmanns and their guests with inner comfort and privacy but also with a comfortable outdoor space. As an example, the louvers flanking the lily pond created a cooled patio protected by sand storms. The radiant heat -placed in the low seating wall- accompanied the hosts an their guests from the house to the pool guaranteeing warmness during a pool party on a chilly January night; the only month the Kaufmann lived in the house.
To enhance the designs famous floating quality, the structural system combines wood and steel in such a way that the number of requisite vertical supports (which are slender in any case) are minimized. This is most emphatic in the southeast living room, whose glass-and-steel walls slide away while the roof and the beam supporting the sliders stretch out, spatially linking the house and the pool. This "outrigger" detail became his best-known trademark: the spider leg, the umbilical cord fusing the landscape and the building.
A second strata of contrast is manifest in the materials: the light-colored, dry-set (mortared from behind) "Utah buff" stone Neutra used indoors and out creates a rich chiaroscuro effect, complementing the smoothness of the other finishes. However, even the stonework is carefully chiseled, both in the original -for which Neutra trained the masons who had worked on Falling Water, whom Kaufmann had flown in- and in the five-year restoration by the new owners in the mid-1990s.
One lively detail occurs at the southern gutters. At their eastern end, the fascias suddenly become much narrower just before they terminate, allowing any overflow rainwater to flow east beyond the building before it falls on rocks below; a feature seen in both japanese gardens and medieval cathedrals. Banal gutters become Modernist gargoyles adept at romance. This indeed is a celebration of falling water a long way from Bear Run.
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The Maison Carre is an amazing example of mid century modern architecture, to see and read more about it check the best place online to learn about mid century modern architecture !
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