Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

How does the study of mid-century modern architecture in California between 1920 and 1970 reveal the diverse and often conflicting perspectives of its key practitioners?

View the page of: Todd Cronan

Institution: Emory University

Explore more insights in:

Architecture Professional

Media Literacy Toolkit

Faculti's Media Literacy Toolkit helps viewers critically engage with academic insights by analyzing the research context, identifying perspectives, and encouraging thoughtful evaluation.

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

What assumptions does the research make?
Are there alternative perspectives not explored?
What are the limitations of the research method?

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

This research comes from Emory University . Reflect on how the institution's academic focus and research partnerships may shape the questions being explored.

Further Reading ▼

Read the Study

How does the study of mid-century modern architecture in California between 1920 and 1970 reveal the diverse and often conflicting perspectives of its key practitioners?

Image courtesy of interviewee. February 12, 2025

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video discusses a conversation about California modernism, focusing on architects such as Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra, and the Eameses. The dialogue covers topics like architecture styles, material usage, philosophical influences, and the relationship between architects and users. The transcript also delves into how photography, film, and writing styles play a role in understanding and interpreting architectural designs. This video video emphasizes the deeper intentions and conflicting ideas behind the architecture, urging readers to look beyond surface aesthetics and consider the underlying concepts and influences.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
Key Points from the Text:

1. California modernism, particularly in architecture, spans from around 1920 to 1970, characterized by unique use of materials such as wood, water, and stone, distinct from traditional steel or heavy-duty structures.

2. Architects like Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, influenced by Austrian architecture, played significant roles in shaping California modernism, each with their own distinct styles and philosophies.

3. The book delves into how architects like Neutra were concerned with shaping inhabitants' experiences through the design, believing that architecture had a profound impact on individuals continuously.

4. The Eames, known for their furniture and design, preferred photography and film as they allowed them to control every element without the risk of user alteration, while also influencing viewers subtly.

5. The writing style of the book aims to provide a serious and transparent exploration of California modernist architecture, focusing on the conflicting intentions and deeper meanings behind architectural designs rather than just surface aesthetics.

Export as PDF
Here are some key quotes from the video you :

1. "California Modernism runs from 1920 to about 1970 or so."
2. "A lot of the stylistic identity of mid-century modern emerges from California."
3. "California Modernism is warmer, with a use of wood, water, and stone, rather than steel."
4. "Nora and Neutra studied under Adolf Loos in Vienna, and took his lineage in two different directions."
5. "Neutra was concerned with the long-term impact of his architecture on the inhabitant, shaping them over time."
6. "Schindler focused on spatial concepts and complex, intricate structures."
7. "The Eames shifted their design commitment to photography and film, with a focus on modeling rather than making physical products."
8. "Charles Eames was a reflective and meditative thinker about the practice of architecture."

These key quotes touch on various aspects of architecture, design philosophies, architectural influences, and the creative process.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

1
00:01:03.535 --> 00:01:04.195
Thanks again.

2
00:01:05.755 --> 00:01:07.645
Okay, professor, it's the 22nd of January,

3
00:01:07.755 --> 00:01:09.245
it's 5:30 PM in London.

4
00:01:09.295 --> 00:01:11.765
We're talking about, how does nothing permanent?

5
00:01:11.765 --> 00:01:13.565
We're talking about modern architecture in California.

6
00:01:13.565 --> 00:01:14.645
California Modernism.

7
00:01:14.665 --> 00:01:16.445
Am I kick off by asking you,

8
00:01:16.445 --> 00:01:18.085
before we get into the big meaty question,

9
00:01:18.085 --> 00:01:20.365
what actually is California modernism

10
00:01:20.365 --> 00:01:21.445
in terms of architecture?

11
00:01:22.845 --> 00:01:26.935
Yeah, so, you know, ma a lot of ca

12
00:01:26.935 --> 00:01:28.975
what is called California architecture falls under the

13
00:01:28.975 --> 00:01:31.415
heading of what most people would call mid-century modern.

14
00:01:31.605 --> 00:01:33.335
Mid-century modern is a general term

15
00:01:33.335 --> 00:01:36.095
that covers really the world in architecture.

16
00:01:36.595 --> 00:01:39.895
Um, but a lot of the stylistic, identity

17
00:01:40.035 --> 00:01:42.295
of mid-century modern emerges from California,

18
00:01:42.685 --> 00:01:44.335
from the architects that I talk about,

19
00:01:44.335 --> 00:01:47.655
but California modern specifically, it runs from,

20
00:01:47.715 --> 00:01:51.215
you know, the 19 really from 1920 to about 1970 or so.

21
00:01:51.675 --> 00:01:53.775
Uh, and you can kind of bookend it with the lives of,

22
00:01:53.835 --> 00:01:56.095
of two great architects, the arrival

23
00:01:56.155 --> 00:01:57.455
of people like Rudolph Schindler

24
00:01:57.455 --> 00:01:58.775
and Richard Nora into California,

25
00:01:59.035 --> 00:02:01.495
and then the death of Richard Neutra in 1970.

26
00:02:01.995 --> 00:02:04.455
But what's specific about the California side

27
00:02:04.455 --> 00:02:06.495
of the equation is, their use

28
00:02:06.495 --> 00:02:09.135
of materials is a little different than,

29
00:02:09.265 --> 00:02:11.455
maybe some other modern architecture.

30
00:02:11.725 --> 00:02:15.695
It's warmer, so there's a use of wood and water and stone

31
00:02:15.755 --> 00:02:18.215
and things like that, and not as identified

32
00:02:18.215 --> 00:02:20.655
with things like, quite as identified with things like steel

33
00:02:21.195 --> 00:02:22.895
or heavy duty permanence

34
00:02:22.895 --> 00:02:24.655
of someone like a me vanderau. Really

35
00:02:24.655 --> 00:02:25.655
Good. Can I ask you then, what

36
00:02:25.655 --> 00:02:26.375
was the motivation?

37
00:02:26.495 --> 00:02:28.495
'cause we are talking about a book for the book itself.

38
00:02:29.685 --> 00:02:32.015
Yeah. Uh, so I grew up in California.

39
00:02:32.315 --> 00:02:34.095
Uh, I was surrounded by these, these things.

40
00:02:34.275 --> 00:02:36.295
Not that, not that they meant anything to me,

41
00:02:37.355 --> 00:02:39.615
but I was around this architecture

42
00:02:39.995 --> 00:02:41.935
and I went away to study in Chicago,

43
00:02:42.115 --> 00:02:45.535
and I had a very good, good teacher who when I then returned

44
00:02:45.535 --> 00:02:47.135
to California,

45
00:02:47.135 --> 00:02:50.855
after, working at Northwestern for a little while,

46
00:02:51.135 --> 00:02:52.735
I began to look at this architecture differently.

47
00:02:52.915 --> 00:02:54.575
And like many people in California

48
00:02:54.875 --> 00:02:55.935
who are interested in architecture,

49
00:02:55.935 --> 00:02:58.135
they pick up this guidebook by g Harden winters.

50
00:02:58.475 --> 00:03:00.045
And I used it and drove around

51
00:03:00.065 --> 00:03:03.165
to every single remaining structure that was around.

52
00:03:03.265 --> 00:03:05.845
And this was in 19 97, 19 98.

53
00:03:05.845 --> 00:03:07.525
And I photographed everything I could find.

54
00:03:08.105 --> 00:03:11.365
Um, and it wasn't quite as cherished back then. Believe me.

55
00:03:11.785 --> 00:03:14.045
Um, things have changed dramatically since

56
00:03:14.225 --> 00:03:15.285
the late nineties.

57
00:03:15.745 --> 00:03:18.085
Now, I'll add one other thing to that,

58
00:03:18.105 --> 00:03:19.165
in terms of motivation.

59
00:03:19.705 --> 00:03:22.205
Um, so I grew up there and it,

60
00:03:22.625 --> 00:03:25.085
and then I came back to see it in, in a new way.

61
00:03:25.425 --> 00:03:27.765
But my family's also, Viennese.

62
00:03:28.145 --> 00:03:31.085
So, the two major architects

63
00:03:31.105 --> 00:03:33.365
and several others, even, Richard Ttra

64
00:03:33.365 --> 00:03:35.725
and Rudolph Schindler, both from Vienna.

65
00:03:35.945 --> 00:03:38.605
So there was a kind of a connection I felt

66
00:03:38.625 --> 00:03:39.725
to that, to that world,

67
00:03:40.205 --> 00:03:41.205
A lineage almost.

68
00:03:41.385 --> 00:03:43.165
So you've said twice, you,

69
00:03:43.265 --> 00:03:45.005
you see things differently the second time.

70
00:03:45.115 --> 00:03:47.405
Well, when you embark on this book. In what sense?

71
00:03:47.405 --> 00:03:48.925
What do you mean? I know that might be the theme

72
00:03:48.925 --> 00:03:50.405
of the interview, but what do you mean by that?

73
00:03:51.575 --> 00:03:53.665
Yeah, I, so I think the big problem

74
00:03:53.975 --> 00:03:56.065
with this under the understanding

75
00:03:56.065 --> 00:03:58.105
of this architecture is how it's framed.

76
00:03:58.565 --> 00:04:01.505
Um, and it is framed largely in this kind of MCM

77
00:04:01.505 --> 00:04:04.505
or mid-century modern, categorical framework.

78
00:04:05.085 --> 00:04:07.825
Um, and that's kind of a marketing term,

79
00:04:07.825 --> 00:04:10.385
more than anything so associated with lots of, you know,

80
00:04:10.485 --> 00:04:13.625
mag design magazines, basically.

81
00:04:14.045 --> 00:04:15.345
Um, and it has been for quite a while,

82
00:04:15.345 --> 00:04:16.345
at least since the eighties.

83
00:04:16.925 --> 00:04:19.585
Um, but I don't think that does much justice,

84
00:04:20.045 --> 00:04:21.145
to the material.

85
00:04:21.245 --> 00:04:24.305
So what happened for me is once I started looking at it,

86
00:04:24.385 --> 00:04:29.065
I started seeing, that it is as complex and divided

87
00:04:29.325 --> 00:04:31.785
and, you know, conflict ridden

88
00:04:32.045 --> 00:04:33.705
as any period of great art making.

89
00:04:34.045 --> 00:04:36.425
And, and I should add that I really do think of this period,

90
00:04:37.375 --> 00:04:40.475
you know, the really from the 1930s to the 1960s is a kind

91
00:04:40.475 --> 00:04:43.155
of golden age of architecture, in the 20th century.

92
00:04:43.655 --> 00:04:45.715
So, but like all golden ages, you know, if you go back

93
00:04:45.715 --> 00:04:49.235
to the Renaissance, there, there's, there's conflict.

94
00:04:49.695 --> 00:04:51.955
Um, so the mid-century modern

95
00:04:52.055 --> 00:04:55.115
as a label really doesn't do justice to the kind of

96
00:04:55.625 --> 00:04:59.195
core differences that, that drive the,

97
00:04:59.255 --> 00:05:00.675
mo different kinds of expression there.

98
00:05:00.905 --> 00:05:02.355
Yeah, really good. Well done so far.

99
00:05:02.355 --> 00:05:04.155
So in terms of that narrative, I think you've, you've,

100
00:05:04.155 --> 00:05:05.515
you've touched upon that, but let's just talk about these

101
00:05:05.515 --> 00:05:08.275
relationships and the philosophical influences of NCHA

102
00:05:08.275 --> 00:05:10.635
and Schindler and Charles and Rayes.

103
00:05:10.635 --> 00:05:11.835
What, what impact did they have?

104
00:05:13.015 --> 00:05:15.985
Yeah, so the, the Schindler

105
00:05:15.985 --> 00:05:18.665
and Neutra both studied under Adolf, Lois and Vienna.

106
00:05:19.285 --> 00:05:21.825
And I think one way to describe what's happening

107
00:05:21.825 --> 00:05:24.705
between those two architects is they're trying to,

108
00:05:24.705 --> 00:05:27.185
they're competing over the lineage of Los,

109
00:05:27.565 --> 00:05:28.785
in the United States.

110
00:05:29.215 --> 00:05:31.385
Both of them were highly productive architects.

111
00:05:31.455 --> 00:05:34.385
Nore in particular, was extremely productive in ways

112
00:05:34.385 --> 00:05:36.105
that someone like Adolf Los was not at all.

113
00:05:36.485 --> 00:05:41.225
Um, but they took different ideas from Los, and,

114
00:05:41.565 --> 00:05:43.305
and, and kind of,

115
00:05:43.415 --> 00:05:45.185
took his lineage in two competing

116
00:05:45.185 --> 00:05:46.865
different, different directions.

117
00:05:47.445 --> 00:05:50.545
Um, NECHO was much more concerned with time to,

118
00:05:50.725 --> 00:05:53.545
to simplify matters, much more concerned with the, the,

119
00:05:53.725 --> 00:05:55.785
the understanding of his architecture over time.

120
00:05:55.845 --> 00:05:59.485
So his fundamental concern was that it affects you,

121
00:05:59.495 --> 00:06:03.405
365 days a year, as he says, always continuously.

122
00:06:03.755 --> 00:06:05.845
It's, I mean, it's actually coming out of, you know,

123
00:06:06.425 --> 00:06:08.285
the lockdowns.

124
00:06:08.545 --> 00:06:10.085
You get to know your house very, very well.

125
00:06:10.085 --> 00:06:13.245
And I think Deutsche was incredibly attuned to the idea

126
00:06:13.245 --> 00:06:14.805
that your environment shapes you.

127
00:06:15.145 --> 00:06:18.845
And he meant that in the most literal way, conceivable.

128
00:06:19.035 --> 00:06:20.525
Whereas Schindler, you know,

129
00:06:20.695 --> 00:06:22.405
found something very different in Los,

130
00:06:22.505 --> 00:06:24.805
he was much more interested in the spatial concepts

131
00:06:25.275 --> 00:06:26.885
that Los, developed.

132
00:06:27.225 --> 00:06:29.725
So his ideas were more about tr

133
00:06:29.755 --> 00:06:32.805
that the complexity you can communicate through very,

134
00:06:32.805 --> 00:06:33.885
very simple materials.

135
00:06:34.385 --> 00:06:37.525
And for ler, ler really loved the mo the most

136
00:06:37.595 --> 00:06:39.205
complicated site you can find.

137
00:06:39.545 --> 00:06:41.285
So if it was on a, a, a site

138
00:06:41.285 --> 00:06:42.485
that absolutely no one would touch

139
00:06:42.485 --> 00:06:45.005
with a 10 foot pole on the side of a mountain, in, you know,

140
00:06:45.075 --> 00:06:47.045
Hollywood, that's gold for him.

141
00:06:47.305 --> 00:06:49.725
So difficulty is what he, he really thrived in

142
00:06:49.725 --> 00:06:52.245
and tried to make as complex, intricate,

143
00:06:52.785 --> 00:06:54.645
structures as possible.

144
00:06:54.645 --> 00:06:57.725
Whereas noche is all about refinement.

145
00:06:57.725 --> 00:06:58.965
So that from the beginning to end,

146
00:06:58.965 --> 00:07:01.125
it's really about refining details until it gets down

147
00:07:01.125 --> 00:07:03.325
to the one detail that's perfected.

148
00:07:03.665 --> 00:07:06.245
Um, and that will have this kind of, as he sees it,

149
00:07:06.455 --> 00:07:09.005
cumulative effect over the inhabitants over time

150
00:07:09.005 --> 00:07:11.485
and shape them, in fundamental ways.

151
00:07:12.025 --> 00:07:15.405
Now, I'll just add that ch the, the EAMS is, is a,

152
00:07:15.605 --> 00:07:17.405
I think if people come at this from another angle,

153
00:07:17.835 --> 00:07:21.205
they might find it strange to see, Charles

154
00:07:21.265 --> 00:07:24.285
and Ray Eames as linked in as I, as I do

155
00:07:24.285 --> 00:07:25.285
with someone like Schindler.

156
00:07:25.475 --> 00:07:29.205
They did not, Schindler Schindler died in, 52.

157
00:07:29.345 --> 00:07:31.445
So it's quite young when,

158
00:07:31.815 --> 00:07:33.885
quite early on in the Eames is queer when they knew him.

159
00:07:34.345 --> 00:07:36.365
Um, but the, I think that that,

160
00:07:36.395 --> 00:07:39.925
that the Eames has carried on the tradition that Schindler,

161
00:07:40.145 --> 00:07:43.005
started much more so than Neutra,

162
00:07:43.315 --> 00:07:46.685
even though stylistically I think people would think that,

163
00:07:47.225 --> 00:07:48.685
and they lived, the,

164
00:07:48.685 --> 00:07:51.165
the Eames is lived in a Nora apartment, so there's a kind

165
00:07:51.165 --> 00:07:52.765
of common sensical way in which they're linked,

166
00:07:52.945 --> 00:07:55.045
but in fact, I don't, I actually don't think that helps us

167
00:07:55.045 --> 00:07:57.645
to understand them much at all. Uh, that, yeah.

168
00:07:58.395 --> 00:07:59.485
Okay. Take that really good.

169
00:07:59.485 --> 00:08:01.085
So you spoke about space, you spoke about time.

170
00:08:01.105 --> 00:08:03.325
How about agency materiality, which you have touched upon,

171
00:08:03.505 --> 00:08:05.045
but a notion of human experience.

172
00:08:05.225 --> 00:08:06.225
How does that feed you?

173
00:08:07.355 --> 00:08:09.845
Yeah, so I, I, there's a long first chapter,

174
00:08:09.935 --> 00:08:11.605
which is all about,

175
00:08:12.105 --> 00:08:14.445
really centrally about Nora's conception

176
00:08:14.445 --> 00:08:15.485
of how materials function.

177
00:08:16.025 --> 00:08:17.045
And the argument there,

178
00:08:17.385 --> 00:08:20.165
and this is the argument that I think is, has impact on the,

179
00:08:20.165 --> 00:08:21.525
on the field as a whole, that is,

180
00:08:21.705 --> 00:08:23.445
is really not about California modern,

181
00:08:23.445 --> 00:08:26.285
but about the, the, our collective understanding of

182
00:08:26.285 --> 00:08:27.565
what architecture means and does.

183
00:08:28.145 --> 00:08:31.725
So what Nora does, Nora I is in, in California,

184
00:08:31.825 --> 00:08:34.445
and in 1928, Walter Gropius from the Bauhaus

185
00:08:34.635 --> 00:08:35.765
arrives into Los Angeles.

186
00:08:35.945 --> 00:08:39.165
So in May of 28, no Gropius is there visiting

187
00:08:39.165 --> 00:08:40.405
with Nora in Los Angeles.

188
00:08:40.705 --> 00:08:42.805
He invites Nora to come back to the Bauhaus.

189
00:08:42.985 --> 00:08:47.085
And what you see there is, a clarification of one,

190
00:08:47.565 --> 00:08:50.485
I think fundamental strain within modern architecture

191
00:08:50.485 --> 00:08:52.965
that derives from a brow house conception

192
00:08:52.965 --> 00:08:54.085
of architectural making.

193
00:08:54.105 --> 00:08:57.685
And what does that mean? That means that, as Gropius said,

194
00:08:57.865 --> 00:09:01.205
architecture controls psychological function.

195
00:09:01.625 --> 00:09:06.245
So the belief was that the inhabitants agency counts

196
00:09:06.245 --> 00:09:08.085
for very little, and the architect's

197
00:09:08.085 --> 00:09:09.365
agency counts for a lot.

198
00:09:09.785 --> 00:09:10.805
Now, it's not as if they're trying

199
00:09:10.805 --> 00:09:12.765
to express something with their structures.

200
00:09:12.765 --> 00:09:16.565
They thought that every shred of the built environment kind

201
00:09:16.565 --> 00:09:20.725
of rains down on you at all times, molding and shaping you.

202
00:09:20.745 --> 00:09:24.045
So the core term for this book about this one Bauhaus

203
00:09:24.045 --> 00:09:25.765
tradition, is human sculpting.

204
00:09:25.765 --> 00:09:28.925
That's a phrase from Bruno ta that this shape literally

205
00:09:29.475 --> 00:09:31.685
sculpts you in down to your DNA.

206
00:09:31.685 --> 00:09:34.285
So there's a lot of discussion about chromosomes.

207
00:09:34.285 --> 00:09:36.765
And then after, you know, in the mid fifties, DNA

208
00:09:36.765 --> 00:09:39.405
and then noche was obsessed with the idea

209
00:09:39.405 --> 00:09:42.405
that you could alter, chromosomes

210
00:09:42.425 --> 00:09:46.805
or DNA, it goes that kind of far down, in,

211
00:09:46.825 --> 00:09:48.645
in shaping it inhabitant over time.

212
00:09:48.985 --> 00:09:52.085
Now, Schindler, the Eames is not nothing about that ever.

213
00:09:52.085 --> 00:09:53.445
They had no interest in that whatsoever.

214
00:09:53.785 --> 00:09:56.365
So that's a kind of fundamental dividing line is whether

215
00:09:56.795 --> 00:09:58.685
architect shapes the inhabitant

216
00:09:58.825 --> 00:10:00.605
or whether it is the architect that's trying

217
00:10:00.605 --> 00:10:03.405
to express themselves, not in a kind of expressionistic way,

218
00:10:03.505 --> 00:10:05.325
but rather get their ideas across

219
00:10:06.475 --> 00:10:07.475
Well explained. Really good.

220
00:10:07.475 --> 00:10:08.645
Okay. So back to the book

221
00:10:08.945 --> 00:10:10.885
or throughout this, we're gonna speak about it, but,

222
00:10:10.885 --> 00:10:12.725
but in terms of the actual, the book itself,

223
00:10:12.725 --> 00:10:15.205
visual elements, how do they sort of compliment,

224
00:10:15.205 --> 00:10:16.525
the textual discussions in your

225
00:10:17.555 --> 00:10:19.885
Yeah, so one thing that's crucial is the use

226
00:10:19.885 --> 00:10:21.125
of architectural photography.

227
00:10:21.305 --> 00:10:24.165
And, I'm grateful that the Getty allows the photographs

228
00:10:24.165 --> 00:10:26.325
of Jewel Schulman, to be used freely.

229
00:10:26.665 --> 00:10:29.645
And Schulman was a, is a, a giant figure in this world.

230
00:10:30.025 --> 00:10:32.085
Um, Schulman's photographs, which many people know,

231
00:10:32.085 --> 00:10:35.485
and they're, they're the kind of, you know, the, the,

232
00:10:36.275 --> 00:10:38.765
stylistic calling card of mid-century modern, if you like.

233
00:10:39.145 --> 00:10:41.525
Um, and, and Schulman is a very great architect.

234
00:10:41.875 --> 00:10:45.085
What, and so the, the reason I feature the photograph

235
00:10:45.085 --> 00:10:46.485
and why photography features

236
00:10:46.485 --> 00:10:50.605
so fundamentally in this book is that, it is the moment

237
00:10:50.665 --> 00:10:54.565
before the user arrives, Sonora leans on Schulman

238
00:10:55.095 --> 00:10:57.485
above all, because it gets him a sense of

239
00:10:57.485 --> 00:10:59.365
what the architecture is before people arrive.

240
00:10:59.395 --> 00:11:01.925
Because when people arrive, the idea is distorted.

241
00:11:02.305 --> 00:11:04.805
And, the, the idea

242
00:11:05.085 --> 00:11:08.725
that architectural can is under threat and will not survive.

243
00:11:09.645 --> 00:11:11.365
Cher's book is called Survival Through Design.

244
00:11:11.705 --> 00:11:14.485
He really means the survival of the identity, of the idea

245
00:11:14.485 --> 00:11:16.485
of the architecture through its users.

246
00:11:17.145 --> 00:11:20.285
Um, so he is concerned fundamentally about

247
00:11:20.345 --> 00:11:24.285
how people will mess up, his designs.

248
00:11:24.395 --> 00:11:27.805
There's these amazing, you know, moments

249
00:11:27.855 --> 00:11:31.085
where he goes into someone's house 30 years later

250
00:11:31.465 --> 00:11:33.645
and there's a watercolor on the wall,

251
00:11:33.665 --> 00:11:36.805
and he, it draws out how to frame it in particular ways,

252
00:11:37.025 --> 00:11:38.445
so it'll kind of move off the wall.

253
00:11:38.465 --> 00:11:40.725
So when interrupt his architecture, so they'll kind of like

254
00:11:41.325 --> 00:11:45.205
handling all the way down is, is certainly, part of

255
00:11:45.205 --> 00:11:46.645
what Nora's sensibility is.

256
00:11:46.785 --> 00:11:50.965
So the photographs represent before, the people arrive.

257
00:11:51.505 --> 00:11:54.845
Um, so that, that's really why Noche valued them.

258
00:11:54.895 --> 00:11:58.485
Above all, it, it functions differently with the Ames.

259
00:11:58.485 --> 00:12:01.005
Photography functions differently with the ames,

260
00:12:01.005 --> 00:12:02.725
but it's a kind of related issue.

261
00:12:03.225 --> 00:12:05.725
Um, I can just, I can touch on that.

262
00:12:05.905 --> 00:12:10.725
So with the ees is, the, the, the, the core paradox

263
00:12:10.725 --> 00:12:13.125
with the Eames is, is they start out in

264
00:12:13.125 --> 00:12:15.405
architecture and furniture.

265
00:12:15.405 --> 00:12:17.645
So they design a house for themselves, a showroom,

266
00:12:17.825 --> 00:12:20.245
and of course, most famously their furniture,

267
00:12:20.465 --> 00:12:25.125
but they really fundamentally shift their design commitments

268
00:12:25.145 --> 00:12:26.925
to photography and above all film.

269
00:12:27.145 --> 00:12:30.645
So they make over a hundred films, many of which, most

270
00:12:30.645 --> 00:12:31.765
of which have not been seen.

271
00:12:32.265 --> 00:12:35.245
And the idea, what they became uncomfortable

272
00:12:35.245 --> 00:12:37.165
with was producing architecture

273
00:12:37.705 --> 00:12:41.085
or in, in that sense, anything that could be changed

274
00:12:41.145 --> 00:12:42.245
or shaped by the user.

275
00:12:42.825 --> 00:12:46.445
Um, so the, what attracted them to furniture, first of all,

276
00:12:46.445 --> 00:12:48.685
was it, they called it architecture

277
00:12:48.685 --> 00:12:50.965
or miniature, where you control every single element.

278
00:12:51.155 --> 00:12:53.925
There's no, they can't get their mitts on it, right?

279
00:12:53.925 --> 00:12:55.645
You can't hang a watercolor on a furniture.

280
00:12:56.065 --> 00:12:59.885
Um, and film was really the apotheosis of their approach,

281
00:12:59.885 --> 00:13:03.125
because in that way, there was no alter it ever,

282
00:13:03.505 --> 00:13:05.885
as they said, it will never erode once it's in the can.

283
00:13:05.885 --> 00:13:08.445
They said it's fixed forever in the ways

284
00:13:08.445 --> 00:13:09.685
that architecture was not.

285
00:13:10.185 --> 00:13:11.845
So what is the paradox,

286
00:13:11.865 --> 00:13:16.205
as I say about the ES is they in a sense produced a massive

287
00:13:16.265 --> 00:13:19.325
amount, 10,000, 20,000 photographs

288
00:13:19.345 --> 00:13:20.925
or the Library of Congress, I mean,

289
00:13:20.965 --> 00:13:23.405
I don't know if anyone looks at them, but there's thousands

290
00:13:23.405 --> 00:13:24.845
and thousands of photographs,

291
00:13:25.265 --> 00:13:27.525
but all of them never in the service

292
00:13:27.585 --> 00:13:29.485
of making any product, right?

293
00:13:29.505 --> 00:13:32.405
So what they, the, the core term for them becomes modeling.

294
00:13:32.865 --> 00:13:36.165
So the modeling is you do everything up to making the thing.

295
00:13:36.725 --> 00:13:37.765
'cause once you make the thing,

296
00:13:37.995 --> 00:13:39.805
then you impose your, your work on the world.

297
00:13:39.865 --> 00:13:42.125
And then that they, they didn't wanna have any,

298
00:13:42.125 --> 00:13:43.645
they didn't wanna have that responsibility.

299
00:13:43.955 --> 00:13:46.205
They were deeply concerned about the idea

300
00:13:46.205 --> 00:13:48.605
that they would be imposing what they're doing on the world

301
00:13:48.865 --> 00:13:50.765
or not, just kind of the exact opposite.

302
00:13:50.785 --> 00:13:52.765
His whole point was that you have to mold

303
00:13:52.765 --> 00:13:55.445
and shape the world, and how are you gonna do that best?

304
00:13:55.665 --> 00:13:57.765
The Eames were like, yes, they agreed.

305
00:13:57.765 --> 00:13:59.565
In a sense, it will shape the viewer,

306
00:13:59.585 --> 00:14:01.165
and that's why we're not gonna do it.

307
00:14:03.745 --> 00:14:05.065
Brilliant. So you spoke about Prota,

308
00:14:05.085 --> 00:14:06.505
the protagonist throughout the interview.

309
00:14:06.505 --> 00:14:08.145
What about you in terms of your writing

310
00:14:08.195 --> 00:14:09.345
style in, in the book?

311
00:14:09.445 --> 00:14:10.945
Can you tell us a bit about how that helps us

312
00:14:11.205 --> 00:14:14.865
or how it helps readers, reengage with the theory

313
00:14:14.925 --> 00:14:16.545
of California modernist archite?

314
00:14:17.455 --> 00:14:19.785
Yeah, I, I mean, as I say, I think there's been a kind

315
00:14:19.785 --> 00:14:23.145
of disservice to this architecture in the sense that,

316
00:14:23.145 --> 00:14:26.545
that people are not taking it as serious as it was.

317
00:14:27.045 --> 00:14:29.985
So these are very serious, deep thinking people.

318
00:14:30.365 --> 00:14:32.505
Um, you know, neutro is,

319
00:14:32.825 --> 00:14:34.865
a deeply intellectual in his way

320
00:14:35.005 --> 00:14:36.505
and wrote, you know, there's,

321
00:14:36.505 --> 00:14:39.985
there's a least 20 unpublished books that he, he, he wrote,

322
00:14:40.445 --> 00:14:42.545
and thought very seriously.

323
00:14:42.805 --> 00:14:44.865
And, but no one takes that very seriously.

324
00:14:45.245 --> 00:14:46.425
Um, the Eames has wrote,

325
00:14:46.805 --> 00:14:48.145
and Charles Eames in particular,

326
00:14:48.185 --> 00:14:50.145
lectured all over the country, all over the world.

327
00:14:50.705 --> 00:14:54.685
I was a deeply kind of, reflective

328
00:14:54.685 --> 00:14:56.885
and meditative thinker about the practice of architecture.

329
00:14:57.185 --> 00:14:59.285
So, in terms of my writing style, I want it to be

330
00:14:59.285 --> 00:15:00.645
as transparent as possible.

331
00:15:00.945 --> 00:15:04.045
Uh, but I also want it to be serious in a way again, that I,

332
00:15:04.045 --> 00:15:06.645
there's really not much of a literature

333
00:15:06.745 --> 00:15:09.965
or narrative about this period except for very kind

334
00:15:09.965 --> 00:15:11.965
of simplistic ones based in style.

335
00:15:15.185 --> 00:15:16.405
That's about all the time we have.

336
00:15:16.405 --> 00:15:18.205
If you told, I was gonna ask you, what do you hope one

337
00:15:18.205 --> 00:15:19.565
of those piffy questions, what do you hope

338
00:15:19.565 --> 00:15:20.765
readers take from the work?

339
00:15:20.905 --> 00:15:22.805
Do you wanna answer that? I mean, do you want to do that?

340
00:15:23.355 --> 00:15:24.725
It's a bit piffy. You don't have to.

341
00:15:25.395 --> 00:15:27.845
Yeah. I mean, if in, in terms of

342
00:15:27.845 --> 00:15:30.365
what readers should get out of this is, again, to kind

343
00:15:30.365 --> 00:15:33.125
of come back to this work with a sense of the, the

344
00:15:34.835 --> 00:15:37.155
conflicting sets of intentions that define the nature

345
00:15:37.155 --> 00:15:40.155
of this work, that it shouldn't be understood simply in

346
00:15:40.155 --> 00:15:43.475
terms of its stylistic facade dimensions,

347
00:15:43.475 --> 00:15:44.795
but rather in terms of its intent.

348
00:15:44.935 --> 00:15:47.275
So two structures that might look like might

349
00:15:47.345 --> 00:15:48.555
mean very differently.

350
00:15:48.815 --> 00:15:50.795
That's what I hope readers will be attuned to.

351
00:15:51.145 --> 00:15:53.435
Yeah. Brilliant. Lovely. Fantastic. Let's wrap.

352
00:15:53.435 --> 00:15:53.955
Lemme see back on the.

Quick Answers

Title: Unveiling the Essence of California Modern Architecture

00:00:00 - California architecture falls under the heading what most people would call mid-century modern. Mid-century modern is a general term that covers really the world in architecture. but a lot of the stylistic, identity of mid-century modern emerges from California, from the architects that I talk about, but California modern specifically. it runs from, you know, the 19, really from 1920 to about 1970 or so. and you can kind of bookend it with the lives of, of two great architects, the arrival of people like Rudolph Schindler and Richard Nora into California, and then the death of Richard Neutra in 1970.
00:00:36 - of the equation is, their use of materials is a little different than, maybe some other modern architecture. It's warmer, so there's a use of wood and water and stone and things like that, and not as identified with things like, quite as identified with things like steel or heavy duty permanence of someone like a meese vanderau. So I grew up in California. I was surrounded by these, these things, not that, not that they meant anything to me, but I was around this architecture
00:01:08 - and I had a very good, good teacher who when I then returned to California, after, working at Northwestern for a little while, I began to look at this architecture differently. And like many people in California who are interested in architecture, they pick up this guidebook by g Harden winters. And I used it and drove around to every single remaining structure that was around in, this was in 19 97, 19 98. And I photographed everything I could find. and it wasn't quite as cherished back then. Believe me.

"Unveiling the Complexity of Mid-Century Modern Architecture: Beyond the Label"

00:01:40 - the late nineties. Now, I'll add one other thing to that, in terms of motivation. so I grew up there and it, and then I came back to see it and, and new way, but my family's also, Viennese. So, the two major architects and several others, even, Richard Nora and Rudolph Schindler, both from Vienna. So there was a kind of a connection I felt to that, to that world. I think the big problem with this under the understanding
00:02:12 - and it is framed largely in this kind of MCM or mid-century modern, categorical framework. and that's kind of a marketing term, more than anything so associated with lots of, you know, mag design magazines, basically. and it has been for quite a while, at least since the eighties. but I don't think that does much justice, to the material. So what happened for me is once I started looking at it, I started seeing, that it is as complex and divided
00:02:45 - as any period of great art making. And, and I should add that I really do think of this period. You know, the really, from the 1930s to the 1960s is a kind of golden age of architecture, in the 20th century. So, but like all golden ages, you know, if you go back to the Renaissance, there, there's, there's conflict. so the mid-century modern as a label really doesn't do justice to the kind of core differences that, that drive the, mo different kinds of expression there.

Title: Architectural Competitions and Contrasts: Nora and Schindler's Battle over the Legacy of Los

00:03:16 - Lois and Vienna. And I think one way to describe what's happening between those two architects is they're trying to, they're competing over the lineage of Los, in the United States. Both of them were highly productive architects. Nora in particular, was extremely productive in ways that someone like Adolf Los was not at all. but they took different ideas from Los, and, and, and kind of, took his lineage into competing
00:03:46 - NECHO was much more concerned with time to, to simplify matters, much more concerned with the, the, the understanding of his architecture over time. So his fundamental concern was that it affects you, 365 days a year, as he says. continuously. It's, I mean, it's actually coming out of, you know, the lockdowns. You get to know your house very, very well. And I think Deutsche was incredibly attuned to the idea that your environment shapes you. And he meant that in the most literal way, conceivable,
00:04:19 - found something very different in lows. He was much more interested in the spatial concepts that lows, developed. So his ideas were more about tr that the complexity you can communicate through very, very simple materials, and for Shin really loved the mo the most complicated site you can find. So if it was on a, a, a site that absolutely no one would touch with a 10 foot pole on the side of a mountain, in, you know, Hollywood, that's gold for him. So difficulty is what he, he really thrived in

"Refinement vs. Tradition: The Architectural Legacy of Neutra, Eames, and Schindler"

00:04:51 - structures as possible. Whereas noche is all about refinement. So that from the beginning to end, it's really about refining details until it gets down to the one detail that's perfected and that will have this kind of, as he sees it, cumulative effect over the inhabitants over time and shape them, in fundamental ways. Now, I'll just add that ch the, the Eames is, is this, I think if people come at this from another angle, they might find it strange to see, Charles
00:05:22 - as I do with someone like Schindler. They did not, Schindler died in, 52. So it's quite young when, quite early on in the Eames is queer when they knew him. but I think that that, that the Eames has carried on the tradition that Schindler, started much more so than Neutra, even though stylistically I think people would think that, and they lived, the, the Eames is lived in a Nora apartment, so there's a kind of common sensical way in which they're linked,
00:05:53 - to understand them much at all. There's the long first chapter, which is all about, really centrally about Nora's conception of how materials function. And the argument there, and this is the argument that I think is, has impact on the, on the field as a whole, that is, is really not about California modern, but about the, the, our collective understanding of what architecture means and does. So what Nora does, noche is in California, and in 1928, Walter Gropius from the Bauhaus arrives into Los Angeles.

"Human Sculpting in Modern Architecture: The Bauhaus Influence and Intent in Architectural Making"

00:06:25 - with Nora in Los Angeles. He invites noche to come back to the Bauhaus. And what you see there is, a clarification of one, I think fundamental strain within modern architecture that derives from a brow house conception of architectural making. And what does that mean? That means that, as Gropius said, architecture controls psychological function. So the belief was that the inhabitants agency counts
00:06:54 - agency counts for a lot. Now, it's not as if they're trying to express something with their structures. They thought that every shred of the built environment kind of reigns down on you at all times, molding and shaping you. So the core term for this book about this one Bauhaus tradition, is human sculpting. That's a phrase from Bruno ta that this shape literally sculpts you in down to your DNA. So there's a lot of discussion about chromosomes. And then after, you know, in the mid fifties, DNA
00:07:25 - that you could alter, chromosomes or DNA, it goes that kind of far down, in, in shaping the inhabitant over time. Now, Schindler, the Eames is thought nothing about that ever. They have no interest in that whatsoever. So that's a kind of fundamental dividing line is whether architect shapes the inhabitant or whether it is the architect that's trying to express themselves, not in a kind of expressionistic way, but rather get their ideas across. I'm grateful that the Getty allows the photographs

Title: "Schulman's Photographs: Capturing the Essence of Mid-Century Modern Architecture"

00:07:56 - And Schulman was a, a, a giant figure in this world. Schulman's photographs, which many people know, and they're, they're the kind of, you know, the, the, stylistic calling card of mid-century modern, if you like. and, and Schulman is a very great architect. What, and so the, the reason I feature the photograph and why photography features so fundamentally in this book is that, it is the moment before the user arrives. So Nora leans on Schulman above all,
00:08:28 - before people arrive. Because when people arrive, the idea is distorted. And, the, the idea that architectural can is under threat and will not survive. Cher's book is called Survival Through Design. He really means the survival of the identity, of the idea of the architecture through its users. so he is concerned fundamentally about how people will mess up, his designs. There's these amazing, you know, moments
00:09:01 - and there's a watercolor on the wall, and he, it draws out how to frame it in particular ways, so it'll kind of move off the wall. So when interrupt his architecture, so they'll kind of like handling all the way down is certainly, part of what Che's sensibility is. So the photographs represent before, the people arrive. so that, that's really why noche valued them. Above all, it, it functions differently with the Aimes photography functions differently,

Title: "Evolution of Design Principles: Eames' Transition from Architecture to Film"

00:09:32 - The core paradox with the Aimes is, is they start out in architecture and furniture. So they design a house for themselves, a showroom, and of course, most famously their furniture, but they really fundamentally shift their design commitments to photography and above all film. So they make over a hundred films, many of which, most of which have not been seen. And the idea, what they became uncomfortable with was producing architecture,
00:10:02 - that could be changed or shaped by the user. so the, what attracted them to furniture, first of all, was they called it architecture miniature, where you control every single element. There's no, they can't get their mitts on it, right? You can't hang a watercolor on a furniture. and film was really the apotheosis of their approach, because in that way, there was no alter it ever, as they said, it will never erode once it's in the can said it's fixed forever in the ways that architecture was not.
00:10:37 - in a sense produced a massive amount, 10,000, 20,000 photographs or the Library of Congress. I mean, I don't know if anyone looks at them. There's thousands and thousands of photographs, but all of them never in the service of making any product, right? So what they, the, the core term for them becomes modeling. So the modeling is you do everything up to making the thing. 'cause once you make the thing, then you impose your, your work on the world. And then that they, they didn't want to have any,

"The Deep Thinking and Intentionality Behind Mid-Century Modern Architecture"

00:11:07 - They were deeply concerned about the idea that they would be imposing what they're doing on the world, or nor just kind of the exact opposite. His whole point was that you have to mold and shape the world, and how are you gonna do that best? The Eames were like, yes, they agreed in a sense it will shape the viewer, and that's why we're not gonna do it. I think there's been a kind of disservice to this architecture in the sense that people are not taking it as serious as it was. So these are very serious, deep thinking people.
00:11:40 - and wrote, you know, there's, there's at least 20 unpublished books that he, he, he wrote, and thought very seriously. And, but no one takes that very seriously. the Eames is wrote, and Charles Eames in particular lectured all over the country, all over the world. I was a deeply kind of, reflective and meditative thinker about the practice of architecture. So in terms of my writing style, I want it to be as transparent as possible.
00:12:09 - that there's really not much of a literature or narrative about this period except for very kind of simplistic ones based in style, in terms of what readers should get outta This is, again, to kind of come back to this work with a sense of the, the conflicting sets of intentions that define the nature of this work. That it shouldn't be understood simply in terms of its stylistic facade dimensions, but rather in terms of its intent. So two structures that might look alike might

"Delving Deeper: Unveiling the Intent Behind Mid-Century Modern Architecture in California"

00:12:39 - That's what I hope readers will be attuned to.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis

Data

Originals

Explainers

Podcasts