From Luckenwalde to Los Angeles: Neutra’s Forgotten Forest Cemetery
From Luckenwalde to Los Angeles: Neutra’s Forgotten Forest Cemetery Context: A symposium held by the Historical Society of Southern California at the Autry Museum, Saturday 2 April 2010 on Los Angeles 1919 to 1945, addressed art, photography, music, literary culture, and architecture. One speaker was invited to address each arena. I contributed the presentation on architecture, and … Continue reading
At first glance, Modernism’s Stolid Soldier: Neutra and Alexander’s Los Angeles County Hall of Records
I had always considered the Los Angeles County Hall of Records, 1962, to be a soldierly but stolid example of mid-century Modernism. Reconsidering it through a visit and looking at correspondence was a revelation. In fact, this building, primarily famous for the technical prowess of its striking 120-foot-tall, south-facing aluminum louvers, is really a lesson … Continue reading
Orange Coast College: Neutra, Alexander, Eckbo
Orange Coast College’s original legacy campus, the world’s only college campus designed by the powerful trio of master architect Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander with master landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, Eckbo, Royston and Williams, is proposed to be demolished. Neutra and Alexander were assisted by noted Orange County architect William Blurock, FAIA, among others. Here … Continue reading
“Untamed Orange”: Schuller, Neutra, and Semper at the Garden Grove Arboretum
Throughout the entire campus of the former Crystal Cathedral there is only one single note of color on a building. A large orange panel terminates the long length of glass on the east face of the former Garden Grove Community Church, the famous “drive-in” church designed by Richard Neutra (1892 – 1970) in 1960 and … Continue reading
Neutra’s Boomerang Chair: Fanfare for the Common Man
Boomerang Film: http://vimeo.com/100401679 and http://www.vs-neutra.com/# The Boomerang Chair, apparently, is a contradiction. Its playful shape, its materials of cloth and plywood, is not what we expect from a proper mid-century chair. And it certainly doesn’t fit our stereotype of Richard Neutra: a thoroughly pedigreed Modernism: sleek and coolly sophisticated. Shouldn’t his furniture be all chrome and … Continue reading
Two Sister Buildings: America Demolishes the Cyclorama, Pakistan Saves the Embassy
After a well-executed legal battle of 13 years, including a 1998 determination by the National Register of Historic Places of its “exceptional historic and architectural significance,” the Gettysburg Memorial known as the Cyclorama has been demolished by the National Park Service. Dedicated November 19, 1962, demolition of the structure commenced February 18, 2013 with asbestos … Continue reading
From Brain to Building and Back: Two Conferences on Architecture and Neuroscience
Two conferences on neuroscience and architecture, the first in September and oriented to science, the second in November more weighted in architecture and architectural theory, are a comment itself on the growing recognition of the potential connection between the two disciplines. It’s difficult not to compare the two gatherings. Both venues were seminal works designed … Continue reading
The Obsolescence of Optimism? Neutra and Alexander’s U.S. Embassy, Karachi, Pakistan
View of the former U.S. Embassy, Karachi, Pakistan. Photo by Lucien Hervé. Source: scanned from Richard Neutra 1961 – 1966, Buildings and Projects, Thames and Hudson. Camera facing southwest. Dedicated to the Honorable John Christopher Stevens, Ambassador of the United States of America: What happens to an outmoded mid-century American embassy? Given the consistently tortured relationship … Continue reading
Mariners Medical Art Center, Newport Beach, California
Below is my response May 3, 2012, to a proposal that would drastically alter one of Neutra’s best works, Mariners Medical Arts Center. The original project architect was John Blanton, a lead designer in Neutra’s office, an especially gifted designer who while self-effacing, skillfully acquitted Neutra’s intentions. The letter, addressed to the planner in charge … Continue reading
Endangered Ecstasy: The Connell House, Pebble Beach, Richard Neutra, 1958
The facade simultaneously invites entry but affords privacy, shielding both the house beyond as well as the sweeping views from the cliff down to the sea, views privileged to the owner. Note, too, how Neutra slows your journey to the front door, a strategy he witnessed in Japan. The flawlessly sited 4,124-square-foot 1958 Connell House by … Continue reading
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