CASE STUDY: SUSPENDED HOUSE ARCHITECT: PAUL NELSON PROJECT LOCATION: UNBUILT PROJECT DATE: DESIGNED 1936-1938 PROJECT SIZE: MODEL- 14 x 36.5 x 28.5”; PROJECTED SIZE IF BUILT- 31 x 77 x 60’ GROUND LEVEL PLAN BALCONY LEVEL PLAN UPPER LEVEL PLAN ELEVATION 1 ELEVATION 2 SECTION SKETCH: ELEVATION STUDY SKETCH: GROUND LEVEL STUDY SKETCH: BALCONY LEVEL STUDY SKETCH: UPPER LEVEL STUDY EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 1: MODEL 1 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 2: MODEL 1 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 3: MODEL 2 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 4: MODEL 2 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 5: MODEL 1 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 6: MODEL 1 EXTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 7: MODEL 1 INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 1: MODEL 1 INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPH 2: MODEL 1 Paul Nelson -Born in 1895 in Chicago and died in 1979 in Marseilles -Briefly studied at Princeton University before serving the U.S. Air force as an aviator in World War I -Moved to Paris in 1920 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts -Most famous work: Suspended House -Eventually became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Ecole d’Art et d’Architecture in Marseille -designed many hospitals -also spent time designing film sets and painting -much of his work has been overshadowed by the events and architects of the 20th century(ex: war; Le Corbusier) -took part in the functionalism movement that preferred technological expression -also took a major part in initiating the exchange of ideas between Europe and the United States, the two places he identified himself with Maison Suspendue -Nelson’s version of Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet’s Maison de Verre in Paris • his version is geared more towards being affordable for the middle-class -main inspiration: Buckminster Fuller’s 4D house -achievement of a “new, fluid concept of space” -metal lattice surrounds the interior space • openings can be filled with opaque or translucent panels -the interior spaces are linked by ramps -attached box on ground floor provides a terrace on the exterior and a mezzanine on the interior -was a theoretical study for Nelson -model was built by Pierre Dalbet out of metal and wood -Nelson’s artist friends decorated the house with scaled works of art such as paintings and sculptures • broken beyond repair on Nelson’s way back to France after exhibiting the model in San Francisco • another model was built under the collaboration of Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, and Fernand Leger (the artists who decorated the scaled model) -there is little precedent for this work -combination of all that Nelson was interested in: cinematographic space, surrealism, open structure, and functionalist expressionism Sources Nelson, Paul. La Maison Suspendue. Paris: Éditions Albert Morancé, 1939. Riley, Terence. The Filter of Reason: Work of Paul Nelson. New York: Rizzoli, 1990. .