How do you make a more livable space by current standards, while simultaneously respecting the architect's design intent original? It's a tricky business, but that was recently carried out by a couple of architects in Southern California. Originally published by AIArchitect as "Pacific Coast Sun Rises on Modernist house restorations," this paper examines thoughtful restorations of three houses designed by modernists Rudolph Schindler pioneers, John Lautner, and Charles and Ray Eames .
first modernist pioneers "of Los Angeles are there to oversee the restoration of the houses they designed there more than half a -century but their flagship projects are providing a new generation of designers of historical case studies of modernist preservation that grow more and more important every day. Vintage architectural renderings and drawings, photos and notes are all ingredients of these architects use to summon the spirits of Rudolph Schindler, John Lautner, and Charles and Ray Eames, to name a few, bringing their first California modernism works to life.
Sewer Rudolph Schindler in Inglewood
"We channeled Rudolph Schindler, asking what he would do today ' hui, "says Steve Ehrlich, FAIA, founding director of Ehrlich Architects , about his approach to the adaptive reuse of house in Inglewood, Calif., about four miles Los Angeles International 1938 Schindler designed Airport.
empty for two years, the two bedroom, 981 square feet was in bad shape when Ehrlich bought the house in 09 and restored be bought by his daughter and his family the following year. "the building has no landmark protection status. It could have been reversed in a second, "says Ehrlich.
A box of single storey flat roof with large glass panels, the house has been redesigned for today with a more open floor plan that connects the kitchen in the living room, a modern energy efficient lighting, new insulation, tempered glass, a new HVAC unit on the roof, a new kitchen and a new bathroom. metal plugs that had been added over the years for outdoor stucco walls to protect from the rain were replaced by invisible waterproofing membranes, roof wall recapture crisp lines Schindler.
At the same time, the finish cabinets included conservation measures in its original color, to replace badly damaged flooring with exactly the same width and wood species oak as the original, preserving the wooden window and door frames, and replicating the original baseboards. Brick and plaster meticulously restored original fireplace serves once again that the natural focal point of the living room.
"We could have restored like the way it was built in 1938, or we could adapt it to the needs of a family today," said Ehrlich. "We chose the latter."
The plaster façade house on one level has a neighbor Schindler designed to corresponding side. While Ehrlich did not restore this house Schindler- built, he ripped unsustainable lawn between two houses and installed zeroscape landscaping.
"A common meeting space at the front of the house back to some of the first ideas Schindler, he developed about community life in his Schindler House in West Hollywood , "says Ehrlich. "I think Kings Road is the" big bang "of modern architecture. I looked at the work of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra around that period of 1920-1922, and if you watch Kings Road House, I think you'll see that it was a turning point because it is so original, so magnificent in every way. His connection to the outside panels of concrete tilt-up, wooden windows and doors, [and] sleeping porches were all way ahead of their time. Schindler was never properly recognized until after his death. "
Ehrlich honors Kings Road, in the backyard of the house, where he designed a galvanized steel lattice inspired by Sleeping porches Schindler 1922 Kings Road Director -d'oeuvre.
Bring the Chemosphere better than new
"Are you interested in restoring the Chemosphere ? "German publisher Benedikt Taschen asked Frank Escher as they drove through the Hollywood hills in 1988.
lurch along Mulholland Drive at the top of the Santa Monica Mountains, they approached one of the best known works of the world mid-century architecture of concrete, wood and glass octagonal house perched atop a column of 29 feet high like a UFO on a stick.
Escher, director of the foundation Escher Gunewardena architecture , was driving with his Taschen day offers nearly $ 1 million to buy John Lautner iconic Chemosphere was accepted. Escher had worked with Lautner on the book John Lautner, Architect , published just before the death of Lautner in 1994. Escher also kept Lautner archive before they are delivered to the Getty Research Institute .
"When we got home, I started to point to things," recalled Escher. "The house had several owners, and they all had done unspeakable things. He was in a very sorry state. It looked a little like a run-down motel room. I have to give Benedikt Taschen an enormous amount of credit for see beyond this layer of visual noise and see that the house was in fact about Mr. Taschen turned to me and said. "Mr. Escher, why do you not what you think is right? "
for Escher, do what is just meant a return to the drawings of Lautner. "Wherever we could, we would go back to the original drawings and use it as a guide. We consulted the project architect at the time. We consulted Leonard Malin, the original customer, "says Escher.
The house was designed in 1960 to Malin, a young aeronautical engineer who managed to obtain sponsorship funds by companies such as Chem Seal, which provided experimental coatings and was rewarded by the building name.
But the renovation has never been as simple as restoring literally sooner perfect condition of the house. Various cost cutting measures snuck in the original construction of the building, which diverged from Lautner specifications. "the house had a very small tiles, a dirty yellow tile. This kind of looked like a public room men, and Lautner never really liked it, "says Escher. "What Lautner wanted to do was install a broken slate floor. So we installed a model of very thin cut of slate to refer to the original idea of Lautner and also give him a more contemporary manifestation. We installed wooden panels that connected the kitchen to the living room. in the drawings, it has been shown as a paneled wall, but it was originally built as the only drywall. We the frameless glass used everywhere, which Lautner did later in his career when he revisited his houses "
Charles and Ray Eames House :. A legal restoration
Unlike Chemosphere, which deviated from the vision of the original design of the architect as soon as it is finished, on Eames House and studio has been meticulously built with architectural specifications of Charles and Ray Eames, two of the most famous designers of 20 e century. They lived there since 1949, when their house was built, until their respective death (in 1978 Charles, Ray 10 years later).
restoration began in 2011 after the restorers of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art cataloged 1,864 items in the living room and transported them to through town for installation in a full scale replica of the living room 17 feet high for the exhibition California Design 1930-1965: "living in a Modern Way." Although the house was empty, Eames Foundation hired Escher Gunewardena architecture to manage soil restoration, wall surfaces, and other projects, with a mission to take home to his state in 1988 when Ray last lived there. At the same time, the Getty Conservation Institute started its Modern Architecture Initiative Keep and made the Eames House its first conservation project. "We had to work with really amazing people, people who normally occupy Egyptian tombs and painted caves in China," says Escher.
climate measurement data were gathered inside and outside the house for a whole year. home Guards now follow a protocol for which the windows, curtains and doors to open and close in each moment of the day. "the introduction of a sealed climate system was not a good idea, because it is quite contrary to the idea of the Eames [of] have a home that is usable, when you could open things up and look outside, out in the garden, then go back, "says Escher.
"the [idea of a] window like transparency, but also the window as something that could be removed and have contact with the outside part of the DNA of modernism" said Theodore Prudon, FAIA, president of DOCOMOMO US . "In the early modernist thought, the light and the air is very critical. A lot of buildings and thought went into creating the atmosphere, ultraviolet light, the windows open. The Eames House is interesting to the role of [eucalyptus] trees in the shadow of the house, the role of the windows, the role of the two-story space with windows on top that are able to ventilate the hot air. It was a lot of thought that went into designing an environmental perspective. "
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