CASE STUDY #8: EAMES HOUSE | RAY AND CHARLES EAMES | Pacific Palisades, California | 1949

melanie olivera

design: ExteriorEames House is considered one of the most important post-war residences in the world. The Eames House was constructed using a simple steel frame for the structure. The house exemplifies the use prefabricated materials. The Truscon steel frame used 4-inch H-columns for the walls and 12-inch deep web joists for the roof. The curtain walls used glass with a standard width of 3’ - 4”. The west side of the of the building has an 8’ x 200’ concrete retaining wall that connects the two boxes together.

The facades all consist of steel frames or black painted grids that consist of eight 7.5’ bays in for the House and five 7.5’ bays for the Studio. The steel roof joists and steel framing was economical and added to the appearance of the lightweight structure.

They added industrial elements to the exteriors and interiors by using materials from military aircraft, such as the use of Plyon in some of the cabinets and windows. Plyon was marketed as fuel-cell liners by Swedlow Plastics. The material was thin, lightweight, translucent, and durable.

color + texture + light

The colored panels on the outside resemble a Mondrian painting. The different solid and transparent panels were arranged so that it could affect the light that goes into the interiors, providing shade in certain areas and allowing soft natural light to flow into the building in other areas. There are different types of glass used for the building, which is clear, translucent, and wired. The grey panels are both painted or natural and madeof cemestos. The colored panels (which are off-white, blue, red, and black) are made of stucco. The other panels are made of aluminum and specially-treated gold-leafed/ photographic panels.

design: interior

The interior of the Eames house consists of large, open, double height spaces in the public areas, and dropped ceilings in the more private areas, like in the kitchen or reading area. The double height spaces are located on either end of the house. Although there are public and private areas, it is not strictly divided through walls but implied through ceiling heights. The house was set up on a grid system and the circulation through the spaces are continuous and linear from one building to the next.

The large curtain walls allows natural light to come into the building and frames the beautiful views of the outside. There is a play of light and shadow with the aforementioned colored panels that allow creating a ‘shifting light’ throughout the interiors. Although steel framing and prefabricated materials can be perceived as 'cold', the use of natural materials and neutral warm-toned colors inside contrast the exterior materials, giving it a pleasant, natural warmth to make it feel like home.

There is a floating spiral staircase at the entrance of the main house that connects to the upper level. They usedd parts from a marine catalog to create the stairway. The rooms flow into one another, even through the double height spaces. For example, the upper level could be opened up to overlook the public living area. The high ceiling was left exposed, (steel decking perpendicular to frame),flowing from the outside (overhang) to the inside of the structure.

furniture

Charles and Ray Eames had a grand sense of adventure, with an eclectic collection of objects in their home from their extensive travels as well as gifts from friends and family. When conceptualizing the lounge chair, Charles explained that the designers wanted it to have the “warm, receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mitt” with handcrafted details to give it a grounded, welcoming escape from modern styles. Around 1950, the "Eames Storage Unit," a modular system of shelving with bright colored panels, sliding, and pull down doors in fiberglass and with their signature dimpled wood front, was also released.

The Eames’ used plywood and plastic materials for the development of their furniture. According to the lecture, although plywood furniture began in 1930s, new techniques such as molding, bending, and gluing plywood, were exploited in furniture design, like furniture by Eames and Saarinen. Charles and Ray Eames created what people call the ‘Eames look’ which is a modern, simple, playful, functional, and sleek look in their furniture. All the furniture pieces are intended to be functional and give maximum comfort in a modern way. They also used other materials, such as leather, upholstery, wire, fiberglass, and black laquer finishes.

SOCIETY + CULTURE

According to Archdaily, Charles and Ray Eames began designing the house in 1945 for the Case Study House Program, , founded by John Entenza, in Los Angeles. “Arts and Architecture Magazine” published and built these case study homes with the focus being on the use of new materials and technologies developed during World War II. The magazine published the original design of the house as well as the new design. The intention was for the house to be made of prefabricated materials that would not interrupt the site, be easy to build, and exhibit a modern style.

Charles described the house as "unselfconscious, a sense of that “way-it-should-be-ness”, meeting the needs of the users. The home quickly became a ‘landmark of the mid-20th century modern architecture’. Because of the theatrical quality of the building, it was often used as a set for fashion shoots by magazines such as Life and Vogue. The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman debuted on national television in 1956. Charles and Ray Eames appeared on the NBC television network Home show hosted by Arlene Francis, which increased the popularity of the designs.

Eames collaborated with the company Herman Miller. This collaboration included their furniture designs as well as their advertising and showroom design. Herman Miller still sells their products to this day. Eames believed that 'affordable, mass produced, well-designed furniture were essential for social change and betterment'. They also believed that what works looks better than what looks good, which became a defining quality for the American style.

HUMAN BEHAVIORAs previously mentioned, The Eames House was a residential home, consisting of two “boxes” separated by a central, open courtyard. One of them is intended for residential living while the other is a work studio. They both feature double height spaces, with second levels that could be opened to overlook the public area below. Charles and Ray designed a house to ‘specifically meet universal needs that we all share as humans’. Those needs reflected those of Eames’ household and work needs.

The home was intended for a young married couple wanting a place to live, work, and entertain and who no longer have kids living with them, but eventually, Charles and Rey Eames moved in and lived there for the rest of their lives. The circulation throughout the entire home is continuous between the two buildings. The courtyard serves as a way to merge the two ‘boxes’ together and creates a quiet outdoor space to read and garden.

technological

The Case House Study Program focused on new materials and technologies, so Charles and Ray Eames wanted to maximize volume with minimal materials. The entire structure was created from prefabricated materials, allowing quick construction. The ceiling heights for the double height spaces are 17 ft high. The steel frames allow these heights to increase (in elevation) due to its durability and strength. The Eames avoided using traditional materials like bricks and wood for their Eames House and used glass and steel for the construction using innovative techniques to create a new understanding of how people can live and display the results of using new techniques in design. As mentioned before, molding, bending, and gluing plywood was a new technique that was being developed at the time. Eames' utilized this concept for their furniture. In the early 1940s the Eames worked for the Navy wartime effort and received the chance to experiment with new methods of bending plywood.

POLITICAL

Eames House was a part of The Case Study House Program, which 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 use of the joists for the roof support resulted in economic savings, which was an important aspect considering the emergence of the American middle class at the time as well as the Case Study House Program.

Eames had originally designed a house called the Bridge House, which was published in one of the Art+Architecture magazines. Post War World 2 made use of the industrial age and mass production; however, there was a shortage on materials due to the war. Because of this, the home had to be easy to replicate, affordable, and functional. They found a practical way to incorporate material originally used for war planes for their post-war housing (like Plyon for panels, cabinets, etc.). The steel beams they ordered had been delayed due to the shortage, which gave Eames time to design an entire new house, which became the Eames House. They ended up using the steel beams from the old design for their new design

ECOLOGYEames House is meant to be deeply integrated with nature. Ray Eames claimed that they fell in love with the meadows while having a casual picnic. This led them to scrap their original idea for the home (The Bridge House), and design an entire new home that does not impose the structure on it and destroy the land but rather seemlessly integrates the home within it. The house sits on a 3-acre site on top of a steep 150 ft cliff. The new design proposed that, instead of the home being on top of the hill, it would be integrated within. It is surrounded by native plants and tall Eucalyptus trees that provide shade and further blends the home to the nature.

As mentioned before, affordability was a big factor in case study homes so the materials used were mostly affordable prefabricated and warm natural materials that do not disturb the site. Also, the site was deemed unbuildable, making it cheap and easy to purchase. The large curtain walls connect the interior to the exterior and showcases the views around the home, such as the Pacific Ocean. The retaining concrete wall is what connects the two “boxes” together.

Referenceshttp://w3eames.blogspot.com/2012/12/purpose.html

http://www.archdaily.com/66302/ad-classics-eames-house-charles-and-ray-eames http://eamesfoundation.org/house/eames-house/ http://livingplug.com/blog/Eames/ http://www.eamesoffice.com/blog/war-plane-materials-applied-to-post-war-housing/ http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/lounge-seating/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman.html http://w3eames.blogspot.com/2012/12/steel-roof-joists.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Study_Houses

http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/case.houses/index.html

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