The Stahl House: Case Study House #22, The Making of a Modernist Icon is the official autobiography of this world-renowned architectural gem by the family that made it their home. Considered one of the most iconic and recognizable examples of mid-century modern homes in the world, the Stahl House was first envisioned by the owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl, designed by architect Pierre Koenig, and immortalized by photographer Julius Shulman. This 1960 glass-and-steel home in the Hollywood Hills has come to embody the idealism of a generation in search of the American dream. As one of the Case Study Houses designed between 1945 and 1966 under the vision of John Entenza and Arts & Architecture magazine, this was an affordable yet progressive design experiment to address the postwar housing shortage. The result—a two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot house with glass walls that disappear into a 270-degree panorama of Los Angeles—became Koenig's pièce de résistance. The Stahl House broke rules, defied building codes that discouraged building on cliffs, and expanded the possibilities of residential architecture. The glass walls blurred the boundary between indoors and outdoors. The building seemed to merge with the city itself, the lines of the structure aligning with the geometry of the city's gridded streets. "Los Angeles becomes an extension of the house and vice versa," Koenig said. "The house is just a part of the city." The book shares the never-before-told inside story by the Stahl family's adult children who grew up there and still graciously give home tours to fans from around the world. Through extensive research and interviews, historical information and personal photos are featured. This includes Buck Stahl's initial vision of the home with his own DIY schematic model for how to build on the complicated site. It also includes blueprints, floor plans, and sketches by Pierre Koenig, as well as Julius Shulman's renowned photographs. Additionally, photographs of the house used in high-end, fashion ad campaigns and film and television are also included, cementing The Stahl House's prominence in contemporary culture.

A heavily illustrated and highly designed tribute to Los Angeles architect Pierre Koenig, a key figure of the Los Angeles Modernist movement. In this remarkable and gorgeously illustrated book, Neil Jackson presents a vibrant profile of the Los Angeles architect Pierre Koenig, who Time magazine said lived long enough to become “cool twice.” From the influences of Koenig’s youth in San Francisco and his military service during World War II to the Case Study Houses and his later award-laden years, Jackson’s study plots the evolution of Koenig’s oeuvre against the backdrop of Los Angeles—a city that both shaped and was shaped by his architecture. The book is anchored by Jackson’s exciting discoveries in Koenig’s archive at the Getty Research Institute. Drawings, photographs, diaries, letters, lecture notes, building contracts, and university projects—many of which are published for the first time—provide an expanded understanding of Koenig and additional context for his architectural achievements. An examination of Koenig’s Case Study Houses shows how his often single-minded and pragmatic approach to domestic architecture recognized the advantages of production housing and presciently embraced sustainable, ecologically responsible design. A new account of the Chemehuevi housing project in Havasu Lake, California, demonstrates the special role that learning and teaching played in the development of his architecture. Over his fifty-year career, Koenig not only designed iconic houses but also directed their restoration and curated their legacy, ensuring that his work could be seen and appreciated by present and future admirers of midcentury Los Angeles.

Includes eight main essays as well as contributions from Elizabeth A.T. Smith, this volume documents the Case Study House Progam, carried out between 1945 and 1966 where 36 experimental prototype houses were built by leading Californian architects.

The drawings, models, and images highlighted in the Overdrive exhibition and catalogue reveal the complex and often underappreciated facets of Los Angeles and illustrate how the metropolis became an internationally recognized destination with a unique design vocabulary, canonical landmarks, and a coveted lifestyle. This investigation builds upon the groundbreaking work of generations of historians, theorists, curators, critics, and activists who have researched and expounded upon the development of Los Angeles. In this volume, thought-provoking essays shed more light on the exhibition's narratives, including Los Angeles's physical landscape, the rise of modernism, the region's influential residential architecture, its buildings for commerce and transportation, and architects' pioneering uses of bold forms, advanced materials, and new technologies. The related exhibition will be held at the J. Paul Getty Museum from April 9 to July 21, 2013.

Radical. Visionary. Poetic. Inside Utopia shows the future of living that architects and designers have envisioned. Spectacular and reflective, unpretentious and efficient: the breathtaking Elrod House by John Lautner; the Lagerfeld Apartment near Cannes that seems like a set from a science fiction film; Palais Bulles in France with its organic and unique architecture. These interiors welcome habitation and spark curiosity while embodying the foundations of minimalism and bygone visions of the future. Inside Utopia delves into the rhyme and reason behind past designs that we still interact with today. The architects, the owners, and the craftsmen like Gio Ponti or Bruce Goff who work behind the scenes created amorphous interiors that invite the mind to wander. At the time they were futuristic, confident, utopian, idealistic-- we may not realize it, but they have shaped our current living concepts, and even now, they inspire us anew. Previously it has been difficult to attain access to these preserved interiors, but Inside Utopia unearths what was before unseen.

With 36 prototype designs, the Case Study House program created paradigms for modern living that would extend their influence far beyond their Los Angeles heartland. This essential introduction features 150 photographs and plans to explore each of these model residences and their architects, including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, and...

"A selection of 60 photographs of Los Angeles by the photographer Julius Shulman (American, 1910-2009)."--Provided by publisher.