"He conceded little; admired less; railed against Los Angeles; ploughed through the massive published set of Le Corbusier sketches and found them "worthless"; assailed Robert Venturi, Michael Graves, and Frank Gehry as slaves to "superficial effect"; accused Richard Neutra of simply reproducing the same idea for every setting."LAT
i visited several of lautner's houses while in l.a. and was blown away. beautiful and thoughtful work, from overall scope down to details.
but i'd posit that there's another reason he stayed in l.a. besides the tech industries: weather. a lot of these houses - and a lot of his experimenting with details - could only work where freeze/thaw and water infiltration were minor concerns. such luxury!
Lautner's work is very interesting. His houses really seem to bridge the mid-century modern movements and the organic movement. His seemed to use geometry in a fashion reminiscent of Wright - while at the same time making buildings that seem sleek and futuristic. (However, not all his work was so sleek and futuristic) I read somewhere that concrete was his favorite material to use because it allowed him to create the forms he was looking for. Much of his work is organic and somewhat minimalistic at the same time. Wallace Cunningham and Helena Arahuete seem to follow in this tradition.
Interestingly enough, Lautner was from Michigan's Upper Peninsula which features some brutally rugged winter weather. Hardly a surprise that he chose to live & work in sunny Southern California. Even so, it's my understanding that Lautner did at least one home near Marquette, Michigan. I'd be curious to see what thay one looks like.
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i visited several of lautner's houses while in l.a. and was blown away. beautiful and thoughtful work, from overall scope down to details.
but i'd posit that there's another reason he stayed in l.a. besides the tech industries: weather. a lot of these houses - and a lot of his experimenting with details - could only work where freeze/thaw and water infiltration were minor concerns. such luxury!
Lautner's work is very interesting. His houses really seem to bridge the mid-century modern movements and the organic movement. His seemed to use geometry in a fashion reminiscent of Wright - while at the same time making buildings that seem sleek and futuristic. (However, not all his work was so sleek and futuristic) I read somewhere that concrete was his favorite material to use because it allowed him to create the forms he was looking for. Much of his work is organic and somewhat minimalistic at the same time. Wallace Cunningham and Helena Arahuete seem to follow in this tradition.
definitely on to something steven.
i love the sheats-goldstein residence, but i doubt this would work in kentucky!
yep.
Interestingly enough, Lautner was from Michigan's Upper Peninsula which features some brutally rugged winter weather. Hardly a surprise that he chose to live & work in sunny Southern California. Even so, it's my understanding that Lautner did at least one home near Marquette, Michigan. I'd be curious to see what thay one looks like.
I don't see a yooper project (http://www.johnlautner.org/projects.html), but he did apparently do one in Alaska.
ahh... the sheets-goldstein residence - home of Jackie Treehorn in the Big Lebowski - awesome movie, awesome house.
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