EAMES HOUSE CASE STUDY #8 : A PRECEDENT STUDY LAUREN MARTIN TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. TITLE PAGE 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3. WHO? 4. WHERE & WHY? 5. DESIGN 6. PROPERTY DETAILS & SPECS 7.PLANS & SECTIONS 8. ELEVATIONS 9. PROGRAM 10. EXPERIENCE 11. SUSTAINABILITY 12. BIBLOGRAPHY WHO? C “EVENUTALLY, EVERYTHING CONNECTS” The Eameses are best known for their H - groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial A design and manufacturing, and the photographic arts. R “THE ARCHITECT & THE PAINTER” L

Charles Eames was born in 1907, in St. Louis Missouri. He attended school there, developing an interest in engineering and architecture. By 1930 he E had opened his own architectural office. Later, he became the head of the design department at Cranbrook Academy. was born in 1912 in Sacramento, California. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted S Charles and in preparing designs for the MOMA’s Organic Furniture Competition. Married in 1941, they continued furniture design and later architectural design. & R A Y WHERE? WHY? In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Located in the Pacific Palisades area Their design and innovative use of materials made the house a mecca for architects and designers from both near and far. Today, it is of , California. The Eames considered one of the most important post-war residences anywhere in House is composed of a residence and the world. THE SKETCH OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGN studio overlooking the Pacific Ocean. FOR CASE STUDY HOUSE #8

The idea of a Case Study house was to hypothesize a modern household, elaborate its functional requirements, have an esteemed architect develop a design that met those requirements using modern materials and construction processes, and then to actually build the home. Modular in its design, the house is composed of 20’ x 7’ 4” bays that rise to a height of 17 feet. DESIGN Each bay is defined by a steel frame consisting of two rows of 4-inch H-columns set 20 feet apart, with a 12-inch open-web joist forming the top member. On the rear (west) elevation, the vertical member of each frame is partially embedded in an 8-foot high poured concrete retaining wall at the base of the slope Composed of two distinct volumes, a living component (or that forms the lower part of the west elevation in both components. Steel decking residence) and a working component (or studio). The two running perpendicular to the frames forms the underside of the flatroof. volumes are arranged in a linear configurationand separat- ed by an open court. Both volumes are rectangular in plan with horizontal massing, and are situated along the western edge of the property.

The roof is a gravel surfaced, built-up assembly. The 20-foot wide dimen- The residence is 1,500 square feet, with sion of the frames define the width of both the residence and studio. The residence consists of eight bays, and the studio is five bays wide. The open the studio court that separates the two structures is the equivalent off our bays in containing an additional 1,000 square feet. width. The ex- posed steel frames are painted black, to delineate each bay and the shared structural rhythm of the two components. PROPERTY DETAILS & SPECS Materials: Below is an exploded axonometric drawing Foundation- Concrete. dispalying the structural system of the . Walls- Glass, stucco, woods, asbestos, metals, & The pre-frabricated materials allowed for an extremley synthetics. orderly and gridded process of design and construction. Roof- Asphalt. Other: Metal (steel frame)

Structural Systems: Eames saw the many beneifits of a mod- ular system, including symmetry, inherent strength, the absence of waster and the speed of construction.

Diagonal cross-bracing, composed of metal cables visible on the exterior, provides structural stability for the frames. PLANS & SECTIONS

First Floor Plan Above are section cuts of the Eames House. You can see an overview section of the entire property, showing both residential and studio spaces. There is a more detailed section cut showing the spiral staircase and kitchen area, which also displays material intergrity and detail.

Second Floor/ Upper Level Plan E L EAST & WEST ELEVATIONS E V A T I O N S NORTH & SOUTH ELEVATIONS PROGRAM

The two main spaces of the house are the residential bay and the studio bay, seperated by an outdoor space, that is continued living space.

View from the loft/upper living room of the residential bay.

The house was designed as a residential space for . They created and designed this house based on functions for their use.

Both residential and studio bays are open concept living areas, with continious open spaces. The rooms are on a mezzanine that opens into the living room, beneath which is the library.

On this floor are you will find the the living room, kitchen, studio and warehouse; while The studio is on the ground on the upper floors are the bedrooms and floor independent of the bathroom.The plant is connected to the rest volume devoted to housing, of the house by stairs and balconies that but at the same time allows the height of the double rooms. interconnected through the roof. EXPERIENCE The interior is extremley open, with one space flowing easily into the next. There are two stories, the lower level provides the utilitarian spaces, kitchen/living/etc. The most obvious of the aesthetic features of the The house has exposed steel frames, Eames House is the Mondrian inspired exterior, painted in black, which delinates each which is shown by the use of a combination of bay and the shared structural rhythm of transperent and translucent glass. the two components.

There is a spiral staircase, connected with similiar materials to that of the exterior. (Steel and metal pipes.) The interior space carries over the same usage of material. Experience

The second floor/loft overlooks the double-height living space in the southern portion of the residence.

The private spaces are located on the second floor.There are two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second level, with a sky light above the staircase. Other materials feautured in the There are two outdoor patios. Both Each bay of the house is in-filled exterior of the house are, brick wood, function as extended outdoor rooms with materials such as, panels of and marble paving. one, between the residence and studio, plaster, plywood, asbestos, glass, the is situated beneath the overhang at and a pylon. the southern end of the residence. There Studio Space is a continuation of the metal roof, and rear wood paneled wall from interior to exterior, creating spatial and material continuity. Responding to the site, Charles and Ray had SUSTAINABILITY “fallen in love with the meadow,” in Ray’s words, and felt that the site required a different solution then what they had originally designed.

Charles and Ray then set themselves a new problem...How to build a house that would: 1) Not destroy the meadow 2) “Maximize volume from minimal materials”.

The Solution? Using the same off-the-shelf parts, but notably ordering one extra steel beam, Charles and Ray re-configured the House. The new design integrated the house into the landscape, rather than imposing the house on it. BIBLIOGRAPHY - Archdaily.com

- Eames Foundation

- Google images

- National historic Landmark Nomtnation form

-http://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ca/Eames.pdf -“Case Study House [#8]: A House Designed and Built for the Magazine Arts & Architecture.” Arts & Architecture (July 1950): 26-39. -Eamesoffice.com; http://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/eames-house- case-study-house-8/

-Eames Blog spot; http://w3eames.blogspot.ca/search/label/The%20Eames