Case Study Houses by Elizabeth A.T. Smith documents the full span of the 1945–1966 program that charged America's leading modernist architects with rethinking the postwar home — a compact guide to one of the most consequential experiments in twentieth-century residential architecture.
About This Book
Between 1945 and 1966, Arts & Architecture magazine sponsored 36 prototype homes in the Los Angeles area, commissioning architects including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, and Eero Saarinen to demonstrate that modernist design principles could produce housing that was both replicable and affordable. The Case Study House program sits at the intersection of social ambition and architectural experimentation, demanding the use of war-born industrial materials and techniques in the service of everyday domestic life. Its influence travelled well beyond California, reshaping ideas about the modern home across the United States and internationally. This compact Taschen volume covers all 36 houses with over 150 photographs, plans, and a site map that includes locations no longer standing.
Key Features
- 96 pages of photographs and architectural plans covering all 36 Case Study Houses
- Written by Elizabeth A.T. Smith
- Houses by Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, Eero Saarinen, A. Quincy Jones, and Ralph Rapson, among others
- Includes a map of all site locations, including those that no longer exist
- Published by Taschen, ISBN 9783836535601
What You'll Discover
- How the Case Study program used war-surplus industrial materials and techniques as the basis for a new domestic architecture accessible to the average American
- The architectural and spatial strategies — open, multipurpose floor plans; standardised construction — that made these prototype homes influential far beyond Los Angeles
- The range of design approaches across 36 houses, from Neutra's refined steel-frame structures to the Eames House's distinctive prefabricated aesthetic
- The program's legacy in redefining the modern home and its ongoing relevance to debates about affordable, replicable residential design
About the Author
Elizabeth A.T. Smith is a curator and architectural historian with specialist expertise in postwar American modernism and the Case Study House program. Further biographical details are not provided in the source materials.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 96
- Dimensions: 210 x 260 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783836535601
- Publisher: Taschen
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects, architectural historians, and design students with an interest in postwar modernism, residential design, and the social history of American architecture.