Joseph Eichler, born in 1900, was a post-war American real estate architect who developed residential housing of Mid-20th century modern style tract housing throughout the state of California. To this day, Eichler is known for creating these custom modernist houses and influencing other developers. His work is seen throughout many homes, along with, larger corporate buildings, across the state. Most of his own work was built in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the metropolitan area of Los Angeles.
Eichler’s profession started after moving with his family from New York to California. Before moving to California, Eichler worked in New York for an affluent family business in which he was the financial manager. When in California, they decided to move into a Usonian house built by an architect by the name of Frank Lloyd Wright. Being around his work inspired Eichler to be what Wright was, and made him want to bring ideas, such as Wright’s unique design elements, to the people around him.
Years later Joseph Eichler founded Eichler Homes, Inc. in 1949, which pursued his wish to expose the world to the same kind of modern architecture as Wright did. Eichler, who had no experience with home building, was a developer, and not an architect, who aimed to create well thought-out, modern, and affordable homes that raised the architectural quality of mass-produced homes throughout California. Eichlers stood out to people because they were affordable in many ways. Due to the fact that he started building post-war, there were many veterans looking for homes. The veterans could take advantage of low-interest loans and were able to buy because it was only necessary to invest very little.
Eichler tried to mimic Frank Lloyd Wright in the ...
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...ignated homes. The Green Gables and Greenmeadow are some of the first suburban tracts in the country and the first modern tracts to be added to the Register as historic districts.
To this day, Eichler is known as one of the nation’s most influential architects of modern homes. He was one of very few architects relevant in the Modernism Movement. Modernism opened up alternatives to suburban styles of home design, and created different kinds of architecture that pleased the desired lifestyle. This modernist architecture was able to thrive in the ways that it did as many families were looking to start over after the war. Modernist architects, similar to Eichler, were inspired industrial building techniques and the radical new forms of painting and sculpture in this age. Many people went along with the “make it new” phenomenon and appreciated these radical forms.
Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. Although often stated that he was born in 1869, records prove that he was born in 1867. He was a single child who’s mother was Anna Lloyd Jones, and his father was William Carey Wright. His mom was a teacher and his dad was a preacher. They were a Welsh family that moved around frequently during his early years, living in cities such as Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Iowa before finally settling in Madison, Wisconsin at the age of 12 years old. Wright fell in love with the outdoors while spending summers with his mother’s family in Spring Green. He would study the landscape of the hills, modeling and looks of it. In 1885, Wright graduated from public high school in Madison, it is also the same year his parents got a divorce and his father moved away, never hearing from him again. That same year, Wright enrolled at the University of Wisconsin at Madison to study civil engineering. To pay for his tuition and to help support his mom, he would work for the dean, at his college, in the engineering department and he assisted the acclaimed architect Joseph Silsbee with the construction of the Unity Chapel. This convinced Wright that he wanted to be an architect, in 1887 he dropped out of school to go work for Silsbee in Chicago. In 1888, Wright began an apprenticeship with the Chicago architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan, where he worked directly under Louis Sullivan, who had a profound influence on Wright. Sullivan hoped that Wright would carry on his dream of defining a uniquely American Style of architecture...
Gehry draws his inspiration from famous paintings such as the Madonna and Child which he qualifies as a “strategy for architecture” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 42) and which he used as an inspiration for a project in Mexico . Through his interpretation of the paintings and artwork, Gehry looked for a new kind of architecture. His search for a new type of architecture culminated in 1978 with his own house in Santa Monica. What was once a traditional Californian house would be redesigned to become one of the most important and revolutionary designs of the 20th century, giving Gehry international prestige and fame. Frank Gehry’s “Own House” uses a mixture of corrugated metal, plywood, chain link and asphalt to construct a new envelope for an existing typical Californian house. This house has been inspired by Joseph Cornell, Ed Moses and Bob Rauschenberg. Gehry comments on his house by saying that there was something “magical” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) about it. He admits having “followed the end of his [my] nose” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) when it came to constructing the “new” house, which led Arthur Drexler, former Director...
Dell Upton is a historian and renowned professor of architecture and Urbanism at the University of California. He has published several books on architecture; one of them is “Architecture in the United States”, published in 1998. In this book, Upton analyzes the architecture of the United States in different aspects, such as nature, money and art, thus depicting the great variety in architectural forms, and how throughout the decades, different interests have lead communities to different ways of building, different purposes and materials, thus reflecting their way of thinking and their relationship with the environment. By exploring so many different architectural styles, Upton reveals the great diversity and richness that has always, and continues to characterize American architecture.
The Chicago Housing Authority came about as a means to manage the large amount of poor Black residents. " In 1949, Congress, in addressing a postwar housing crisis, had authorized loans and subsidies to construct 810,000 units of low rent housing units nationwide" (p.21, Kotlowitz). During the 1950's the first of these new developments were constructed- The Cabrini homes were some of them. These first developments were only one or two stories and were well received by the city and its residents. Then the Chicago Housing Authority hired architects who designed a new type of development. A high-rise building (known as a project) with each unit having at least 15 to 19 floors, and approximately 5-15 buildings within each development. There was a political battle as to where these Projects would be built. After many meetings and court decisions they were finally built at the edges of the existing Ghetto's.
It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established practice. Its pioneers and spearheads are prevalent figures looming over the new architects and designers who are trying to make their mark in the shadows of such historically influential people. With new technologies and materials emerging from the world wars the next era of modernism had started to evolved, bringing with it philosophies and ideas which seemed far removed from those of the pioneers of modernism “What emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s was an expanding synthesis of questions utterly removed from the confident statements of the pioneers.”(Spade 1971,10) Two significant buildings were designed in the 50's, both of them for educational institutes and to house students of architecture, there were both designed in completely different styles and methods. The first is Ludwig Mies van der Rohes' Crown Hall, finished in 1956 and designed as a part of a campus master plan for the Illinois Institute of technology in Chicago. Mies' design for Crown Hall is one of his most realised expressio...
In the early twentieth century the Modern movement of architecture and industrial design came about. This movement was a reaction to the change within society and the introduction of new technologies. The ever changing world and technology meant artists to evolve alongside the changing world and this kind of ‘industrial revolution’ that was happening. Modernists ideas have seeped into every form of design especially architecture and design. Although most modernists insisted they were not following any style in particular, their work is instantly
It appears that from the very beginning, Frank Lloyd Wright was destined by fate or determination to be one of the most celebrated architects of the twentieth century. Not only did Wright possess genius skills in the spatial cognition, his approach to architecture through geometric manipulation demonstrates one aspect of his creativeness. Forever a great businessman, Wright seemed to know how to please his clients and still produce some of the most innovative and ridiculed buildings of the early century. While the United States appeared to be caught up in the Victorian style, Frank Lloyd Wright stepped out in front to face the challenge of creating "American architecture" which would reflect the lives of the rapidly growing population of the Midwest United States. Howard Gardner in his book "Creating Minds" does not make any mention of Frank Lloyd Wright, an innovator who drastically influenced architecture of the twentieth century around the world.
... A home is a material object that exists within a concrete reality. It exists with its own qualities, a house built of materials that change and degrade over time. The costs of homeownership are harder to dismiss when one becomes disillusioned with the effects of a lack of attention to those costs. As someone with a passion for writing, my final project will be an extended expository essay about the history of homebuilding from ancient to modern times.
He created a style of architecture to reflect America’s character. The central themes of his style were the landscape, people, and democracy in America. His style was heavily influenced by the midwest, the region where he grew up. His houses aimed to encourage the inhabitants to connect and communicate with one another. The hearth, dining room, and terrace all exemplify this, creating, and open, warm and welcoming space.
While on the waiting list to enter he enlisted in Pasadena City College for two years. USC was the epicenter of any architecture school at the time and thought many ideas of low-cost housing, how to use the new materials available after the war, mass-production and prefabrication. This educational knowledge really gave Koenig the right information that he'd need later in his career. While a student, Koenig shared a design with a studio professor of a steel framed residential house, he rejected the whole idea and to prove him wrong koenig took the plans and built koenig house no.1 in 1950. He proved that not only was it an easy method of construction but it was also at a lower cost. Koenig spent the next couple of years getting involved with different practices. Koenig found most success up to date in 1957, he was licensed, invited to participate in the São Paulo Biennial, and arts and architecture featured one of his designs for a “Low-cost Production House”. His dream of producing “off the shelf” housing as efficiently as automobiles became a lot more realistic when John Entenza invited him to participate in Art and Architecture's Case Study House
Pastier, John. “Frank O. Gehry House, Santa Monica, California; architect & Owner: Frank O. Gehry” AIA Journal, vol.69, no.6 (Mid-May 1980): 169.
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, who was a pioneer in the modern style, is considered one of the greatest figures in 20th-century architecture. Wright was born June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. When he entered the University of Wisconsin in 1884 his interest in architecture had already acknowledged itself. The university offered no courses in his chosen field; however, he enrolled in civil engineering and gained some practical experience by working part time on a construction project at the university. In 1887 he left school and went to Chicago where he became a designer for the firm of Adler and Sullivan with a pay of twenty-five dollars a week. Soon Wright became Louis Sullivan’s chief assistant. Louis Sullivan, Chicago based architect, one of America’s advanced designers. Louis had a profound influence on Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright was assigned most of the firm’s home projects, but to pay his many debts he designed ‘Bootlegged Houses’ for private clients in his spare time. Sullivan disapproved, resulting in Wright leaving the firm in 1893 to establish his own office in Chicago.
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
Frank Lloyd Wright has been called “one of the greatest American architect as well as an Art dealer that produced a numerous buildings, including houses, resorts, gardens, office buildings, churches, banks and museums. Wright was the first architect that pursues a philosophy of truly organic architecture that responds to the symphonies and harmonies in human habitats to their natural world. He was the apprentice of “father of Modernism” Louis Sullivan, and he was also one of the most influential architects on 20th century in America, Wright is idealist with the use of elemental theme and nature materials (stone, wood, and water), the use of sky and prairie, as well as the use of geometrical lines in his buildings planning. He also defined a building as ‘being appropriate to place’ if it is in harmony with its natural environment, with the landscape (Larkin and Brooks, 1993).
Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.