MOHADESEH SADAT MOEIN SHIRAZI
MODERN HOUSE AR322
A LARGE COLLECTION OF IDEAS IN A SMALL HOUSE
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MOHADESEH SADAT MOEIN SHIRAZI
MODERN HOUSE AR322
Moore House, built in 1962 and situated in Orinda, California, is a 25ft2 square shaped house. It was designed by Charles Moore for himself. It is a house consisting of one room, and smaller enclosed spaces, suggesting rooms within the room, shown by columns. The columns, made of wood, were recycled from an old factory1. They create two aedicules, which, according to the book Key Houses of the Twentieth Century, are “little pavilions or canopies, usually supported on four columns and often combined with other aedicules to make more substantial architectural compositions.” The aedicules can be seen as a reference to the more ancient styles of architecture such as ones seen in Hindu Temples, or ones used in gothic architecture2. Each aedicule is a square of a different size and has a unique asymmetrical pyramid ceiling, which is attached to the main dark timber and also slightly pyramidal roof. The bigger aedicule provides a living area, whilst the smaller aedicule goes beyond the depth of the ground and serves as an open bath and shower (fig. 1). This is an unconventional bath because it is very open and close to all the other components of the house. There are two beds separated by a bookcase, one of which lies right next to the bath. The kitchen and toilet take up very little space and are the only example of walls being utilised inside the (extremely) open plan of this house. There are no doors or windows with hinges in this house. There is an abundance of sliding glass doors, however. The house receives natural light through a skylight, the glass doors and reflection of light from the white painted aedicule covers, as well as the water in the bath. The white aedicule covers contrast with the dark timber frames of the ceiling, which is also supported by a bright orange truss. This is reminiscent of the colours used in Charles Moore’s later work, such as Piazza d’Italia, produced in 1978.
Fig. 1: My own drawing of a section of the Orinda Moore House
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Fig. 2: My own drawing of the Orinda house plan
Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.60) Colin Davies, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century (Plans, Sections and Elevations), (London: Lauren King Publishing Ltd., 2006, p.28) 2
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MODERN HOUSE AR322
As mentioned, the plan of this house is an open plan (fig. 2), and the openness is emphasised further through different elements such as natural light and the placement of the glass doors, to perhaps compensate for the small size of the house. One of the features that make the plan of the house quite unique is the fact that there are no exterior corner walls. The corners of the house vanish as soon as they glass doors are slid away. This blurs the boundaries between the exterior and interior and can create an enjoyable experience from the surrounding nature of the house, which includes plenty of California sunshine and oak trees3. One of the questionable aspects of the house is its minimal use of interior walls, which in turn leads to lack of privacy within the house. The toilet, for example, is only separated by one interior wall and does not have a door in front of it. This may provide an uncomfortable experience for a guest who visits the house. The lack of privacy confirms the clear message that this house belonged to and was suited best to no one but Charles Moore himself, where he was free to experiment with his own architectural ideas after being taught by Louis Kahn4. The house is of a mainly neo-vernacular style. Vernacular architecture is defined as architecture of an “indigenous building style using local materials and traditional methods of construction and ornament, especially as distinguished from academic or historical architectural styles” according to The Free Dictionary5. A lot of vernacular architecture is devoid of particular design movements or monumental qualities and usually demonstrates more functional properties for common purposes for the common people within their local area6. Neo- means “new”, and has been prefixed to many terms of architectural styles, such as the commonly heard ‘Neoclassical’, or ‘Neo-Gothic’. Neo-Vernacular is a new or revived form of vernacular architecture which drew upon the use of traditional materials and basic forms as a rejection to the International Modernism movement7. Moore was interested in vernacular architecture during the 1960s when a lot of architecture in America had turned towards Modernism5. Moore found the Modernism of the time bland and clichéd, and went on to become one of the pioneers of the postmodernist movement8. This house was just one of the early steps towards that eventual development. The vernacular style relies on locally sourced materials and traditional methods of building the structure. This could include stone, flint, brick, timber and tile claddings and structures, most of which can be seen in Charles Moore’s Orinda house. 3
Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p. 59-61) Colin Davies, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century (Plans, Sections and Elevations), (London: Lauren King Publishing Ltd., 2006 p.28) 5 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, definition of "vernacular" Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vernacular (accessed November 17, 2014) 6 Oxford Dictionaries "Vernacular", , Oxford University Press http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/vernacular (accessed November 17, 2014) 7 James Stevens Curl, "Neo-Vernacular." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture 2000, Encyclopedia.com, http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-NeoVernacular.html (Accessed November 17, 2014 8 William J.R. Curtis, Modern Architecture since 1900, (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2003, p.563) 4
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This particular house uses locally sourced materials such as timber frames, wooden columns, and tile roof cladding. The wooden columns are finished in a variety of processes by painting and varnishing to make sure they stand out as almost independent pieces of art, on which a great amount of the balance of the roof depends on9. This can be seen as a demonstration of Moore’s successful experimentation; recycling a material which is intended to be thrown away, and restoring it to the point where it invokes glamour and opulence within such a tiny space (fig. 3). The materials used affect the colours of the house, which in turn manipulates the travel of light throughout the space. One could say that the house has achieved a balance of both dark and light, as the roof, where much skylight is received from, features a contrast of dark stained wood but also clean polished whites5. Within the structure of the house we can see an unconventional distribution of balance since there are no columns supporting the square roof at each corner, but the roof is rather held up with the assistance of beams on top of the exterior walls, the trusses under the skylight and the pavilion columns10. The house was constructed on a small piece of land bought “on impulse”, with a limited budget of $11,00011. This says something about the perhaps spontaneous personality of the architect, or his expression of freedom as seen Fig. 3: Bath, Moore House, Orinda
through a design in which he was almost guilt-free, since the only client concerned with the daily interaction of the
building was himself. Of course, as with any design experiments, there were some functional failures due to his priorities when designing for one user. For example the lack of heating within the ground, which Moore did not see necessary since he believed was only useful for children who crawl on the floor, proved to be unpleasant for everyone, including the guests, during the colder temperatures of the year12. As we can see, the design was heavily influenced by the lifestyle of the user (i.e. a single man), as well as his financial situation. The desire to experiment with new ideas through this house and the limitations of the budget meant that Moore had to prioritise features which he felt were the most
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Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.61) Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.60)
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Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.59)
MOHADESEH SADAT MOEIN SHIRAZI
MODERN HOUSE AR322
necessary and his judgement in this particular aspect may be interpreted positively or negatively by people. Another context which affects the design is the culture of America at the time the house was built, and perhaps Moore’s boredom of the design developments of the time. The growth of what HenryRussell Hitchcock called the International Style meant that modernism and common features and materials involved with the style were used all over the world. Features like asymmetry, and the “rejection of ornaments”, were rejected in Moore’s Orinda house design12. This is evident with the pure, symmetrical square form of it, as well as ornamental qualities suggested through the columns or other collections within the house13. During the early 60s function and structure were some of the most important qualities in modern design14, and again, Moore demonstrated a rebellion by going against structural conventions and avoiding columns in the outer corner of his square shaped house. One of the conspicuous pieces of architecture which the house has drawn influence from is Louis Kahn’s Trenton Bath House, built in 1955. This is a building designed for the Trenton Jewish Community Centre which was an addition to an outdoor swimming pool. The Bath House features four equal sized square concrete buildings, with a Greek cross layout and a courtyard in the middle15. The open spaces are enclosed with four square shaped, pyramidal roofs, effortlessly floating above the concrete blocks. This geometric and symmetrical form seen in the roof is very similar to the Moore House roof, which is also a square (fig 4.) Another component of the Trenton Bath House roof is the skylight at the peak, of which the Moore House has two, connected to the aedicule pyramid tops. Louis Kahn’s focus on natural light introduced new elements into modernist architecture, and this idea is also consumed within the Moore House.
Fig. 4: Similarities in roof shapes between the Trenton Bath house (left) and the Moore House (right), photographed from my own 1:100 scale model
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Phillip Wilkinson, 50 Architecture Ideas You Really Need to Know, (London: Quercus Publishing Plc, 2010, p.124) 13 Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.61) 14 Colin Davies, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century (Plans, Sections and Elevations), (London: Lauren King Publishing Ltd., 2006 p.28) 15 Aleksandr Bierig, “Reviving a Modest Masterpiece” News Article, Architectural Record, Last modified August 25, 2010, Accessed December 2, 2014 http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/2010/08/100825kahn_trenton_bath_house.asp
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MODERN HOUSE AR322
Moore’s Piazza d’Italia, created in 1975-9 New Orleans was not a house, but it was a great structure which does bear some subtle similarities to the Orinda house created more than a decade before it. The same kind of grandeur, carefully tailored within the tiny house using classical architecture features like the columns and the aedicules, can be seen echoed again in the Piazza d’Italia urban plaza. The same use of bright orange painted onto the truss in the Orinda house is also seen again, here in the Piazza d’Italia. This was a structure which was heavily personalised. Similar to how Moore designed a whole house centred on his own desires, here we see the same level of personalisation in the Piazza, where Moore has placed insets of his own face within the water features. However personalised it may have been, it was still a public work dedicated to the Italian American community in America (fig. 5). It was a celebration of the ever changing history of the urban scene, and an exploration of monumentality within a public space16. This eclectic design was seen as a joke by some
Fig. 5: The Piazza d’Italia, being used by the public, 1978
people and was heavily criticised but it went on to become a postmodern icon17. In his book You Have to Pay for the Public Life, Moore was asked about his feelings concerning the controversy of the Piazza in an interview by Leon Luxemburg, and he replies “I think I like it when something that I think is a particularly good work draws angry letters to the magazines and stirs violent controversy..” he then goes on to mention “When the Piazza d’Italia came along and we got really noisy letters saying how 16
Alexandra Lange, “Why Charles Moore (Still) Matters” Metropolis Magazine, May 2014, http://www.metropolismag.com/Why-Charles-Moore-Still-Matters/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3#artanc, accessed December 2, 2014 17 William J.R. Curtis, Modern Architecture since 1900, (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2003, p.603)
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awful it was, I figured that must be pretty good too. So I think the way to deal with controversy is to be glad that we have gotten some people to the point where they are screaming.”18 Moore was indeed a man with initiative, who was not afraid of taking risks, as he did on the day he bought a piece of land in the valleys behind San Francisco Bay12. The Moore House in New Haven gave Moore the chance to experiment again. This was built in 1967, when Moore decided to move to New Haven to take his teaching position at the Yale School of Architecture19. The house he was working on was an old and tiny building in New Haven, built in the 1860s which was located in a much darker location within a dark street, unlike the sunny California location of his Orinda house20. This lack of light and space needed gave him new challenges to work with. He solved the problem by installing tall towers within the building itself, which spanned 2 floors and gave each one a different name. These towers, just like his first house, included colour and incorporated the use of geometric shapes through cut-outs, which would allow light to pass through each enclosed space. Again, Moore is insisting on the use of an open plan while creating rooms within rooms. Overall, whilst the Orinda Moore house was primarily a modernist piece of architecture, as it had used modernist principles such as open plans, it drew upon many deeply historical and indigenous styles of architecture, as seen through the use of his aedicules etc., some of these elements were definitely repeated in his later work, and lead to his generally eclectic, free and unique point of view in terms of his designs which generated controversy, especially the ones he built for the public. In my opinion this house was the beginning of Moore’s architectural journey towards becoming a postmodern thinker who would continue to affect the works of architects later on.
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Charles W. Moore, You Have to Pay for the Public Life: Selected Essays of Charles W. Moore, (The MIT Press, 2001, p.323-4) 19 Charles Moore Foundation, “Who”, http://www.charlesmoore.org/who.html, accessed December 2, 2014 20 Charles Willard Moore, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974, p.61)
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MODERN HOUSE AR322
Bibliography The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, definition of "vernacular" Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vernacular (accessed November 17, 2014) Bierig, Aleksandr, “Reviving a Modest Masterpiece” News Article, Architectural Record, Last modified August 25, 2010, Accessed December 2, 2014 http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/2010/08/100825kahn_trenton_bath_house.asp R. W. Brunskill, Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture (London: Faber and Faber, 1974) Charles Moore Foundation, “Who”, http://www.charlesmoore.org/who.html, accessed December 2, 2014 Curl, James Stevens, "Neo-Vernacular" A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture 2000, Encyclopedia.com, http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-NeoVernacular.html (Accessed November 17, 2014 Curtis, William J.R., Modern Architecture since 1900, (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2003) Davies, Colin, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century (Plans, Sections and Elevations), (London: Lauren King Publishing Ltd., 2006) Ghenoiu, Erik, “Charles W. Moore and the Idea of Place”, Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, Published online: 01 Aug 2012, accessed November 2014 Volume 18, Issue 2, 2008 Great Buildings, “Moore House”, http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Moore_House.html, accessed November 2014 Lange, Alexandra, “Why Charles Moore (Still) Matters” Metropolis Magazine, May 2014, http://www.metropolismag.com/Why-Charles-Moore-Still-Matters/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3#artanc, accessed December 2, 2014 Moore, Charles Willard, The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974) Moore, Charles Willard, You Have to Pay for the Public Life: Selected Essays of Charles W. Moore, (The MIT Press, 2001) Oxford Dictionaries "Vernacular", , Oxford University Press http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/vernacular (accessed November 17, 2014) Wilkinson, Phillip, 50 Architecture Ideas You Really Need to Know, (London: Quercus Publishing Plc, 2010) YouTube, “Charles Moore - Orinda House”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvb_1t9M1kw, Uploaded by KarmaSonamPalm, Jul 31, 2010, accessed November 2014
Image list Title Page Image: Moore House, Orinda, from the book The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974) by Charles Moore
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Fig. 1: own plan drawings Fig. 2: own section drawing Fig. 3: the bath in Moore House, Orinda, from the book The Place of Houses, (California: University of California Press, 1974) by Charles Moore Fig. 4: own 1:100 scale model, and image of Trenton Bath House from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/T_bath_house_3.JPG Fig. 5: photographs of Piazza d’Italia, courtesy of Charles Moore Foundation, from http://www.metropolismag.com/Why-Charles-Moore-Still-Matters/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3#artanc
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