Neutra Place
“The future of architecture, as I have looked at it also in the past, will depend on a deepened knowledge of nature, and of man’s nature especially, however encroached on by his own patented artificialities. We must love and know him if we want to serve him”, Richard Neutra, Life and Shape, 1962.
I find myself there on a Sunday afternoon. “There” being the Reunion House, on Neutra Place, just above the Silver Lake Reservoir. Sitting on the edge of Boomerang chairs, we listen to the stories of a ninety-two-year-old Dion Neutra, son of the late Richard, and partner in his firm. The 2 o’clock sun is filtered by a canopy of trees. It meets us inside by way of sky lights dotting the ceiling and of impossibly long sliding glass doors. They span the length of the space and float us within that canopy. In this scene, it’s clear: the mission of Neutra’s design respects nature, tests boundaries and uses natural materials as its greatest advocate. Fitting as ever, this mission becomes the topic of research for the week.
Richard Neutra came to the US with the teachings of Adolf Loos as his architectural vernacular. He worked first with Frank Lloyd Wright before accepting a position with friend and colleague, Rudolf Schindler. This brought Neutra to Los Angeles and began the decades of influence he would have over the California modernist architecture and lifestyle.
As an architect, Neutra had a philosophy that revealed itself in his buildings. A tenant of his design was not just embracing the aesthetic of the site upon which he built, but truly believing firmly that it must be respected before anything else. Rather than leaning on embellishments and excess, he relied on the usage of practical materials like glass, wood and water to enhance one another and their surroundings. Mirrors reflect large areas so as to maximize the space perceived by the eye. Beams extend beyond walls and cut through glass to lengthen the line of sight beyond the walls. All of these elements reveal an incredibly thoughtful consideration of the way in which a site grows around a building as much as a building grows on a site. It comes from an understanding that we borrow these spaces from the earth, and it’s an ongoing relationship. It’s something to keep at the forefront of our minds as we move forward.
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1958 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
VDL House by Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman, 1966 (https://www.neutra-vdl.org)
Drawing of Camel Table, Richard Neutra, Date Unknown
Camel Table, Richard Neutra, 1939, Wright Auctions
Camel Table, Richard Neutra, 1939, Wright Auctions
Drawing of Boomerang Chair
Boomerang Chair in Reunion House, Current residence of Dion Neutra
Huntington Beach Library, Richard Neutra, 1975
Huntington Beach Library, Richard Neutra, 1975
Huntington Beach Library, Richard Neutra, 1975
Huntington Beach Library, Richard Neutra, 1975
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Photography and architecture fans, we just wanted to mention… 'Mona Kuhn: 835 Kings Road' is a new release from @steidlverlag In '835 Kings Road,' California photographer Mona Kuhn (born 1969) reconsiders the realms of time and space within the architectural elements of the Schindler House in Los Angeles. Built by Austrian architect Rudolph M. Schindler in 1922, the house was both a social and design experiment and an avant-garde hub for intellectuals and artists in the 1920s and 1930s. For this project Kuhn collaborated with the Department of History of Art and Architecture at UC Santa Barbara, and gained access to Schindler’s private archives including blueprints, letters and notes. Alongside reproducing some of these for the first time in this book, Kuhn reinterprets the dichotomy between memory and record in a series of color photos, and solarized gelatin silver prints, a technique favored by the surrealists. The enigmatic subject of her solarized pictures is a fictional, ethereal figure inspired by a letter from Schindler to a mysterious woman. Kuhn’s impressionistic photos render this female presence physical, even as it seems to be dematerializing: fleeting images that question the very nature of photography as record. More via linkinbio. Text by @silvia__perea & #DavidDorenbaum @monakuhnstudio @adamuseum #monakuhnstudio #architecture #RudolphSchindler #schiindlerhouse #RudolphSchindlerhouse #modernism #midcenturymodern #midcentury #ucsb #UCSantaBarbara #SantaBarbara @makcenter https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca7P_MyOKCQ/?utm_medium=tumblr
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NEW IN THE BOOKSHOP: SCHINDLER by David Gebhard (1971) First hardcover edition of this first in-depth book on architect Rudolph Schindler, published in London in 1971. The Los Angeles-based architect R.M. Schindler (1887 Vienna – 1953 Los Angeles) is regarded today as one of the central figures of the Modern movement. Trained in Vienna under Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, Schindler then migrated to Los Angeles under the apprenticeship of Frank Lloyd Wright. Surrounded by a clientele of progressive thinkers in the emerging intellectual culture of Hollywood, Schindler created a radical and intensely personal architectural conception, resulting in some of the seminal works of the twentieth century. Gebhard’s Schindler, first issued in 1971, is the only full-length account of Schindler’s prolific yet unfulfilled career. Illustrated heavily throughout with photographs of Schindler’s buildings and interiors, his plans, schemes and projections. Chapters are: Preface by Henry-Russell Hitchcock; New worlds and old; American apprenticeship; The years with Wright; Opportunity: California in the twenties; Theories in practice; The making of a personal style; Schindler’s ‘de Stijl’; The depression: a new clientele; Living space; Modern versus Moderne; Business commissions; The uses of wood; The final phase; Schindler’s place in architecture. Charles Moore said, “David Gebhard’s book about Rudolph Schindler was, for me, the most moving story of an architect that I have read since I was astonished at an early age by Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography.” Includes a preface by Henry-Russell Hitchcock. One copy via our website. #worldfoodbooks #rudolphschindler #rmschindler #1971 (at WORLD FOOD BOOKS)
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As always, gorgeous, enigmatic, provocative. 'Mona Kuhn: 835 Kings Road' is NEW from @steidlverlag In this 200 page hardcover, the photographer reconsiders the realms of time and space within the architectural elements of the Schindler House in Los Angeles. Built by Austrian architect Rudolph M. Schindler in 1922, the house was both a social and design experiment and an avant-garde hub for intellectuals and artists in the 1920s and 1930s. For this project Kuhn collaborated with the Department of History of Art and Architecture at UC Santa Barbara, and gained access to Schindler’s private archives including blueprints, letters and notes. Alongside reproducing some of these for the first time in this book, Kuhn reinterprets the dichotomy between memory and record in a series of color photos, and solarized gelatin silver prints, a technique favored by the surrealists. The enigmatic subject of her solarized pictures is a fictional, ethereal figure inspired by a letter from Schindler to a mysterious woman. Kuhn’s impressionistic photos render this female presence physical, even as it seems to be dematerializing: fleeting images that question the very nature of photography as record. Text by @silvia__perea & David Dorenbaum. Read more via linkinbio. @monakuhnstudio @ADAMuseum #monakuhn #monakuhnstudio #makcenter #rudolphschindler #spacearchitecture #architecturephotography #architecture #midcenturyarchitecture #photobook #835kingsroad #schindlerhouse @makcenter https://www.instagram.com/p/CaKddCtFDeE/?utm_medium=tumblr
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