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The Eames House (also known as Case Study House No. 8) is a landmark of mid-20th century modern architecture located in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was designed and constructed in 1949 by husband-and-wife Charles and Ray Eames to serve as their home and studio.

It was one of roughly two dozen homes built as part of The Case Study House Program. Begun in the mid-1940s and continuing through the early 1960s, the program was spearheaded by John Entenza, the publisher of  Arts & Architecture magazine. It was developed to address a looming issue: a housing crisis. Millions of soldiers would be returning from the battlefields of World War II, and were wanting to start families. John Entenza recognized that houses needed to be built quickly, inexpensively, yet without sacrificing good design. In a challenge to the architectural community, the magazine announced that it would be the client for a series of homes designed to express man’s life in the modern world. These homes were to be built and furnished using materials and techniques derived from the experiences of the Second World War. Each home was designed with a real or hypothetical client in mind, taking into consideration their particular housing needs.

Click here to see their design brief more clearly from the December 1945 issue of Arts & Architecture .

First Design: Bridge House (unbuilt)

The first plan of the Eameses’ home, known as the Bridge House, was designed in 1945 by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. The design used pre-fabricated materials ordered from catalogues, a continuation of the idea of mass-production. The parts were ordered and the Bridge House design was published in the December 1945 issue of the magazine, but due to a war-driven shortage, the steel did not arrive until late 1948.

While they were waiting for delivery, Charles and Ray picnicked in the meadow with family and friends, flew kites and did archery.  By then, Charles and Ray had “fallen in love with the meadow,” in Ray’s words, and they realized that they wanted to avoid what many architects had done: destroy what they loved most about a site by building across it.

Second Design: Eames House

Charles and Ray then set themselves a new problem: How to build a house that would 1) not destroy the meadow and trees, and 2) “maximize volume from minimal materials”.  Using the same off-the-shelf parts, but notably ordering one extra steel beam, Charles and Ray re-configured the House. The new design integrated the House into the landscape, rather than imposing the House on it. These plans were published in the May 1949 issue of Arts & Architecture .  It is this design that was built and is seen today.

Charles and Ray moved into the House on Christmas Eve, 1949, and lived there for the rest of their lives.  The interior, its objects and its collections remain very much the way they were in Charles and Ray’s lifetimes.  The house they created offered them a space where work, play, life, and nature co-existed.

While many icons of the modern movement are depicted as stark, barren spaces devoid of human use, photographs and motion pictures taken at the Eames house reveal a richly decorated, almost cluttered space full of folk art, thousands of books, shells, rocks, prisms, etc. The Eameses’ gracious live-work lifestyle continues to be an influential model.

The House has now become something of an iconographic structure visited by people from around the world.  The charm and appeal of the House is perhaps best explained in the words of the Case Study House Program founder, John Entenza, who felt that the Eames House “represented an attempt to state an idea rather than a fixed architectural pattern.”

Help us share the Eameses’ joy and rigor with future visitors, so they may have a direct experience of Charles and Ray’s approach to life and work.

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Case study definition

Case study, a term which some of you may know from the "Case Study of Vanitas" anime and manga, is a thorough examination of a particular subject, such as a person, group, location, occasion, establishment, phenomena, etc. They are most frequently utilized in research of business, medicine, education and social behaviour. There are a different types of case studies that researchers might use:

• Collective case studies

• Descriptive case studies

• Explanatory case studies

• Exploratory case studies

• Instrumental case studies

• Intrinsic case studies

Case studies are usually much more sophisticated and professional than regular essays and courseworks, as they require a lot of verified data, are research-oriented and not necessarily designed to be read by the general public.

How to write a case study?

It very much depends on the topic of your case study, as a medical case study and a coffee business case study have completely different sources, outlines, target demographics, etc. But just for this example, let's outline a coffee roaster case study. Firstly, it's likely going to be a problem-solving case study, like most in the business and economics field are. Here are some tips for these types of case studies:

• Your case scenario should be precisely defined in terms of your unique assessment criteria.

• Determine the primary issues by analyzing the scenario. Think about how they connect to the main ideas and theories in your piece.

• Find and investigate any theories or methods that might be relevant to your case.

• Keep your audience in mind. Exactly who are your stakeholder(s)? If writing a case study on coffee roasters, it's probably gonna be suppliers, landlords, investors, customers, etc.

• Indicate the best solution(s) and how they should be implemented. Make sure your suggestions are grounded in pertinent theories and useful resources, as well as being realistic, practical, and attainable.

• Carefully proofread your case study. Keep in mind these four principles when editing: clarity, honesty, reality and relevance.

Are there any online services that could write a case study for me?

Luckily, there are!

We completely understand and have been ourselves in a position, where we couldn't wrap our head around how to write an effective and useful case study, but don't fear - our service is here.

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Nationally recognized historic home to be bequeathed to La Jolla Historical Society

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A house in La Jolla’s Hidden Valley neighborhood described as “the most important single-family home in the La Jolla community” will one day become the property of the La Jolla Historical Society.

In a celebration Sept. 18 to welcome new Historical Society Executive Director Lauren Lockhart and bid farewell to her predecessor, Heath Fox , the announcement was made that upon the deaths of the current homeowners, Nancy, Joseph and Pamela Manno, Case Study House 23C will be gifted to the Historical Society.

“Of all the announcements I’ve made as executive director, this is the last and by far the most important,” Fox told the gathering.

The house, at 2339 Rue de Anne, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places , one of only four houses in La Jolla with such designation.

Fox later told the La Jolla Light that the Historical Society currently does not possess any properties besides its gallery and office location, known as Wisteria Cottage. The hope is to use Case Study House 23C as “an educational and cultural resource for the community of La Jolla, the people of San Diego, the state of California and indeed the nation that has honored it on the National Register of Historic Places,” Fox said. Plans for how that will be done haven’t yet been decided.

“We hope it will be a long time [before we own the house], and we will use that time to do due diligence and look at best practices and the other models of what people have established to make the resource available to the community and to people who are in architecture and design and want to visit and learn from the house,” Fox said.

The Manno family has lived in the house since Nancy and Joseph bought it in 1974.

Speaking for the family, daughter-in-law Pamela said: “Case Study House 23C is a quiet masterpiece. It exemplifies the harmonious relationship between art, architecture and nature. It is a peaceful place that invokes mindful thought, creativity and well-being for our family. We consider ourselves to be stewards of the house and are confident the La Jolla Historical Society is committed to continuing the stewardship. We believe bequeathing Case Study House 23C to the La Jolla Historical Society will ensue the preservation of this special place while educating communities on the significance of historical architecture and art preservation.”

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The Case Study House program, which ran from 1945 to 1966, was established by John Entenza, editor and publisher of Los Angeles-based Arts & Architecture magazine. Through the program, major architects of the day were commissioned to design prototype single-family homes in the modern style to test new ideas and concepts of plan, form and materials, Fox said.

“The goal was to represent models that could quickly and efficiently be used in residential development to address the postwar housing shortage,” Fox said. “The program became immensely influential in architectural design, and that is true right down to the present day.”

Through the program, 36 buildings were designed. Among them, 24 houses and one apartment building were constructed, mostly in the Los Angeles area.

The only project in San Diego County consisted of the three houses that make up Case Study House 23 — 23A, 23B and 23C, dubbed “The Triad.” The houses are next to one another on Rue de Anne. House 23C was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 . House 23A is considered eligible for the National Register. House 23B has been renovated to the point that it is no longer eligible.

“The essence and spirit of the whole historic preservation movement was in the hearts of Nancy and Joseph long before this house was listed on the National Register,” Fox said. “And this is the Manno family legacy, one of invested, thoughtful and committed stewardship. Although we hope it is many years away, when the day comes that ownership of Case Study House 23C passes to the La Jolla Historical Society, the Manno family legacy of stewardship will come with it. This is a responsibility I know the La Jolla Historical Society will embrace with enthusiasm, professionalism and dedication. To Nancy, Joseph and Pamela for your faith, trust [and] confidence in our organization as the inheritors of your legacy, we are humbly and sincerely grateful.” ◆

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Dr. and Mrs. Stuart Bailey House (Case Study House #20)

This home is located on a five-acre tract purchased for the purpose of building case study houses by John Entenza, the editor of Arts & Architecture magazine. The site, which overlooks the Pacific, also hosted three other case study houses, including Charles and Ray Eames’ house of 1949. Entenza sold one lot to Stuart Bailey, a 30-year-old dentist, who turned to Richard Neutra to design his home on the recommendation of a friend. As part of the Case Study House program, Bailey was eligible for discounts on building and furnishing materials from manufacturers including furniture, steel doors, and a prefabricated utility core called the Ingersoll unit. 51 years later, Bailey praised the continued durability of this unit, which located his plumbing and heating equipment at a central location. Neutra’s design for the house realized several ideas that he had been experimenting with for years, including his notion of a “Four-Courter House.” The resulting space had four articulated wings that extended out into the landscape. While this approach recalls the designs for the Kaufmann house, built a year earlier, and the Tremaine house, built a year later, this house was on a more modest scale of 1,320 square feet, and the wings are much shorter in length. Outside, the “four courts” that are dedicated to socializing, play, dining, and work double the house’s living spaces. Bailey’s correspondence with Neutra demonstrates his interest in the lighting of the house, and he campaigned for “cove lights, trough lights, klieg lights, clerestories, lights in closets and cupboards, and all manner of decorative lights,” no matter the cost. But when Bailey called for the closets to be painted white to make their interiors more visible, Neutra refused, arguing that “the closest must recede” through the use of dark paint and threatening to “remove [his] name from the project” should they be painted white. Ultimately, Neutra continued to work on perfecting the house for many years after its completion, designing two 700 square foot additions for the family in 1950 and 1958.

Adapted from  Neutra – Complete Works  by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 193.

Project Detail

Project architect.

Richard Neutra

Dr. and Mrs. Stuart Bailey

Pacific Palisades, CA

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THE CASE STUDY HOUSES

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SURPRISINGLY THE AMERICAN ARCHITECTURAL magazine most often found in the foreign architect’s office or School of Architecture is the California publication Arts & Architecture . In its pages the foreign archi­tect and student is exposed to an array of buildings of a remarkably high degree of quality. (He is also exposed to the writings of two of America’s most gifted critics, Peter Yates, in music, and Dore Ashton, in painting and sculpture). The wide acceptance and influence of Arts & Architecture  abroad has cer­tainly been due to its view of architecture as an art, rather than as a vast business enterprise, the ap­proach which underlies a majority of America’s archi­tectural publications. Related POP ART, USA MUSE AND EGO

One of the magazine’s most influential and far reaching programs has been its sponsorship of a series of Case Study Houses , where new concepts of form, material and structure could be tested out in residential architecture. The program was insti­tuted in 1945 and the first of these experimental houses was built the following year. Since this date, over 25 houses have been constructed and several are at present in the design stage or are in process of being built. Photographs and plans of these case study houses have recently been brought together by Esther McCoy in a single volume entitled Modern California Houses, Case Study Houses 1945–1962 , (published by Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1962, $15.00). Esther McCoy has long been associated with Arts & Architecture . As a critic and historian she has con­tributed immensely to our understanding of 20th century architecture in California. Her writing on the work of Irving Gill, Bernard Maybeck the brothers Charles and Henry Greene and R. M. Schindler has re­vealed to us an almost entirely unknown chapter in the history of modern architecture. As we should ex­pect, this book, its text, the quality of its plates and its design layout are as distinguished as the buildings which it discusses and illustrates.

To fully appraise the Case Study program one should first see it within the context of similar endeavors which have been tried from time to time in this country and abroad. Throughout the 20th century, nu­merous “Idea houses” or “Houses of the future” have appeared in exhibitions and others have been spon­sored by home and women’s magazines. In 1927–28 the internationally famous Weissonhof housing proj­ects featured designs by Le Corbusier, Gropius, Mart Stam, J. J. P. Oud and others. A similar project to encourage the acceptance of modern architecture was instituted before the Second World War by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in their first “Idea house,” and continued in a second “Idea house” con­structed in 1947 behind the Center. In 1948 The Museum of Modern Art commissioned Marcel Breuer to build an exhibition house in the Museum court­yard; a second house was commissioned in 1950 to the California architect Gregory Ain. In the 1950’s the Guggenheim Museum, as part of its exhibition of Frank Lloyd Wright, built one of his “Usonian” houses.

Few of these programs have been able to sustain themselves for any appreciable length of time and it is difficult to say whether they have actually pro­duced their desired result. Even the influential ex­hibition and publication program of the Museum of Modern Art in architecture and design, first under Phillip Johnson in the early 1930’s, and later in the 40’s and early 50’s under Edgar Kaufman has pretty well fallen into a respectable intellectual doldrum in the hands of Arthur Drexler.

That this path is a precarious one is well illustrated by several of the most recent Case Study Houses, especially the Towri House on the Rivo Alto Canal, near Long Beach, and the Triad Development of houses at La Jolla, all by the firm of Killingsworth, Brady and Smith. In each of these houses there is a decided tinge of what has so aptly been labeled “Hollywood Regency.” Not that their forms are in any way eclectic––there is no evidence whatsoever of “French Provincial” or “English Regency” which is the normal mode of the Beverly Hills version of “Holly­wood Regency.” Yet their own involvement with formalism, with forced symmetry and their self-con­scious concern for uncluttered forms and surfaces has created a preciousness which compromises their total architectural statement. Man’s physical frame may well be symmetrical, but this does not mean that he necessarily lives or operates in this way. There is something dramatic about entering a house over a bridge, or via a series of stepping stones over a pool of water, but in the end is this architecture or simply a stage setting? In their house “A” at La Jolla, Kil­lingsworth, Brady and Smith provide this stagey, im­pressive entrance for guests and visitors and then they furnish an entrance for the family directly off the garage area which frankly conveys the informality of the contemporary California scene.

The view of architecture as an intellectual exercise in the realm of pristine sharp-edged forms and pre­cise proportions has long been a dominant theme in the Case Study program (as it has continually cropped up throughout the history of architecture), but in the earlier Case Study Houses by Craig Ellwood and Pierre Koenig the esthetic articulation of planes and volumes defined by precise rectangular shapes had been dominated by the structural form of the building. In Killingsworth, Brady and Smith there is a tendency to play down the structure as the salient motif and in its place to substitute an involvement with form.

The most recent of the Case Study Houses reveals as well a marked shift in the use of materials and the way in which they are exposed. The employment of steel as a relatively new building material in do­mestic architecture was initiated in the Case Study House program by Charles Eames for his own house and studio, built in 1949. The Eames house was the most successful of all the Case Study Houses in that it illustrated how the mass-produced product might be used in domestic architecture. The Eames house used materials, primarily steel and glass, in such a way that their quality of regularity and order never dominated the total form. In the later Case Study Houses of Ellwood and Koenig the steel frame did become the controlling element in the design, forci­bly establishing the surface, the proportion and the volume of the building. In several of the most recent examples of the Case Study Houses this directness of approach to materials and structure has been par­tially abandoned. The materials and structure no longer are an organic part of the design. As Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and even Frank Lloyd Wright have pointed out, good design, especially in our century and here in America, is as much a result of negative self-restraint as it is positive affirmation. Certainly the success of the Eames house was the result of his adherence to the principle of self-re­straint.

Originally the Case Study House program had an­other dominating characteristic and that was its interest in the direct solution of the problems of the mass-produced project house. The first Case Study House by J. R. Davidson was an admirable and highly influential minimal house (of 1100 sq. ft.) and was reproduced as a mass-produced house. The same was true of Summer Spaulding’s and John Rex’s 1947 Case Study House, where a strict modular system was ad­hered to.

By the 1950’s Arts & Architecture had pretty well abandoned any direct concern for mass housing. The houses of the last 12 to 13 years seemed to be based upon the premise of influencing design through osmosis––by creating visual and structural “master­pieces” which will serve as a source of inspiration in the area of project and mass-produced housing. That the Case Study House Project has created significant monuments of the “modern movement” is undeniable and it is hoped that it will continue to do so, but whether this approach, as opposed to its direct in­volvement, can or will affect mass housing (which constitutes well over 90% of all houses built in the U.S.) is open to serious doubt.

–– David Gebhard

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Case Study Houses

The Case Study Houses served as a blueprint and inspiration for Mid-Century homes in Southern California.

In 2013, ten Case Study House program residences were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Relevant Places

Bass House (Case Study House #20B)

Case Study House #1

Case Study House #10

Case Study House #16

Case Study House #28

Entenza House (Case Study House #9)

Stahl House (Case Study House #22)

Triad (Case Study House #23A)

Triad (Case Study House #23C)

West House (Case Study House #18)

Launched in 1945 by John Entenza’s  Arts + Architecture  magazine, the Case Study House program commissioned architects to study, plan, design, and ultimately construct houses in anticipation of renewed building in the postwar years.

While the Case Study House program did not achieve its initial goals for mass production and affordability, it was responsible for some of Los Angeles’ most iconic and internationally recognized modern residences, such as the  Eames House (Case Study House #8)  by Charles and Ray Eames and the Pierre Koenig-designed  Stahl House (Case Study House #22) , famously photographed by Julius Shulman.

After a decade-long effort, L.A. Conservancy’s Modern Committee succeeded in listing ten Case Study residences on the National Register of Historic Places.

About This Issue

With an emphasis on experimentation, and a goal of promoting good, modern, affordable design for single-family homes, the program helped to disseminate the midcentury modern aesthetic through its thirty-five published plans. Of these, twenty-five houses and one apartment building were built in California and Arizona.

The program offered an unparalleled opportunity for commissions and publicity for established architects including Richard Neutra, J. R. Davidson, Sumner Spaulding, and William Wurster. It helped raise the profile of then-lesser-known designers including Craig Ellwood, A. Quincy Jones, Edward Killingsworth, Ralph Rapson, Eero Saarinen, and Raphael Soriano.

Our Position

On November 21, 2013, the  Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee was awarded a Governor’s Historic Preservation Award to recognize its work in nominating eleven Case Study Houses to the National Register of Historic Places.

Through the efforts of the Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee, eleven Case Study House residences in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Ventura counties are now recognized as nationally historic. Ten are officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and an eleventh was deemed eligible for listing.

Few of the Case Study Houses currently have preservation protections, and some have been demolished or significantly altered. This proactive step recognizes the eleven nominated homes and raises greater awareness about the Case Study House program while providing a historic context for future designation of the remaining eligible properties.

On May 1, 2013, the State Historical Resources Commission voted to recommend listing of ten Case Study Houses in the National Register of Historic Places.  These ten residences with certifying recommendations were submitted to the National Park Service for final review and listing by the Keeper of the National Trust.  They were formally listed on July 24, 2013.

An eleventh nominated residence, Case Study House #23A, was not formally listed because of owner objection, but it received a determination of eligibility for listing in the National Register. All eleven residences will be considered historic resources and will enjoy the same protections under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Several Case Study Houses were not included in the nomination — if they’ve been altered or demolished, or for other reasons — but with this platform in place, it will be easier for other CSH homes to be nominated in the future.

Likewise, a few CSH houses, such as the  Eames House  (CSH #8), weren’t included because they’re already individually listed.

Case Study House residences included in nomination:

Los Angeles County

• Case Study House #1 , 10152 Toluca Lake Ave., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #9 , 205 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #10 , 711 S. San Rafael Ave., Pasadena
• Case Study House #16 , 1811 Bel Air Rd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #18 , 199 Chautauqua Blvd., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #20 , 2275 N. Santa Rosa Ave., Altadena
• Case Study House #21 , 9038 Wonderland Park Ave., Los Angeles
• Case Study House #22 , 1635 Woods Dr., Los Angeles

San Diego County 

• Case Study House #23A , 2342 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego (determined eligible)
• Case Study House #23C , 2339 Rue de Anne, La Jolla, San Diego

Ventura County

• Case Study House #28 , 91 Inverness Rd., Thousand Oaks

CASE STUDY HOUSES : UNBUILT

CSH 13 is Richard Neutra's 'Alpha' house, complement to CSH 6 'Omega'.  Ample and discreet outdoor spaces were imagined to allow both families to come together for various occasions.

SPOL Architects - escritório de arquitetura

HOUSE #1 - INTERNAL GARDEN   1/23

HOUSE #1 - LIVING ROOM   2/23

HOUSE #1 - INTERNAL GARDEN   3/23

HOUSE #1 - PLAN   4/23

HOUSE #1 - SECTION   5/23

HOUSE #1 TO #15   6/23

HOUSE #2 - SPACES IN-BETWEEN   7/23

HOUSE #2 - PLAN   8/23

HOUSE #3 - FAMILY VILLAGE   9/23

HOUSE #3 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   10/23

HOUSE #3 - LEVEL 3 PLAN   11/23

HOUSE #3 - SECTION   12/23

HOUSE #4 - BARN BUILDING   13/23

HOUSE #4 - PLAN   14/23

HOUSE #4 - SECTION   15/23

HOUSE #5 - ROOMS UNDER ROOF   16/23

HOUSE #5 - LEVEL 1 PLAN   17/23

HOUSE #5 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   18/23

HOUSE #5 - SECTION   19/23

HOUSE #6 - CLIMBING THE HILL   20/23

HOUSE #6 - LEVEL 2 PLAN   21/23

HOUSE #6 - LEVEL 4 PLAN   22/23

HOUSE #6 - SECTION   23/23

6 case study houses.

Chácara Santa Helena is an oasis in São Paulo. A large piece of the Mata Atlantica captured in the midst of the sprawling city. An abundance of trees and species makes a uniquely beautiful and rich site. Our house captures this image; at the heart of the house is nature.

Our design combines the contemporary life with traditions from Brazilian house building and an Scandinavian openness and obsession for details. The house is designed as continuous shared space; organized, separated and connected by the central garden.

The house is a reinterpretation of the traditional Brazilian Villa, with its open patio in the center for ventilation and light. The concept is expanded as the organizing element for the entire house.

It is a house for the contemporary family, where shared space is at the core of the house, and life evolves around the internal patio. The patio connects and separates living, kitchen, library, play room, office and private quarters. The garden is enclosed and can act as part of the house day and night. It is living with and in nature.

The exterior wall becomes a large furniture for storage, from books to wine to tools. Light materials and screens of wooden mesh-work form the exterior of the house. A strict exterior and a soft organic interior define the house and the life in the house.

Chácara Santa Helena; old Plantation in Alta Boa Vista, São Paulo

Plots in Chácara Santa Helena, total of 25.000m2, masterplan by Isay Weinfeld, landscape design by Renata Tilli

300m2-700m2

Design of private residences for Condominium Chácara Santa Helena

Partner in Charge

Adam Kurdahl

Visualizations

Adam Kurdahl, João Vieira Costa, Mariana Alves, Gabriel Spera, Fernando Páal, Diogo Madeira

Exhibited at Architectural Exhition in Chacara Santa Helena

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Case Study Houses: The Latest Architecture and News

Foster + partners reimagines william pereora's television city in california, united states.

Foster + Partners, l ed by Normal Foster, has just been selected to reimagine the Television City studio complex in Los Angeles, following a global competition. The project involves the restoration of William Pereira’s iconic 1952 buildings and the transformation of the 25-acre site into a low-rise multi-modal campus and draws inspiration from the Los Angeles’ renowned Case Study Houses. The campus will feature new sound stages, production offices, creative workspace, and retail surrounding its perimeter.

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Defining Afro-Contemporary Homes: The Role of Case Study Houses

The home is a fundamental expression of architectural movements within the fabric of a city. As one of the smallest typologies, it is the simplest canvas to exhibit the design ethos of any particular era. African cities have continuously negotiated the meaning of their residential dwellings, from traditional architecture to colonial architecture, and the influx of post-colonial modern architecture. Vernacular architecture explored homes with spatial patterns rooted in cultural dexterity, envelopes built with indigenous materials and forms, endowed with traditional motifs. These were in stark contrast to colonial homes that featured a range of imported architectural styles across the continent, neglecting their climatic and cultural contexts while amplifying social class.

How Did Materials Shape the Case Study Houses?

The Case Study Houses (1945-1966), sponsored by the Arts & Architecture Magazine and immortalized by Julius Shulman ’s iconic black-and-white photographs, may be some of the most famous examples of modern American architecture in history. Designed to address the postwar housing crisis with quick construction and inexpensive materials, while simultaneously embracing the tenets of modernist design and advanced contemporary technology, the Case Study Houses were molded by their central focus on materials and structural design. While each of the homes were designed by different architects for a range of clients, these shared aims unified the many case study homes around several core aesthetic and structural strategies: open plans, simple volumes, panoramic windows, steel frames, and more. Although some of the Case Study Houses’ materials and strategies would become outdated in the following decades, these unique products and features would come to define a historic era of architectural design in the United States.

Modern, Low-Budget and Easy to Build Living Spaces: the Case Study House Program

Between 1945 and 1966, the Case Study Houses program , following the Weißenhof-siedlung exposition, commissioned a study of economic, easy-to-build houses. The study included the creation of 36 prototypes that were to be built leading up to post-war residential development. The initiative by John Entenza, editor of Arts & Architecture magazine, brought a team to Los Angeles that featured some of the biggest names in architecture at the time, including Richard Neutra , Charles & Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, and Eero Saarinen , among others.

The program's experiment not only defined the modern home and set it apart from its predecessors, but it also pioneered new construction materials and methods in residential development that continue to influence international architecture to this day. Take a detailed look at some of the program's most emblematic work together with recommendations for facing contemporary challenges. 

When Minimalism Gets Extravagant: A Virtual Look at the Case Study House 17(2)

Arts & Architecture ’s Case Study House program was supposed to be about creating replicable, affordable designs for post-war living—stylish but modest homes for young families on a budget. And then came house #17(2).

To be fair, this house was designed for real clients, with specific and ambitious requirements. The Hoffmans had four children, a household staff, and an art collection. So this was never going to be just another suburban three-bedroom.

A Virtual Look Into J R Davidson's Case Study House #11

The editorial notes on Arts & Architecture ’s 11th Case Study House set out the “basic principles of modern architecture”: an emphasis on “order, fitness and simplicity.” Livability and practicality are key, and “sham” is frowned on. As with other houses in the series, this design by JR Davidson adheres to these goals with clean, horizontal lines, an open floor plan, and integration of the outdoor space.

It’s a modest, compact home, less high-concept than some of the other houses in the programme—no indoor plantings or reflecting pools; no complicated backstory for the imagined clients (think of the next two, #12 and especially #13 )—but arguably more successful in providing a model for the average American home. Its value doesn’t depend on dramatic landscaping or views, but on thoughtful design and attention to solving everyday problems. Walking through Archilogic ’s 3D model reveals the elegance of Davidson’s approach.

A Virtual Look Inside Case Study House #10 by Kemper Nomland & Kemper Nomland Jr

The tenth Case Study House wasn’t actually intended for the Arts & Architecture programme. It was added on its completion in 1947, to fill out the roster, as many houses remained unbuilt. Clearly, the Nomland design earned its place on the list, having many features in common with other Case Study homes and, most importantly, meeting the stated aims of economy, simplicity, new materials and techniques, and indoor/outdoor integration. The different departure point, however, can be seen in the layout. Whereas Case Study homes were designed primarily for families, this plan is for “a family of adults”—which is to say, a childless couple.

The World's First Freeform 3D-Printed House Enters Development Phase

WATG Urban's first prize design for The Freeform Home Design Challenge in 2016 is now moving one step closer to becoming a reality. Since winning the competition, WATG 's Chicago office has been developing the winning design, dubbed Curve Appeal, alongside Branch Technology . Curve Appeal is now undergoing the "wall section testing, research and development phase" with an anticipated goal of breaking ground later this year. This revolutionary project could change the way we construct complex, freeform structures.

A Virtual Look Inside Case Study House #7 by Thornton M Abell

The seventh house in the Arts & Architecture Case Study program was built with real clients in mind: a family of three with creative hobbies. The result, designed by Thornton M Abell , is a flexible home with a distinctive functional character.

The house divides neatly into three separate areas: to the left of the entrance, working spaces make up nearly half of the full floorplan, with living and sleeping areas off to the right and extending forward into the garden. Sliding panels between the roomy central reception/dining area and the cozy living room create the option of privacy or extra space, as required, with the terrace and splash pool beyond offering further possibilities for summer entertaining. A small planting area beside the sliding door blurs the line between indoors and out.

A Virtual Look Inside Case Study House #4, Ralph Rapson’s "Greenbelt House"

The fourth house in Arts & Architecture ’s Case Study program departed from the trend with a noticeably more introverted design. Intended for a modestly sized urban lot, rather than the dramatic and expansive canyon or forest locations of so many other Case Study homes, it couldn’t borrow drama from the landscape, nor would the residents welcome curious glances from their close neighbors—so the house looks entirely inward.

Rapson called his design the “Greenbelt House” for the glass-covered atrium that divides the living and sleeping areas. In his original drawings and model, as in Archilogic ’s 3D model shown here, this strip is shown filled with plant beds in a striking geometric pattern. However, Rapson imagined that it could be put to many uses, according to the residents’ tastes: a croquet court or even a swimming pool could find their place here. This “brings the outdoors indoors” rather more literally than, for instance, Richard Neutra ’s expansive, open-door designs.

A Virtual Look Inside the Case Study House #23A by Killingsworth, Brady & Smith

Only three of the Arts & Architecture Case Study Houses were built outside Los Angeles , and those three formed a united concept. The Triad Houses in La Jolla, a seaside suburb of San Diego , share a single driveway, motor court, and design vocabulary, while being created to meet different needs.

In keeping with the Case Study mission, all three houses used open-plan design, affordable modern materials (such as aluminium and concrete with wood frames), and plenty of glass to create a fresh and open mood. The emphasis was on strong geometric forms, careful detailing, horizontal lines (with perfectly flat roofs) and – this being the Californian coastline – dramatic views and outdoor living space, creating the illusion of more interior space than was actually present.

AD Classics: The Entenza House (Case Study #9) / Charles & Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen & Associates

Nestled in the verdant seaside hills of the Pacific Palisades in southern California, the Entenza House is the ninth of the famous Case Study Houses built between 1945 and 1962. With a vast, open-plan living room that connects to the backyard through floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors, the house brings its natural surroundings into a metal Modernist box, allowing the two to coexist as one harmonious space.

Like its peers in the Case Study Program, the house was designed not only to serve as a comfortable and functional residence, but to showcase how modular steel construction could be used to create low-cost housing for a society still recovering from the the Second World War. The man responsible for initiating the program was John Entenza , Editor of the magazine Arts and Architecture. The result was a series of minimalist homes that employed steel frames and open plans to reflect the more casual and independent way of life that had arisen in the automotive age.[1]

A Virtual Look Inside the Case Study House #3 by William W Wurster & Theodore Bernardi

The third Arts & Architecture Case Study House has a noticeably different sensibility to that of many of the other designs in the series. While equally engaged with the goal of maximizing enjoyment of the natural surroundings, in this design the architects show more concern for privacy and protection.

The approach from the street is somewhat forbidding; aluminum siding presents an impenetrable front. Besides the front and garage doors, the small, high kitchen windows are the only visible openings, though it is possible to peer over the fence of grape stakes into the children’s private garden.

A Virtual Look Inside the Case Study House #2 by Sumner Spaulding and John Rex

The second house in Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study Houses program shows the hallmarks of the series: an emphasis on light-soaked living areas, indoor-outdoor living, strong horizontal lines dominated by a flat roof, and so on. It is distinguished, though, by particularly creative details linking the indoor and outdoor areas, and by a strong awareness of function.

A Virtual Look Into Richard Neutra's Case Study House #20, the Bailey House

The Bailey house—one of Richard Neutra ’s four Case Study designs for Arts & Architecture —forms one of five Bluff houses, standing high above the ocean. The brief was to create a low-budget home for a young family, with just two bedrooms, but offering the possibility of expansion as time went by (which did in fact transpire; additional Neutra-designed wings were later built).

Neutra employed the same indoor-outdoor philosophy that can be seen at work in his unbuilt Alpha and Omega houses, using large sliding glass doors to create light and a visual sense of space, as well as ensuring that the house physically opened up to, as he put it, “borrow space from the outdoors.” With this sunny Californian ocean-view setting, it made perfect sense to use the back garden and terrace as living and dining room.

A Virtual Look Inside the Case study house #12 by Whitney R Smith

In designing his (unbuilt) house for the Arts & Architecture Case Study program , Whitney Smith, like Richard Neutra , prioritized the connection to outdoor space. His motivation, however, was more specific than a desire to extend the living area of a small house. Rather, he wanted to create a highly personal space, geared to the passion of his hypothetical client. Seeing conventional plans as a straitjacket for residents who craved appropriate working space within their home (be it a sewing studio or a photography darkroom), he aspired to fit this house to the needs of a keen horticulturist.

A Virtual Look Into Richard Neutra's Unbuilt Case Study House #13, The Alpha House

Of the four homes designed by Richard Neutra for the Case Study Houses program, post-war thought experiments commissioned by Arts & Architecture , only one was ever realized. In the imaginary village of the program's many unbuilt homes, next to #6, the Omega house , stands #13, named Alpha. Archilogic ’s 3D model gives us a unique chance to experience this innovative concept home.

Each of Neutra’s projects was designed for a family of five, and each reveals his psychoanalytic approach to architecture, in which the house itself is an intimate part of family relationships, as important as the personalities involved. (Neutra was personally acquainted with Freud, and a committed follower of birth trauma theorist Otto Rank.) Underlining this Freudian view, his imaginary clients are not just neighbours—they are related; Mrs Alpha being sister to Mrs Omega.

A Virtual Look Into Mies van der Rohe's Core House

Architecture depends on its time. It is the crystallization of its inner structure, the slow unfolding of its form. – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

In 1951, Mies van der Rohe designed the Core House, a participative design structure which could be completed by its inhabitants.

This flexible model challenged certain architectural concepts, explored new industrial technologies, and proposed a modular system to improve the quality and affordability of housing.

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Alaska House Proposes Amendment to Allow Public Money for Private Schools

Hjr 28 also proposes to change article ix, section 6, which prohibits spending public money except for public purposes..

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After a court ruling that overturned a key part of Alaska’s education correspondence programs , members of the state Legislature have proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow public money to go to private and religious schools.

House Joint Resolution 28 is scheduled for hearings Wednesday and Friday next week in the House Judiciary Committee.

If approved by two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and voters this fall, HJR 28 would remove the part of Article VII, Section 1, that says, “no money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”

That clause was specifically flagged by Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman when he struck down a law dealing with payments to the parents of children in the state’s correspondence programs.

Some parents had been using the money to pay for tuition at private schools, and Zeman concluded that the law had been deliberately written to allow the practice, making it unconstitutional.

HJR 28 also proposes to change Article IX, Section 6, which prohibits spending public money except for public purposes. The proposed amendment would add a clause saying that the section doesn’t prevent payments “for the direct educational benefit of students as provided by law.”

In a statement accompanying the release of the draft amendment, Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer and chair of the judiciary committee, said that “by allowing public funds to benefit all Alaskans seeking educational opportunities, this amendment promotes fairness and empowers choice in education.”

Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River and a member of the judiciary committee, said that a public vote — required of any constitutional amendment — would empower voters and “ensures that all Alaskans have a voice in shaping the future of education in Alaska.”

While large numbers of state legislators and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have expressed alarm about the legal decision on correspondence programs, many have said they intend to postpone action until after the Alaska Supreme Court addresses the topic.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, several members of the supermajority caucus in charge of the Alaska Senate said they would be unlikely to support a constitutional amendment eliminating the prohibition on public funds for private schools.

Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected] . Follow Alaska Beacon on Facebook and Twitter .

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Post Office executives played a leading role in publicly defending their organisation over the hundreds of prosecutions it brought against the sub-postmasters who ran its branches, based on the flawed Horizon accounting system.

But, behind the scenes, it was in-house lawyers who took on the task of briefing senior executives on the robustness of its Horizon software. They were also responsible for commissioning relevant audits and setting out the UK state-owned organisation’s approach to litigation. 

More than 900 people were convicted of a range of offences, including theft and false accounting, in cases involving data from Fujitsu’s flawed Horizon system, which was introduced in 1999. More than 700 prosecutions were brought by the Post Office itself.

However, it was another lawyer — James Hartley, partner and head of dispute resolution at law firm Freeths — who represented 555 of the sub-postmasters in a landmark 2019 High Court case in which the extent of the IT scandal emerged. The judge ruled that several “bugs, errors and defects” meant there was a “material risk” that the Horizon system was to blame for faulty data used in the Post Office prosecutions.

“It’s quite a complex web of obligation, responsibility and culpability,” says Hartley, reflecting on the reach of the affair into the legal profession. “Somewhere along the way, lawyers have stepped over the red line.”

Now, a public inquiry into the scandal is gaining momentum as it takes evidence from senior Post Office executives, government ministers and figures from Fujitsu, ahead of its conclusion this summer.

In the coming months, the inquiry will hear testimony from several former general counsel at the Post Office, each of whom will give evidence against the backdrop of a debate about whether the role of an in-house lawyer needs to be more strictly regulated.

Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s general counsel between 2010 and 2013, will appear today at Aldwych House in London to respond to claims that, under her watch, the business brought prosecutions against sub-postmasters despite concerns surrounding Horizon.

Audio recordings shared with the inquiry, of conversations between Crichton and forensic accountants Second Sight in 2013, suggest she briefed the company’s chief executive that claims made by accused sub-postmasters about the Horizon system were, in fact, true.

Their discussions include the detail, long denied by the Post Office, that third parties could access systems remotely and alter transaction data. Sub-postmasters successfully argued in court that they could not be held solely responsible for any shortfalls because of this third-party access.

Crichton’s evidence is also expected to spell out some of the difficulties that existed for general counsel in raising concerns, particularly when executives fail to act in response.

Chris Aujard, Crichton’s successor, is scheduled to appear at the inquiry tomorrow. Jane MacLeod, who succeeded Aujard, is due to appear in June, shortly after current counsel Ben Foat takes the stand.

Somewhere along the way, lawyers have stepped over the red line James Hartley, Freeths

Contemporaneous documents suggest that there may have been opportunities for the Post Office to prevent litigation.

The Post Office’s general counsel were involved in commissioning half a dozen reports and reviews by external auditors and consultants, including BAE Systems, Deloitte, EY, and Second Sight, in the decade leading up to the 2019 High Court case.

Some of these reports found faults with internal systems and how they were managed. External lawyers in 2013 warned the Post Office that the business was at risk of breaching its obligations as a prosecutor over improper practices, if any decision were made to shred documents, which prevented disclosure.

Richard Moorhead, a professor of law and professional ethics at the University of Exeter, says matters should be reported “up the ladder” and that general counsel need to act as a “moral compass” within an organisation. “They need to speak up if they think things are being done which are improper and ensure the client hears those things,” he says.

Moorhead, who sits on the government-appointed Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, is a vocal critic of the lawyers involved in the Post Office Horizon scandal.

He adds that there were occasions when in-house lawyers at the Post Office should have sought to “blow the whistle” once it became obvious that errors in the Horizon system could account for shortfalls.

General counsel play a prominent role in shaping the legal strategy of a company or organisation and advising executives on the best approach to compliance and handling legal risk. But there is sometimes tension between serving the business and acting in the public’s interest. 

In the aftermath of the Enron and WorldCom fraud scandals in the early 2000s, US regulators introduced new security laws that required general counsel to report adverse information to audit committees, directors and other officials when senior leadership was unresponsive.

[GCs] need to speak up if they think things are being done which are improper and ensure the client hears those things Richard Moorhead, University of Exeter

Brian Cheffins, a professor of corporate law at the University of Cambridge, says the new rules produced a playbook for in-house lawyers who had been “stonewalled internally”, particularly as these individuals could find themselves in “deep water” when misgovernance became evident.

But Cheffins is opposed to plans to set out general counsel’s obligations formally, and warns that doing so risks duplicating duties that already exist elsewhere.

General counsel in the UK operate under the same rules as any solicitor or barrister advising a client, which stipulate acting with integrity in ensuring that senior figures are briefed on unpalatable information. The Horizon affair has reminded lawyers of their duties when advising executives.

Hartley says: “In-house lawyers need to recalibrate their thinking on where that red line is so they know when to turn around to the person they’re advising and say, ‘No, we cannot do that’.”

Post Office general counsel: in the spotlight

Susan Crichton In 2012-2013 she was involved in instructing Second Sight to conduct an independent investigation into Horizon. The forensic accountants raised concerns but these were not actioned by the business despite executives being briefed. Crichton left the Post Office to take on a similar role at TSB Bank in 2013; she retired in 2018.

Chris Aujard After becoming general counsel in 2013, he was tasked with winding down a mediation scheme set up for affected sub-postmasters and removing Second Sight from its role investigating the Post Office. Meeting minutes from 2014 showed he was present when executives discussed setting aside £1mn in “token payments” to mitigate any reputational damage.

Jane MacLeod In position as general counsel when 555 sub-postmasters brought a suit against the Post Office, MacLeod was responsible for overseeing the business’s initial response. The public inquiry will explore her handling of disclosure and response to litigation when she gives evidence in June. She resigned from the Post Office in 2019.

Ben Foat Appointed to general counsel in 2019, Foat previously served as the business’s legal director. He appeared at the inquiry in the middle of last year after widespread disclosure failures resulted in weeks of delays to evidence. Sir Wyn Williams, chair of the inquiry, has since threatened officials with criminal penalties if such problems recur.

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