Imagine working for Frank Lloyd Wright and disagreeing with his design philosophy.
Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to This House. Today we are exploring the house
of Richard Neutra who pushed for function over form. Make sure to
hit that describe button so you never miss an exciting episode of "This House"!!
In 1892, Richard Neutra was born to a wealthy family in Vienna, Austria which afforded him
the ability to pursue his dream of becoming an architect. After attending University, he
continued his education under Adolf Loos in 1910. Loos was an architectural visionary who challenged
the young Neutra to cast aside his preconceived notions of architecture. At this school,
Neutra attended the famous lecture given by Loos which lead to his manifesto, titled “Ornament and
Crime” in which Loos posited “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of
ornamentation from objects of everyday use.” This way of thinking stripped architecture of artistry,
reducing buildings to their fundamental forms as functional expressions of geometry.
Instead of committing artists to years of work on a single building, the philosophy aimed to
replace art with nature, decorating buildings with natural wood grains and beautiful stone striations
in a neat and orderly fashion so as to not distract from a building’s geometric expression.
When World War One broke out, Neutra’s education came to a halt as he was drafted
for military service. This exposure to the best and worst of humanity, mixed with the
revolutionary lessons of minimalism, inspired him to create his own distinctive style.
When the war ended, he moved to the United States to work under Frank Lloyd Wright,
but quickly realized the flaw in Frank’s practice. He became critical of the manner in which Wright
would ignore his clients’ needs and impose his own, impractical vision upon them. So he left the
practice and moved to Los Angeles to work with his friend Rudolf Schindler where his career took off.
He developed a system of interviews and questionnaires for his clients so
that he could understand in great detail how they lived their day to day lives,
then he would design a house to perfectly fit their needs.
He saw several of Frank Lloyd Wright’s clients coming to him to design more practical homes,
including Edgar Kaufmann who had commissioned Wright’s most famous work, Falling Water.
To sell his clients on his abilities, he would have them meet at his house in Los Angeles. It had
been built in 1932 for a total cost of 10,000 dollars, the modern day equivalent of about
220,000 dollars. The bulk of the houses rooms were designed around a central stair hall where Neutra
manipulated the space to feel larger by seamlessly tying it to the outdoors by use of floor to
ceiling windows creating voidal corners where the house seemed to disappear into the garden.
He further incorporated strategically placed mirrors to not only reflect natural
light into the interior, but to create the illusion of more space just out of reach.
Unlike his contemporaries, such as Mies Van de Rohe, Neutra created an open floor plan
with cleverly designed private zones allowing the family of 5 to each seek their own private
retreats. Being on a tight budget, each of these rooms could only afford so many square feet,
so he incorporated built in furniture below curtain walls with planar elements extending
from the interior to the exterior, exaggerating the perception of space.
Neutral tones were used throughout, allowing the interiors to hold as much natural light as
possible, puncturing walls with pass throughs to not only allow light to flood the interior,
but to allow sightlines to continue, once again creating the illusion of more space.
Just as he was taught by Loos, he incorporated geometry in its purest form,
using shapes and natural grains in place of ornamentation to create an experience
of pure architectural form without distraction,
allowing beauty to come not from artistry, but from the clean lines of the international style.
Unfortunately, in 1963, the house was destroyed in a fire along with Neutra’s sketches and original
artwork, but his son helped him rebuild a nearly perfect replica. He enjoyed the house
until his passing in 1970, never seeing his design philosophy take off with the masses in the way in
which he had envisioned. In fact, nearly 50 years after his death, long after the mid-century-modern
movement his home designs are being revisited with a new eye as luxury home builders swap
out grooved millwork and tile work for solid stone slabs and continuous, simple wood planes,
reviving this notion that nature and geometry, when combined, creates a timeless style.
Today, the home of Richard Neutra, known as the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences,
is open to the public for tours at Cal Poly Pomona.
What do you think of his design? Could you live in a house like this? Let me
know down below in the comments section. And while you’re there,
make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of "This House"