The Kaun Beach House (Figure 1) has always been a mystery to me-and I love a mystery. I knew it only from a small plan and a murky photo 1.
A few months ago, I came across a clear photo on the web. After some further digging around on the web, I got a scan of the original 1937 article with that photo, two more, the plan at a larger size and a description of the house (Figure 2). This new information inspired me to further research-which led to a 3D model and this series of articles.
What originally interested me about this house was the exterior material. It is completed covered in horizontal bands of green roll roofing (similar to a roll of green asphalt shingles), visible in the original black & white photos (Fig 2). This seemed such a strange choice. Once I started researching and modeling the building, however, I was fascinated by the wonderful design. I hope you will be too.
As I looked at the front of the Oliver House, I noticed that there are 3 different styles of architecture. They are tied together by the ribbon window and they have solid masses at each end. From left to right, from thickest to flattest, they are (Figure 1)
As I have been looking at the Oliver House front corner (Figure 1) and the way the different planes interconnect, I was reminded of another Schindler house with an interesting corner-the Buck House. Both the Oliver and Buck Houses are examples of Schindler’s Plaster Skin buildings and they were built about the same time-the Oliver House in 1933-34 and the Buck house in 1934.Both are clearly Schindler buildings, but they are very different. The Buck House and Apartment spread out along a wide flat corner lot at street level (Figure 2), the Oliver House sits on a steep lot, angled above the street . The Buck House is more energetic, with more right angles and planes, the Oliver House is calmer. Continue reading RM Schindler’s Oliver and Buck Houses, Variations on a Corner, part 4 of 5→
san diego design, cartoons, architecture, furniture
The Kaun Beach House (Figure 1) has always been a mystery to me-and I love a mystery. I knew it only from a small plan and a murky photo 1.
clear photo on the web. After some further digging around on the web, I got a scan of the original 1937 article with that photo, two more, the plan at a larger size and a description of the house (Figure 2). This new information inspired me to further research-which led to a 3D model and this series of articles.
This seemed such a strange choice. Once I started researching and modeling the building, however, I was fascinated by the wonderful design. I hope you will be too.
