Motenashi - Eames House

Charles and Ray never visited Japan prior to building their home, but certain elements of their architecture struck me as Japanese. Charles Eames once remarked to his collaborator Eero Saarinen that “the role of the architect, or the designer, is that of a very good, thoughtful host, all of whose energy goes into trying to anticipate the needs of his guests.” During their lifetime, they used their house to host a wide range of gatherings from Japanese tea ceremonies with Isamu Noguchi and Charlie Chaplin to large meetings with nuns. 

Charlie chaplin at tea ceremony in Eames House

nun party

Even though Charles and Ray are no longer around to greet guests, their house exudes ‘motenashi’ – the japanese traditional code of conduct outlining the ideal guest-host relationship. In Japan, a good host should: (1) anticipate other’s needs, before the guest feels the need himself (2) provide flexibility to the situation, calibrating the appropriate amount of formality or casualness, (3) understate his efforts in order to create a comfortable feeling for the guest. The atmosphere of the Eames house, with its embrace of nature and ability to accommodate and showcase their eclectic curios from their world travel, and vibrant bright colors, is playful and entertaining. Visiting the house, you see shells, fabrics, toys, folk art, candles, books and souvenirs, and all sorts of little tiny objects that the tell stories of their hosts. The candlesticks were especially important — as the Eameses had breakfast by candlelight every morning. 

Eames' daughter, lucia posing with stuff

more stuff

breakfast with candles

And the tumbleweed hanging from the living room ceiling “is not just any tumbleweed. It was very special to Charles and Ray. When they were married in Chicago, in June 1941, they were pretty much broke. And when you’re broke like that, your idea of a honeymoon is a road trip to California to start a new life. It may sound unromantic, but actually I think it was incredibly romantic.

They came out here because they were trying to figure out how to produce molded plywood in compound curves, to solve the problems of their earlier chairs. Somewhere in the Southwest, probably near Canyon de Chelly, they found this tumbleweed and tossed it in the back of the car — a beautiful, beautiful tumbleweed. You can see that in silhouette photographs they took of it, and it showed up in some of their Herman Miller showroom installations.” 

tumbleweed

Like the Japanese, to create their house, the Eameses used prefabricated materials. The idea of using a kit of parts of prefabricated materials is an ancient idea in japan. To ensure high quality and swift construction, wood was precut off-site and assembled on site. Instead of using wood, tatami mats, washi paper shoji screens, wooden posts and beams, the Eameses utilized 4” steel H-columns, 12” open-web trusscon steel beam and joists, marine catalog parts for the stairs, plyon plastic panels, pre-fabricated steel windows, Cemestos panels, and chicken-wire and factory-standard glass. The Eameses selected materials that were low-cost yet high quality and could be mass produced. Their original goal was to provide a post-war model of a house that could be mass produced. When their steel was delivered to the site 2 years later than anticipated due to war time shortages, the Eames took advantage of the delay to reconfigure the materials from the bridge house to the as-built design. See previous post.

Once on site, the foundation and steel frame were assembled in 16 hours, and the remainder of the modular home was finished in less than 10 months. The columns were arranged on a 20’ by 7’-6” module. In japan, due to the structural properties of wood, posts are typically spaced 6’ apart and are related to the 3’x6’ tatami mat module called ‘ken’. The Eames House volume for living was comprised of 8 bays, the art studio was made up of 5 bays, and the courtyard between the 2 buildings was 4 bays. While machined steel may seem like a cold material for residential use, Charles found that the inorganic materials were a “complement to the surroundings.” 

japanese interior

japanese prefabricated house pieces

The Eameses also added industrial materials like Plyon to the interior palette of the house. Plyon was originally developed as a lightweight translucent durable plastic military aircraft fuel-cell liner by Swedow Plastics. Thin and strong, it was used in the millwork, and window panels. Analogous to translucent ‘washi’ paper screens in shoji, the Eames used plyon in screens in sliding wood frames to shade the interior from sunlight and provide privacy. Like Japanese houses which use washi, the Eames house atmosphere was layered in mysterious shadows. Unlike washi which easily tears, of the plyon panels within the house have needed replacement over the past 70 years. 

shoji shadows

pylon shadows

One can imagine sitting low to the floor like a Japanese within the Eames’ furnished living room and their 10 inch high LTR table, alexander girard checked floor cushion pillows, and a pair of carved Indian wood seats…. The double height living room with the slender profiles of the steel columns, use of translucent and transparent exterior materials, and large glass sliding doors all have the effect of opening the interior to the exterior like a Japanese house. 

Eameses sitting low

looking outside from living room

Stepping through the opening sliding glass doors, one would encounter a sparsely planted Japanese-like ‘karesansui’ dry landscape garden grid of square hardscape pavers of bricks and wood endcaps. The spaces of textures of the hardscape heighten the importance of the plantings. The only greenery planted directly into the south courtyard among the red brick is a Bonsai tree, barely reaching three feet in height after nearly 70 years of life.

bonsai

engawa-south garden

What's in a Section - Eames House

The section of the Eames house is rooted in the site structurally and materially. An 8 foot tall 200 foot long concrete retaining wall is set into the hill. The living and work buildings are configured in different volumes along the wall. The retaining wall serves as a backdrop to the brick paver courtyards that are set between the buildings and landscape. 

concrete retaining wall

Within the living volume, australian eucalyptus wood panels line the west wall from the service corridor all the way through the reading nook, living room, and west exterior wall of the south courtyard. The wood was selected to mirror the living eucalyptus trees that line the eastern edge of the house. 

eucalyptus panel wall

eucalyptus wall runs from interior to exterior along west wall parallel to eucalyptus trees along east facade

At the center of the rectilinear house, a complex 3 dimensional form of millwork which includes the kitchen cabinets, reading shelves, sofa, and stair case. The spiral stair is made of marine catalog parts. The double height spiral stair walls are clad in wood veneer and ascend to the skylight above. The Eames reveal the nature of the veneer by showing its thin edge along the 1st floor soffit.

stair seen from outside

stair walls clad in wood veneer

What's in an Elevation - Eames House

In an article about their house “LIFE IN A CHINESE KITE - Standard industrial products assembled in a spacious wonderland” Charles noted that “there was no reason for a house to not be spacious—space being the greatest luxury there is; a sophisticated industrial product; and as light and airy as a suspension bridge—as skeletal as an airplane fuselage." Having asked himself these questions he pondered, "How cheap is space? How industrial is our building industry? How light is steel?"

Like a weightless, delicate Chinese box kite, the Eames house frame is assembled with lightweight steel turnbuckles, L angles, open truss joists, and welded-plate connections. The skin of the kite is made of thin steel prefabricated windows, cemestos panels, glass, and metal panel. With their house, the Eames wanted to show industrial materials could be assembled to create a lively warm residential space. 

In the Architectural Forum article the house was poetically described: “As the spare steel skeleton shot up between the retained hillside and the eucalyptus trees, the house assumed that wonderful constructivist look that every sidewalk superintendent recalls with nostalgia long after the frame had been dressed up and disguised. . . .Into the frame of his steel box kite he fitted sheets of glass, wire glass (‘to make people realize it is there’), asbestos, plywood, or plaster in varying colors. Some of these sheets were fixed in place—fixed at least until Eames should decide to knock them out and replace them with some material of different texture or translucency. Others were set into projecting sash, ready to be opened to the breezes from the sea. All combined to create an ever-changing play of light and shadow, a series of surprise vistas, of sudden planes of color suspended in mid-air. What did it all prove? To Charles Eames it proved that life could be beautiful, and that industrial precision as the designer’s ally could make it so.”

By correlating the elevation to the section and plan behind, you can see the Eames' underlying logic for their dynamic facade. Similar to the clarity by which they detail the building, where each component of the assembly and structure is exposed, each type of space is assigned a material on the facade to optimize its function. That is, there is a legibility on the facade that tells the visitor what activities, levels of required light and privacy, and functions are behind it. 

Living space:
1) provide spandrel glazing/cemestos panels for rooms with low furniture like the bedroom and dressing rooms 
2) provide spandrel cemestos panels to mask the 2nd floor assembly
3) use infill black painted stucco panels with lateral bracing turnbuckles in front of closet spaces
4) use a large white stucco panel high on the east living room floor to prevent glare
5) use clear glazing with sliding plyon panels for bedrooms and dressing areas
6) use clear glazing for living room, and kitchen areas.
7) use translucent glass for entry, dining areas for semi-privacy
8) use painted stucco panel for the upper floor of the stair to focus people's attention to the light a the top of the spiral stair

Work space:
1) provide spandrel glazing/cemestos panels for rooms with low furniture like the art studio rooms
2) provide spandrel cemestos panels to mask the 2nd floor assembly
3) use infill black painted stucco panels with lateral bracing turnbuckles in front of storage spaces
4). use white opaque panel to mask the dark room 
5) use chicken wire glazing to denote art studio function on the first floor
6). use large north window areas with less mullions for the studio area.

On the Road trip - Eames

Underemployed during the Depression in 1933, Charles left his young kid and wife for Mexico with some art supplies and very little money. Charles went to Mexico to find himself and restart his life. In his own words, it was his ten month “On the Road trip”. 

He drove as far south as he could before ditching his car for a horse before finally trekking by foot to the most remote villages. He had no camera. Instead he documented his travels by making watercolors inspired by Spanish impressionist Joaquin Sorolla. Trading manual labor, sketches and paintings for food and shelter Charles’ itinerary was improvised. Sometimes he would go to bed hungry. Despite moving place to place and working when possible, Charles was always learning. With no money and unable to speak the language, he was arrested a couple times. First in monterrey because a local thought his painting depicted the place in an unfavorable light. Eames’ second stint in jail occurred in Linares when locals found he was carrying a book of mexican archaeological treasures showing the country in a bad light. Eames’ grandson recounts, “Another close call for Charles was being rounded up with the citizens of a village for an involuntary smallpox vaccination and watching the dirty needle get closer and closer as it was used over and over again. He got the shot, and fortunately, he and the other recipients were lucky not to have suffered anything worse than a sore arm.”

When he came home, his daughter Lucia remembered Eames coming back with boxes of fabric, folk art, paper mache dolls, and a metal cane with a handle carved in the likeness of satan.

According to his grandson, “When he returned to St. Louis, he was no longer mired in the frustrations of St. Louis but instead seemed to be seeking a way to transcend them and take himself to a new level. .. it was the beginning of a process of taking stock of and ultimately changing his approach and situation in life.

Visiting Mexico during the depression was eye-opening. He realized people literally had nothing, but they had richer cultural and spiritual lives. It was at that point that he decided to stop using the excuse of making a living as an excuse for doing things he didn’t believe him. It totally transformed his approach. He made a commitment to do things of value even if it was to do with fun, or pleasure, or entertaining a few grandkids, but it was real.”

After his trip, Charles said, “At least, damn it, you’re not afraid to be broke! I would never be suckered into a mistake I did not make myself.”

Julian Blaustein, film producer friend of Charles said following the trip, “Charles knew who he was. And that’s a tough assignment right there. I don’t know about you, but I think as you go through life, you’ll suddenly become aware that not many people know who they are, what they are about. They aren’t in touch with themselves. Maybe I’m wrong, but I know I find it very difficult among the people I know to find many who can answer that, who can live up to that criteria of personal behavior. I think Charles knew who he was.”

click here to see Eames documentary.

eames watercolor

eames watercolor

eames watercolor

sorolla watercolor

What's in a Bay - Eames House

For the past week I've spent hours piecing together the Eames House. My short term goal is to fuck around and make a full set of construction drawings of my favorite house (elevations, sections, plans, millwork, ceiling plans, details) and write about my architectural epiphanies. My long term goal is to model it 3 dimensionally and maybe eat a hamburger. 

For a simple famous rectangular building, you'd think drawing the house would be easy, but it isn't. Depending on different books, a couple of Eames' actual design drawings, and 'as-built' drawings found on-line... the dimensions for the house are wildly conflicting. The Getty museum spent 5 years studying the house between 2011-2016 to develop a 250 year conservation plan for the house and has some drawings published (click here for 300 page reports on riveting paint analyses and conservation plans) and some national park service department of the interior fucker really wasted her time drafting garbage (click here for shitty unreliable library of congress drawings.)  The eames foundation is no help either.  I contacted Eames' douchebag grandson in my quest for greater understanding and to ask questions about the house, but was met with no reply. 

Resorting to drawing the Eames house from photographs and articles has forced to me think about each line i draft. without physical access to the house, i'm left to theorize the motivations behind each decision the Eames made in their design.  

On the west and east facades, the H shaped steel columns are spaced 7'-4" on center. Steel angles are attached to the columns like horizontal rails and are spaced 8'-1" apart vertically. Why did Eames select these peculiar 7'-4" x 8'-1" dimensions? Were they based on human proportions? (the japanese used the tatami module, utzon used the ying zao fa shi ancient ming dynasty construction module, corbusier used le modulor based on ancient architecture) Was it selected to accommodate the spanning capacity of 1.75" deep roof and floor steel decking? 

The answer to this question lies within the windows. The Eames selected Truscon's  B2622403 8'-1" tall by 3'-8" prefab window modules to use in their building. The windows are mounted to the flanges of the columns and L angles. The Truscon company was founded by Julius Kahn, brother of industrial building architect, Albert Kahn. renowned for his light filled Ford motor factory designs of detroit. Albert's brother, Julius, developed the Truscon business to make reinforced concrete trusses, steel trusses, and prefabricated window assemblies to realize Albert's design.  

It may seem odd to use industrial  steel factory parts for a residential house, but by the time Charles was 14 years old, he had started working at the Laclede Steel Company as a part-time laborer, where he learned about engineering, drawing, and architecture. While teaching at Cranbrook, Charles was exposed to Ford Motor Company's Detroit factories designed by Albert Kahn.

Epiphanies: 

1) use industrial building products for residential architecture. look outside the architectural materials field (i.e., sailing supply and industrial window catalogs) for building supplies 

2) set up the structure with logical precision to accommodate industrial building parts

3) use colors and materials to make industrial product playful and varied. opaque materials provide privacy, translucent materials provide semi-privacy, and clear materials provide views. 

4) embed plyon sliding screens (shoji screen appearance) within the flanges of structural steel behind windows to create multiple layers of 'skin' at the facade 

5) the Eames weren't concerned about mosquitoes, as their in swing pivot windows don't allow application of insect screens

6) the sharp slim steel window profiles the Eames chose wouldn't work in NYC today, where energy codes require thermally broken window systems and insulated glazing

7) eames didn't design the roof with roof drains in mind. this allowed the water to sheet over the facade and corrode the steel over time

8) eames displayed the continuous horizontal L-angles on the facade to exhibit their function as the frames for the windows. eames displayed the 4" columns to show their load bearing function.

9) the module of the window frame was coordinated with the railing of the 2nd floor balcony bedroom overlooking the livingroom. that is, the exterior grid module was married to the interior datums of low walls

10) the amount of glazing on the eames house caused the interior to be 10 degrees F warmer than the outside ambient temperatures on average. the 20 foot width of the house didn't allow for good cross ventilation.

The Ford Engineering Lab in Dearborn, 1922

Truscon window catalog 1947

Eames house section

bedroom view looking out. see sliding plyon screens in front of windows

interior sliding cemestos panel

Siting - Eames House

In 1945, the Eameses published their original plans for their house in LA. Designed for a 1.4 acre meadow site sloping down to the ocean, their initial strategy was to split the house into 2 one-story volumes: a studio art space set into the hillside and a living space. The living space was conceived as a bridge with 2 sides: the bedrooms and living room faced the ocean while the toilets, kitchen, and stair faced the driveway. Click here to see the original design.

1945 site plan

1945 enlarged site plan

1945 model

1945 perspective

1945 section

In 1947, two events motivated the redesign of the house. First, after seeing how similar Mies van der Rohe’s conceptual sketch of an elevated steel and glass house was to their design, Charles wanted to change the design to avoid appearing to mimic Mies. Second and most importantly, according to Ray, "they had fallen in love with the meadow." When Charles and Ray returned from long days at the office, they often paused to inhale the scent of eucalyptus and smile, rejuvenated.

Even though some of the building parts such as the roof trusses had already been fabricated and delivered to the site, the Eames reconfigured the parts into a new design. They rotated the living space volume 90 degrees to align with the studio art space so both structures ran parallel to the contours of the site and an existing line of eucalyptus trees. Siting the house behind the trees meant they had to excavate into the hillside. To achieve this, the Eameses constructed a 200 foot long eight foot high retaining wall that ran the full length of the house. The wall served to support a first floor from which they incorporated new 4” steel columns to accommodate a second floor. Click here to see the built design. Soil from the excavated land was used to create a berm between the Eames house and their neighbor. 

1949 revised site plan

1949 enlarged site plan

1949 model

1949 elevation

1949 section

Today, the east side of the house faces a meadow, with oblique views of the Pacific Ocean. While the original house design elevated the living space above the land, the new design tucked the house into the landscape. The simple reconfiguration of the building massing shows how a house could change from bisecting and dominating a site to opening up and responding to a site. Placed behind a row of eucalyptus trees the house’s slender streel structure, touches the land lightly, taking advantage of the trees’ shade and beauty without encroaching on them.

In a letter to Peter Blake after living in the house for 8 months, Charles Eames remarked, “Many of the most pleasant things about the house are things on which we had not planned, but which came one by one as surprise. The difference between the shapes of things in sunlight, twilight, and at night, and the little things that happen in relation to the trees and shadows.”