The Case Study House program (1945 1966) was an exceptional, innovative event in the history of American architecture and remains to this day unique. The program, which concentrated on the Los Angeles area and oversaw the design of 36 prototype homes, sought to make available plans for modern residences that could be easily and cheaply constructed during the postwar building boom. Highly experimental, the program generated houses that were designed to redefine the modern home, and thus had a pronounced influence on architecture American and international both during the program's existence and even to this day. This compact guide includes all projects featured in our XL version, with over 150 photos and plans and a map of where all houses are (or were) located.
Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898 1976) was not only influenced by the landscape of his native country, but by the political struggle over Finland's place within European culture. After early neoclassical buildings, Alvar Aalto turned to ideas based on Functionalism, subsequently moving toward more organic structures, with brick and wood replacing plaster and steel. In addition to designing buildings, furniture, lamps, and glass objects with his wife Aino, he painted and was an avid traveler. A firm believer that buildings have a crucial role in shaping society, Aalto once said;The duty of the architect is to give life a more sensitive structure.
Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) was one of the 20th century's great visionaries, both in the fields of furniture design (he created the ubiquitous Knoll "Tulip" chairs and tables, for example) and in architecture. Among his greatest accomplishments are monuments that shaped architecture in postwar America and became icons in themselves: Washington D.C.'s Dulles International Airport, the very sculptural and fluid TWA terminal at JFK Airport in New York, and the 630-foot high "Gateway to the West," the Arch of St. Louis. Marrying curves and dynamic forms with a Modernist aesthetic, he brought a whole new dimension to architecture.
Lighting plays an essential role in good design, drawingattention to certain places and highlighting details that mightotherwise go unnoticed. 100+ Tips.Ideas: Areas with Light features dozens of ideas to get light into the home and use it asan essential part of the design, all illustrated with gorgeouscolor photography. Featuring both natural and manmade sources oflight, this book provides endless inspiration.
