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The most famous example of these houses is The Eames House. It was built and designed by Charles Eames and Ray Kaiser. They were a husband a wife duo that are ranked among the most important designers of the 20th Century. They designed the Eames house for themselves as their home and studio.
The Eames house has a ‘California Modern’ minimalist design. This approach to design opposed the ‘social conscience’ of the Bauhaus in order to embrace “a looser, warmer design”.
With this design ‘form follows function’ in both materiality and spacing. Typical architectural qualities of this style include; an abundance of windows, open-plan floor spaces and opening interior spaces by bringing the outside in. The Eames house has all these qualities in its design. Warmth is brought through the house from the consideration of colour, texture and materiality used in the construction and expression of the house. The Eames utilized prefabricated, standardised materials which meant the result of the construction was both cheap and fast.
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The Eames focused on the honest use of materials, this meant the characteristics of the material would influence the form in which it was used. “The full integrity of the materials is apparent, particularly in the overhanging roof. It is obvious that the materials are universal/standardized, industrial products that were chosen for both their functional and aesthetic appeal.” Unlike modern architects in Europe, the Eames proved that “minimalist architecture can create warm living and working environments through their inclusion of colour, texture and abundant interior furnishings”.
According to a NEW YORK TIMES article, “Charles and Ray Eames believed that design enhances life’s simple pleasures”.
The Eames house was designed for a 3-acre site at the top of a 150-foot-high cliff overlooking the Pacific. Eames house is known for its originality in its massing and proportions as well as its exterior elevations. The solid panels on the exterior are painted in various primary colours that correspond to the character of the functions taking place behind them. Huge consideration was given to where the solid and glazed panels were placed. The building is very much about the experience, the feeling as you walk through or live there. It has a box exterior, but the interior gives a sense of humanity. The exterior of the Eames house contains many architectural qualities of the new domestic housing typology of this time. The exterior is inviting from every angle, from the lavish landscaping to the colourful facade. A distinctive feature of the California Modernist style is the Eames use of ample large windows which provide glimpses of the interior. “The tendency of the open interior spaces to invite the outdoors in represents a key visual characteristic of the California Modernist style”. This is also achieved through steel frame construction. The interior includes white walls lacking ornamentation which is traditional of European modernism. However, artefacts fill the space which is not traditional of minimalism. “Traditional modern architecture would require that a minimalist space contain only ‘necessary’ objects”. The layout of the living room could accommodate several different functions (here the Eames are universalizing from the specific).
The Eames developed a concern for mass production which stems from the idea of ‘good-life modernism’. This notion of ‘good-life modernism’ was a type of architecture so convincing as to seem to depict the way of the future. This type of modernism was visible in the structure, it meant houses had an elegant, lightweight appearance. This can be seen in the Eames house as the frame of the building was constructed from prefabricated steel trusses and columns. The Eames were concerned with the mass market. The fact that the building frame was prefabricated meant the Eames had the freedom to change the design and rearrange the parts when they got to site. This looked well for their concerns of mass production during this time of consumer culture. They contributed to the attempt to integrate ‘the house’ into the realm of consumer goods. Good-life modernists aimed to target the mass market of the suburban middle-class. Journals and cultural institutions such as museums, pushed the idea of good-life modernism into consumer culture.
Traditional European Modernism has a lack of colour and ornamentation. It is a stark, cold design. Whereas the Eames’ California Modernism is almost opposite in style. It is colourful, there are plentiful of artefacts displayed and there is ornamentation in the metalwork. It is a warm design with lavish landscaping and rich textures. The Eames house contains traditional modern architectural qualities that were established in the new housing typology of the case study houses. These qualities, such as; steel framed construction, window walls, white surfaces., signify minimalism. Unlike modern architects in Europe, the Eames’ proved that minimalist architecture can create warm living and working environments through their inclusion of colour, texture and abundant interior furnishings.
American housing modernism was drastically different than post-war domestic housing in Europe, where modern architecture was too much associated with the political left to get support from the middle-class. “Architects and clients perceive of architectural expression not as a unique individualistic statement, but as a means to articulate community identity and values”.
‘Good-life modernism’ was focused on creating a sort of universalization within society in order to improve the quality of life post-war. On one hand, it was an advancement of society but on the other it was the beginning of the destruction of traditional cultures. Houses wanted to encourage universalization to a certain degree in order to create homes that were low-cost and easily replicable however they knew the importance of individuality and wanted to create a housing typology which could combine the two. However almost all the houses were one-offs. They encapsulated the notion of ‘good-life modernism’. Instead of using the best post-war technology which programme encouraged, the building industry took advantage of the mass market of suburban middle-class citizens and used unskilled laborers, the cheapest materials and confined to universalization.
Summary: 20th Century Architecture and a Good-Life Modernism. (2024, Feb 22). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/summary-20th-century-architecture-and-a-good-life-modernism-essay
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