14) The Lovell Beach House - Taylor Johnson

 The Lovell Beach House was built in Newport Beach, California in 1926. The architect was Rudolf Schindler and is a beachfront house in compact neighborhood. This house demonstrates the early use of concrete as unsurfaced and the structure is distinct from the enclosure.

13) The Glass House - Taylor Johnson

 

The Glass House was built in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1949.  The building was designed by Phillip Johnson as his own residence. As you can see in the picture above, the house was designed using early use of materials for home design such as steel and glass. The building uses aspects of minimal structure, geometry, proportion, and the effects of transparency and reflection.

 The house strikes me as a beautiful building in a couple of ways. First, the building utilizes natural light very well to illuminate the home during the day. Second, it allows the residence to feel connected with nature because of its openness.

(8) Eames House - Trevor Morse

The Eames House, located in Pasadena, California, at the time of its completion was a fully used home despite its nickname the "Case Study House No. 8." The interesting feat of the home was the redesign that was done after the materials arrived from the manufactures. At the time of its construction in 1945, the steel required was still hard to get due to the recent war efforts. This caused the project to be delayed by 3 years. During that period of time the Architects, Charles and Ray Eames had spent a great deal of time on the land and had decided that they wanted the home to be more in sync with nature. Through this realization a new design was needed. This feat was remarkable due to the fact that they used all of the previous materials that were ordered, in fact the only thing that needed to be ordered was one more beam.

(7) Villa Philbrook - Trevor Morse

The Villa Philbrook in Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of my favorite homes, and possibly because I am biased since I am from the Tulsa area. Nonetheless,  The structure is simply immaculate. Built in the mid to late 1920s for Waite Phillips and his family. The estate is located on a 23 acre plot of land that also is home to amazing gardens. The design was inspired by 16th Century Italian architecture, with the final designs done by Edward Bueller Delk. The mansion was occupied by the family until 1938 where it was turned into a museum of art one year later. Inside the home murals and carvings can be found on nearly every surface maximizing the amount of design in the home. The main structure of the building was done with steel reinforced by concrete. The home remains as one of Tulsa's greatest icons and is visited regularly by art and architecture enthusiast alike.

12) The Rietveld Schroder House - Taylor Johnson

 The Rietveld Schroder House was built in 1924 by Gerrit Rietveld in Utrecht, Netherlands. The owner, Truus Schroder-Schrader, wanted the house to have a connection between the outside and inside. Interestingly, as seen in the photograph below, there is no attempt in the design to match the buildings next to it.

 Truus Schroder-Schrader wanted to ideally have no walls in here house, but have the option of still separating the space if it needed to be. This was mostly achieved by using sliding/revolving panels. When the panels are used, the house consists of three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room.

I enjoy the way this house was designed because of how simple it is. The lines make it look simple and is very eye appealing. The way the rooms function and are able to adapt to the situation are a great feature to have. In my opinion, this house was ahead of its time.

11) The Gamble House - Taylor Johnson

 When I first saw a picture of this house I knew I recognized it from somewhere. Located in Pasadena, California, The Gamble House was used as the exterior of Doc's mansion in Back to the Future. The house was designed by a firm called Greene and Greene in 1908-09. This house is amazing because it incorporates aspects of Japanese wood architecture, while also providing a lot of space for the people inside.

 

The interiors are mostly made of wood and you feel as if you are still in the middle of the woods in this home. There is amazing attention to detail in all aspects, from the light fixtures to the stairs.

(6) Digital Design - Trevor Morse

In recent years computers have become a mainstay within the architectural world. Modeling and rendering software has made the process extremely easy to create and to communicate with clients. Today, the use of computers is reaching even further with even more technology being developed such as 3D printers and CNC machines, both of which allow architects to add new elements of design and functionality to their work. Currently a group of designers in Switzerland have been working on a project for a courthouse that uses triangle panels in order to complete an "inner facade." This design was created digitally using the design software Rhino 3D. The facade was then divided up into a series of panels ranging in size in order to fit to the different rooms. The construction of the panels was also done digitally through a CNC machine, allowing for precision when designing the acoustic abilities of the facade. The technology that is being used in this design is making its way into smaller  projects like single family homes and community living. What this allows ultimately is endless possibilities, affordable construction and most of all money being saved.