Narrative and Purpose

Narrative:

The Cast Study House Program was a product of concerns regarding where domestic housing was headed after the war. Designs for Postwar Living was a competition held in 1943 when development of housing ceased due to the nation’s involvement in the  war. The production of the Model-T, Highway Defense Act, opening of the first grocery store and the emergence of the general assembly line all pointed at a future made for the masses versus the select. The competition was a response to the evident incoming influx of post war housing demand due to the advent of the middle class. Instead of continuing with competitions Entenza decided on a more concentrated program of constructing houses to provide opportunities for talented architects to imagine, design and construct the ideal home for a postwar middle class American family. The Eames House was one of the evangelized houses to promote the new modernist philosophy to the general public. The hopes was to not only captivate the public with the beauty of modernist houses but also with their functionality, affordability and liveability.

Sources: http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf
Summarizes the Eames House in the context of domestic postwar housing including construction, location, and origins.

Purpose:

The Eames House was designed as part of the Arts and Architecture Magazine Case Study House series. In the original annoucement , the objective of the experiment was explained to be  an investigation into post-war housing and designs using the mass of material that had accumulated as a result of the wartime years. There were originally 8 houses purposed (it expanded to 34). The houses were going to be open for public tours and were going to explore the perfect living accommodations for each architect's respective lifestyles and would work on a specific living problem in California. Each architect was faced with a particular problem and their design had to fit within a specific budget. By no means were the Case Study Houses meant to be a stage for an individual "performance", and each house had to be capable of duplication. As well they must try to use prefabricated pieces from companies to build these homes. The first set of plans for the Eames House was published in the magazine in December 1945. Due to war shortage and the Eames deepening connection to the land, the design was rethought and the goals became: not destroy the meadow, maximize the volume with minimal material, to use the same parts (however they did order more steel beams). Also privacy and integrating the house into the landscape were valued.  After its construction its purpose resulted in affecting architecture around the world. It is an architectural icon now and is preserved, maintained and tours are available through The Eames Foundation, created by Charles’s daughter, Lucia Eames, in 2004.

Sources: http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/case.houses/pdf01/csh_announcement.pdf
The original announcement to the Case Study Project in Arts and Architecture Magazine

Size, Scale, and Construction

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-09/328277540-21183614.jpg

The Eames House, completed in 1949, consists of two double-height buildings, one for residential living and the other for work. In all, the site encompasses roughly 1.4 acres and the two rectangular volumes accounting for roughly 3000 square feet. Each bay rises 17 feet and is framed by two rows of 4-inch H-columns set 20 feet apart. In the residential building, kitchen and dining areas are located in the lower story while more private spaces are on the second floor; which provides a view down at the double-height living area. Similarly, the studio portion of the Eames House also features an open plan. Like the residential area, the studio is divided into two stories with the upper floor overlooking a double-height space.

The Eames House living room, in all of its 17-foot-height glory
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-09/326766640-21183610.jpg

 

Night view of the studio and residential space
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/9ccbefe1a4d04ab0_large

As a result of its modular design, the Eames House utilized economical and efficient materials. The foundation of the house was built from concrete, the roof from ashphalt, the frame from steel, and the walls from a mixture of materials including: glass, stucco, wood, asbestos, metal, and synthetics. On the rear elevation of the house, the vertical members of the frame were partially embedded in the 8-foot high concrete retaining wall while steel decking formed the underside of the roof; perpendicular to the frame. The Eames chose to paint the steel frame black to help delineate the rhythm of their structural composition as well as to separate the two volumes that make up the house. Between the two volumes lie an open patio space, acting as an open court while another outdoor space lies underneath the southern overhang of the residence. 

 

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/161c9a4bd15970c0_large

Sources:http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf

Transition From First Design to Final Design

The original design of the Eames House was a collaborative project by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. It called for a home located upon a cantilevered truss bridge and to display a sense of openness through its exposed steel frame. The Eames House was to float above the ground in an attempt to achieve the maximum span from the minimum of material. The original form did not arise from the program or the land it sat upon, but solely from its own structural order. However, not all of the structure was actually to be exposed as the floor and ceiling joists were concealed by plaster ceilings and soffits. As a result, the structure could then allow for the placement of interior partitions for the sake of acoustic privacy. Similar to the final design of the Eames House, the original design also called for the side walls to be layered in bands of horizontal steel windows.

The "Bridge House" design
http://lacma.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/eamesplan425.jpg

Though, upon visiting an exhibition of Mies van der Rohe's work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947, Charles Eames found inspiration for a new design that would preserve the meadow in the centre of the site and sit behind a row of eucalyptus trees. 


If the two designs are compared, the point regarding the lack of efficiency in the first design is in fact true. The concept of using minimal material in the 'bridge' design did not yield efficient results and in comparison, the final design contained 3000 square feet to the 2500 square feet in the original. The final design of the Eames House also used considerably less steel, and in that manner, proved to be much more efficient than the original, but lost much of its industrial styling in the process. However, what eventually arose was a more subtle, and site aware example of steel construction where Charles Eames adapted systems from steel commercial buildings into his own pragmatic view of residential design.


From The Details of Modern Architecture vol. 2

Cultural History Map

Name:
Eames House/ Case Study House #8

Address: 
203 Chautauqua Bld. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, Los Angeles, California, 

Location:

Located in the Pacific Palisades, the Eames House sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. The Pacific Palisades is a community that sits between Santa Monica and Malibu in Los Angeles, California.  

Kauffman, Eric. “Climate and Topogrpahy.” Accessed December 7, 2012.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/atlas/pdf/Clim_12b_web.pdf

California is low in relation to sea level, and Pacific Palisades, being right in a peninsula on the coastline of the Pacific Ocean, is less than 100 feet below sea level. However the city is guarded by mountains north of it, which are up to 4000 feet above sea level.

The land was first inhabited by the Native Americans who had settled and made home along the seaside canyons. In 1839, the 6656 acre of wooded canyons, broad plateaus and low valleys was granted by the Governor of California to Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes establishing Rancho Boca de Santa Monica. Pacific Palisades was founded on this land by Reverend Charles H. Scott in 1922 as a site for the Summer Assemblies of Chautauqua Movement. The movement grew from the idea of a summer school for Sunday teachers of the Methodist Church back in the 1870s. The Pacific palisade assembly took place over a six week period, drawing people from throughout the southwest. In 1945, February 15, John Entenza purchased five acres of land in the community of Pacific Palisades which became the core of the Case Study Program.

The Eames house clustered with four other single family case study residences. Like the other houses, the Eames House was located on a hillside lot along the urban periphery of Los Angeles. Despite being surrounded by densely populated core cities, the foothills create a sense of privacy and isolation. Historian Reyner Banham describes the foothills as “that is what the foothill ecology is really all about: narrow tortuous residential roads serving precipitous house plots that often back up directly on unimproved wilderness even now (1972); an air of deeply buried privacy even in relatively broad valley-bottoms in Stone Canyon or Mandeville Canyon . . . [T]his is a landscape that seems to cry out for affluent suburban residences, and to flourish when so employed.” Ester McCoy suggested that the foothills were already prime geography for avant-garde architects; dating their popularity back the 1920s when the lots were labelled “unbuildable” and sold for a fraction of average prices.

The Pacific Palisades consist of mild microclimates. It sits on a warm dry climate, being warmest in August and rainiest in February.  

World Climates. “California Climates.” Accessed December 8, 2012.

http://www.world-climates.com/region-climate-california-usa-north-america

The Weather Channel. “Monthly Averages for Pacific Palisades, CA.” Accessed December 8, 2012. http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/90272

The varied topography consists of bluffs, mesas and canyons that run inland from shoreline cliffs such as the Santa Monica Canyon which divides the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica. The house is located on the lower plateau on the Northern edge of Santa Monica canyon, directly overlooking the ocean to the south. UCLA geologist Dr. Richard F. Logan describes the canyon as:  The ever threatening cliff that overhangs  the Coast Highway at Chautauqua . . . is composed entirely of slightly consolidated  alluvium; the other three sides all involve marine shales, which become extremely heavy in wet years through absorption of rain water, and simultaneously become greasy, thus lubricating a potential massive earth movement. The major part of Pacific Palisades is free of all danger from slides, but the canyon borders and sea-cliff edge present some serious stabilization problems. 

The property is not visible from the street and is accessed through a private asphalt road from Chautauqua Boulevard. The road first leads to 201 Chautauqua which is Case Study House #9, the Entenza House, and then leading onto the property of the Eames. To the north, the drive is edged by a serpentine brick wall that is part of Richard Neutra’s landscape design for Case Study house #20, the Bailey House. The Southern drive is edged with wooden fencing and shaded by mature over hanging trees. The Eames House occupies an oddly shaped 1.4 acres. The land is mainly flat with a steep slope on the western tip which is parallel to house. To the east lies a creasy meadow. The immediate property is densely populated by greenery and interesting landscapes. To the far edge of the property lies an earthen mound. Metal fences are covered by grown shrubs which also screen of the neighbouring Entenza House. The western façade is shaded by eucalyptus trees.

http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf

Sources: http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf
Summarizes the Eames House in the context of domestic postwar housing including construction, location, and origins.


Infrastructural:

Google. “203 Chautauqua Blvd.” Accessed December 9, 2012.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Neuhart, John., and Neuhart, Marilyn., and Eames, Ray.  Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Japan: A Times Mirror Company, 1994, 115

Land use (gardens, agricultural uses):

The Eames house is surrounded by forest and is lined on the long side of the house by eucalyptus trees. The trees create privacy which expands over time. Between the study and the home is a courtyard and garden. A patio is also located on the far end of the house.

Neuhart, John., and Neuhart, Marilyn., and Eames, Ray.  Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Japan: A Times Mirror Company, 1994, 115..

Surrounding built environment:

As seen in the infrastructure map, the Eames house is surrounded by large expensive homes and below the cliff is a beach. Off from the Eames house and the beach is a small shopping zone.

How the house has transformed over time:

The Eames house hasn't changed in the years from construction. Charles and Ray maintained the house until they both passed. From there the home was overseen by the family until Charles' daughter founded the Eames foundation, which is who has preserved the home since 2004.

http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/13112/if-you-like/

"R. Craig Miller gives this description of the interior: 'In contrast to the starkness of many international style interiors, Eames's interiors were increasingly filled with distinctive arrangements of furniture, rugs, flowers, pillows, toys, candles, shells and other collectibles that approached a high Victorian clutter.' "

— David Dunster. Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century Volume 2: Houses 1945-1989. p16-17.

The house is located on a 1.4 acre Site; in the Pacific Palisades facing the ocean, and in the shade of the large eucalyptus tree planted by the founder Venice Abbot Kinney. Not too far away, also facing the ocean, sits Case Study House #9, designed by Charles himself and Eero Saarinen. The original design of the Eames House had the house on stilts, projecting over a meadow and driveway, called the Bridge House. The program of the Bridge was the same as the Eames House: a couple whose children had grown and moved away, needed living and studio space. The new design consisted of two rectilinear elements connected by a courtyard.

Interesting alternative take on Eames House

Here is a link to one man's opinion on the Eames House and the Eames' work in general.

Unlike the common adoration of the Eames as shown by the general public, this man, "Glen", chooses to view Eames in a more negative sense as a result of their choice to put in the 8-foot tall retaining wall against the hill; and accuses them of designing for the rich. Take it for what its worth as it is a blog (and excuse the neverending use of capital letters), but it might aid in thinking more critically of the Eames.

Used technologies that had evolved from the war. The light metal structure contributed to the house's image as a prototype for new industries to be used for domestic architecture.

The Eames House was commissioned as part of the Case Study House Program, sponsored by Arts & Architecture Magazine, and publisher John Entenza. The goals of the program were to house the GI's that were expected flood to America after WWII. Every house needed a hypothetical client: and Charles and Ray were those clients; a married couple with grown children, needing studio and living space.