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Eamesprecedent Case Study #8 House Kristen Flores + Caterina V. Garcia Table of Contents 3 Background 4 Ray + Charles 5 Social + Historical Context 6 Location 7 Site + Context 8 Materials 9 Spatial Relationships 10 Program 11 Design + Aesthetics 12 Technical Drawings 13 Long Elevations 14 Short Elevations 15 Floor Plans 16 Sustainability 17 References Background Case Study #8: Eames House Built: 1949, Pacific Palisades Designers: Ray + Charles Eames 1950 1949 Case Study #9: Entenza House Built: 1950, Pacific Palisades Designers: Charles Eames + Eero Saarinen The Case Study Program (1945-1966) commissioned popular architects to build inexpensive and efficient homes for the post-World War II housing boom. It was designed to accommodate the large numbers of soldiers who were returning home from the war and did not have financial capital to purchase homes and was sponsored by the Arts & Architecture Magazine. Thirty-six houses were designed, but not all were built. Most of the homes that were built are located in Los Angeles. 3 Ray + Charles Charles and Ray Kaiser met while they were studying architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. They married in 1941, after Charles’ divorce from his first wife, Catherine. Besides their integral roles in the world of architecture, the Eameses were also influential in the worlds of furniture design, graphic design, fine art, and film. Together they received many distinctions such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) “Twenty-Five Year Award” in 1977, the Royal Gold Medal in 1979, and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) “Most Influential Designer of the 20th Century” in 1985. In 1949, Charles and Ray, a husband and wife team, designed and built their home as part of the Case Study House Program. This house became very popular and well known due to their design and innovative use of materials throughout the home. The home was designed to express a man’s life in the modern world. It is considered one of the most important post-war residences. The Eameses’ goal was to bring American modernism to the rest of the world. Their furniture, toys, buildings, films, exhibitions, and books were all aimed at improving the lives of average people. Charles and Ray Eames were communicators and educators, always looking for inventive ways to share their ideas with broader audiences. In 1945, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen designed the first plan of the home, which was known as the Bridge House. Charles and Ray were finally able to move into their house on Christmas Eve of 1949. 4 Social + Historical Context Ray and Charles Eames Design was formulated in The home was designed created a home that would order to preserve the trees to be economical to be functional + affordable for that were naturally found on build, while also using many people. The homes were the site, i.e. Eucalyptus trees. affordable materials because designed to use materials The home was designed to many soldiers returning that were readily available, integrate the foliage that was home from World War II and could be ordered from native to the site, so the trees might be using this design a catalog. Despite the envelop the home. When in order to accommodate affordability of the home, they first started designing, themselves and their families. they were able to enhance they used the method of The privacy of these families the design of the house by placement on the site, they was also taken into account, including many glass panels later modified that design so the Eameses decided which allowed the people to integrate the structure to incorporate solid panels living within the house to be with the site and nature, which blocked the view of more highly integrated with including a meadow that the outsiders to the interior spaces nature and the natural world. designers fell in love with. they deemed necessary. 5 Location The home is located on a 1.4 acre lot in the Pacific Palisades along the Pacific Coast between Santa Monica and Malibu on a lower plateau on the northern edge of the Santa Monica Canyon. Three-acre site on top of a 150- foot cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The north side of the lot slopes up to a wooded bluff; in the middle is a grassy meadow. Charles and Ray “fell in love with the meadow” on the site and wanted to integrate the home with the landscape. Because of the geographical area the home was in, they did not want to give up the beauty of the landscape in order to build their home. 6 The site is a flat parcel on Ray and Charles came up otherwise steep land that with various schemes in creates a retaining wall to order to allow lighting into the west. The response to certain spaces at certain the flat plot of land was a times of the day through concrete retaining wall that color, transparency, and ties together the two boxes placement of the wall panels. separated by a courtyard The main steel frame itself that make up the parti of the is purposefully thin in order residence. The two boxes to give the impression of serve two different functions. uninterrupted space going One is for the residence itself from the exterior into the and the other is a studio. interior. Contrast to the cold Both provide double-height spaces at the corners and steel framing that forms the outer ends of both programs. structure, the interior of the This allows for a composition house is warm and comforting that breaks the space up with its wood-block floor and rhythmically, and is read on the soft light penetrating into the exterior of the house with each room through each the exterior courtyard serving day. The Eames House as a double-height space is a beautiful continuation in between both boxes. The of space. The rooms are use of natural materials SITE + Context liberating, flowing into one on the interior bring the another even between residence closer to nature, floors through the double- giving the appearance of the height spaces. Private and house resting softly on the public spaces are not strictly earth. The colors of the solid divided. For example, the exterior panels correspond bedroom on the upper level to the interior functions overlooks the public living that are taking place. The room with a short terrace house is screened by a row that connects the rooms. of eucalyptus trees that run There are no major divisions parallel to the main façade other than the separation of the studio and residence. of the two boxes, which still From that line of trees, the property then slopes merge into one another with downward to the meadow and the courtyard. Large open is left at its natural state and spaces in the interior spaces with all of these thoughtful are purposefully open to landscape features they were not force a certain use into able to contribute to the overall each space but rather them feel of the Eames House. all be multi purpose spaces. 7 MATERIALS The roof is covered in a gravel material which integrates the natural environment which surrounds the home, and a steel decking forms the underside of the roof, which is flat, and runs perpendicular to the frames. Each bay within the home is also infilled with materials, such as plaster, plywood, asbestos, glass, and pylon. There was a mixture of transparent and translucent glass used throughout the home, while the area in the studio used reinforced glass. Many of the glass areas throughout the home create the exterior walls of the home, allowing for a great amount of transparency and filtration of natural light. The house uses materials and techniques that resulted from the experiences and material shortages caused by the Second World War. It was designed to use pre-fabricated materials that could be ordered from catalogs which emphasizes the idea of mass-production. The main materials are concrete (for the foundation); glass, stucco, wood, asbestos, metal, and synthetics (for the walls); asphalt (for the roof); and metal through the use of a steel frame. The northernmost boundary of the home has a drive edged with a winding brick wall with mortar, designed by Richard Neutra. 8 RELATIONSHIPS SPATIAL The house is divided into two rectangular sections which create a residential area and as well as a studio area. The house was designed for a married couple that made up of two graphic artists, whose children no longer lived at home. The two separate buildings help to keep the living space and the working space separate, but conveniently closely located. The house highly integrates the natural landscape which surrounds it, an aspect that was closely measured by the designers. The materials within the home serve to emphasize the landscape, through the use of wood, a natural element; and glass, an element which allows for extreme transparency, the house almost becomes one with the natural landscape. The walls that face the rear of the house are solid, which allows for a greater amount of privacy within the home. The two separate areas of the home are connected with the use of a courtyard and the interior of the home also connects these two seemingly separate spaces through the use of double height ceilings, which allow for a greater transparency and interconnection. 9 The program outlined specific objectives which included the integration of outdoor and indoor living spaces, the application of the techniques of mass production to integrate into the process of home building, creating a unique design for a home by using prefabricated, standard, and off-the-shelf parts, promoting Modernism through simple form, and trying to avoid referencing any historical styles.

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