architect uses against the opposing arbitrariness and stylistic consistency, as well as a catalyst to unleash experience. 20
Employing a Concept: Music as Method
Figure 7: Stretto House initial watercolour sketches by Steven Holl
In the first phase of Steven Holl’s work, in the late 80s and 90s, the theme of the house is already presented as a mixture of two categories: the American vernacular tradition and his mainspring of research, the “limited concepts”. However important the references to traditional typologies may be, Holl combines them with and adapts them to the client requirements and his own evocative and literary impulses. 21
In the case of the Stretto House, inspiration began with the four masonry dams existing on the site. Holl wanted to use concrete block which is Dallas vernacular; many buildings in Dallas are made of concrete block and metal roofs. 22 Additionally, the need for protection from the Figure 8: Existing spring fed scorching Texas sun led the architect to explore the ideas of shadow and ponds overlap. 23 Nevertheless, this house most exemplifies the poetic nature of Steven Holl’s architecture, as well as his method of following an initial concept to its fullest realization. 24 Subsequent to its completion, in Parallax, published in the year 2000, he says that “Concepts, the tools one uses to drive design, transcend ideological arguments. We work from a limited concept, unique for each site and circumstance.”. 25 So, in his attempt to release the form of his architecture from the shackles of the modern he now based it on references to music, in this case the fugue stretto, where the imitation of the subject in close succession is answered before it is completed. He imagined that this dovetailing musical concept could be an idea for a fluid connection of architectural spaces. A piece of music was
Figure 9: The composition of the roof form according to the musical composition.
Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 7; Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 22. 21 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson), 14. 22 Steven Holl, Yukio Futagawa, Toyo Ito, Global Architecture (GA) Architect 11: Steven Holl, 1st ed. (A.D.A. Edita), 22. 23 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), page behind cover. 24 Steven Holl, Stretto House (The Monacelli Press, Inc.), 7. 25 Francesco Garofalo, Steven Holl (Thames and Hudson). 20
