KAUFMANN DESERT HOUSE
The Kaufmann House was constructed from 1946 to 1947 by architect Richard Neutra as an escape from the northeast for EJ Kaufmann.
EJ and his family, ten years earlier, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build Fallingwater. It was their current residence. But cold weather and recent excursions to the west coast lead the Kaufmann's to build a desert home in Southern California. Mr. Kaufmann, scared by the tenuous construction process of Fallingwater, awarded the commission of his desert home to Richard Neutra. Reportedly EJ was underwhelmed by Taliesin, and instead drawn to the modernist hill side homes being built by Neutra in Southern California. [ 1 ] Neutra was receiving high praise in LA for work, and by this pointed had completed over 30 projects in his 'modernist international style,' post his tenure with Frank.
"Unlike Fallingwater, which sought to harmonize the man-made with nature, Neutra's sleek modern pavilion -- floating planes of glass, steel and stone -- stands in sharp contrast to the craggy hills." [ 2 ] The desert house was not constructed as a native structure in the manner of Frank Lloyd Wright; to the contrary, Neutra introduces a modern European villa which contrasts it's environment.
The stone walls are a stacked Utah stone laid in a mortar-less ashlar pattern, and the exterior partitions are floor-to-ceiling glass. The 3,800 sqft Palm Springs home sits on a roughly two and half acre site at the base of Mount San Jacinto in Arizona. At the heart of this residence lies the living quarter, both a living room and dining room which extend out toward the exterior in a pinwheel pattern. The three distinct roof planes blur the threshold between interior and exterior space. By concealing the structural headers above the openings and the line of the top plate, the roof lines provide continuity, and panoramic perspectives of the desert. [ 3 ]
"..thin sheet-metal faced roof-planes that extend beyond the glass walls creating an illusion that the roofs hover weightlessly over transparent planes that either disappear or reflect the dramatic natural surroundings. A double cantilever allows the absence of a corner post in the master bedroom (where the glass doors meet at a 90-degree angle) giving a powerful illusion of a floating roof." [ 4 ]
The genesis of the Kaufmann house is in large part a culmination of Neutra's
hillside experimentations. Neutra took advantage of the post war era, and implemented steel instead of wood. He set a precedent on how to enlarge openings, and extending cantilevers.
He rethought function, and reorganized a traditional floor plan by allowing each space to open up to its surroundings. The pinwheel plan works in tandem with the extended roofing planes, to reduce the affects of radiant gain, and unite the interior and exterior.
This project is a prelude to Neutra's Case Study House #20a, completed the following year.
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1. ^ Ouroussoffnov, Niccolai (November 26 2006)
"The Apprentices" New York Times.
2. ^ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (October 1 2015)
"Richard Neutra" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neutra
3. ^ Gray, Kevin (September 23 2001)
"Modern Gothic" New York Times.
4. ^ McGrew, Patrick (June 12 2012)
"The Hidden History of the Kaufmann House" www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/the-hidden-history-of-the-kaufmann-house