CASE STUDY HOUSE 8 :
EAMES HOUSE
KP interior design
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S CHARLES & RAY EAMES
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THE CASE STUDY PROGRAM PROGRAM PARTI
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MATERIALS
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SUSTAINABILITY RELATIONSHIPS CITATIONS
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C H A R L E S & R A Y EAMES
Charles and Ray Eames innovated the way materials, architecture, and design are looked at today. The pair met when Ray Kaiser assisted Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen in their Museum of Modern Art’s Organic funriture competition in 1940, they married the following year. Once married they moved to California and continued their furniture design work of molding plywood. Their furniture is still being produced today and being sold throughout the United States. MOLDED PLYWOOD CHAIR
THE C A S E S T U D Y H O U S E P R O G R A M THE BRIDGE HOUSE
The Eames House was designed in 1949 as a part of the Case Study House Program created by John Etenza, the editor of Architecture + the Arts magazine. The House was meant for a married couple who had a passion and a career in design and graphic art. It was to be for a couple who’s children were already grown up and no longer living at home. Before the Eames House was designed for the program, Charles Eames had originally designed another house in 1945 for the site, the Bridge House. The Bridge House design was postponed due to the second world war and after four years, the design was modified and what came out of it is one of the most important post-war residences in the world, the Eames House.
PROGRAM The program of the house is designed to function as a living and work space. The spaces are seperated into two seperate buildings and connected by a courtyard. The living area is split into two stories. The kitchen and living room on the first floor and the bedrooms on the second. The work area, or studio, is also split into two levels with the second level used for storage. LIVING ROOM
KITCHEN
COURTYARD
STUDIO
GROUND FLOOR
OUTDOOR PATIO
STORAGE
SECOND FLOOR
BEDROOMS
PA R T I
COLORED PANELS REPRESENT DIFFERENT ROOMS
The Eames House sits behind a row of eucalyptus trees that allows the building to mold with its surroundings. Charles and ray designed the house so the material used can emphasize the structure without disguising the core of the structure. Sliding partitions and fogged glass panals allow for the house to be open but also flexible with privacy. The steel beams give the impression of uniteruption between the interior and exterior of the house.
M AT E R I A L I T Y
PANELED EXTERIOR
STUDIO ELEVATION: NORTH
STUDIO ELEVATION: SOUTH
Being a part of the Case Study House Program, the Eames House was to be built using materials and methods influenced by the experiences of World War II. The foundation was made of concrete and the walls were made of different prefabricated materials such as glass, stucco, wood, asbestos, and metal. The roof was made of asphalt and the frame of the house was made of steel. The frame was filled with solid and transparent colored panels to create different types of lighting in the house throughout the day. There is attention to detail that was given to the light in the house; however, the concept of prefabrication was still noticeable in the sense that there were many standard components used, such as windows that were 3-feet 4-inches wide. The Eameses based the construction of the house off using minimal materials, revealing a modern style and not inter- rupting or demolishing the site.
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
The Eames house is located in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, California, which is right on the peninsula on the coastline of the Pacific Ocean. It is 100 feet below sea level but the city is protected by mountains, which reach 4000 feet above sea level. The land that the house sits on is mainly flat with a steep slope on the western tip. There is a meadow that lies east of the house. There is dense greenery that sur- rounds the house, such as eucalyptus trees that shade the western facade which are used to create privacy.
R E L AT I O N S H I P S This particular project focuses on celebrating and documenting the everyday life of man after World War II, making it a “stage� for work and living space in the two double-height components of the house. The studio and living space mirror each other in the sense that they were both reflecting and suggesting performing types of work, the audience being the Eames’s guests. The arrangements of the spaces in the house are designed for a certain effect, that effect being lightness, flexibility, and minimalism. The parts of the house that are the most private, like the upstairs bedrooms, are enclosed by glazed panels that provide light but also provide more privacy than the rest of the house. However, even that part of the house features sliding partitions for flexibility, implying that the house was designed for combining work and play at any given point. The fact that the studio and living space are mirrored and allow and easily flowing path into each other suggests this as well.
C I TAT I O N S http://www.getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/field_projects/ eameshouse/ EamesHouseNHL.pdf http://www.eamesoffice.com/eames-office/charles-and-ray/ http://www.archdaily.com/66302/ad-classics-eames-housecharles-and-ray- eames http://www.archdaily.com/620033/a-virtual-look-into-the-eamescase-study- house-8 http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/eames-case-studyhouse-193196 http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Eames_House.html http://w3eames.blogspot.com/2012/12/size-scale-and-construction.html http://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ca/Eames.pdf http://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/ca/Eames.pdf