Like the McAlmon Apartment, and most of Schindler’s houses, the Oliver House has lots of movement. In the Mc Almon Apartment the horizontals move out in different directions. In the Oliver House, all the movement points to the front corner where, for me, it meets and moves out into space (Figure 1).
One thing that adds to the movement is the cantilever of the front corner. This two-sided cantilever seems, in typical Schindler fashion, to be floating. The cantilever separates the front corner from the ground, and reinforces its horizontal proportions and movement. Figure 2 shows what the house would look like without the cantilever-not so dynamic.
Architect language alert: Architects call the location or lot where a house is placed the “site”. A house is “sited” and we talk about where and how the house is placed on the site as its “siting”.
Like the fronts of so many of Schindler’s houses, the Oliver House is very dramatic (Figure 1). Much of that drama is created from the way the house is placed on its sloping lot.
I am fascinated by the front corner of the Oliver House. What makes it so dramatic and interesting? It looks so simple, yet there is something about it I can’t quite figure out. After a lot of thinking and analysis, I’m still not sure I know what’s happening at this corner, but I do have some things to say about it.
Unraveling the corner
the movement points to the front corner where, for me, it meets and moves out into space (Figure 1).
from the ground, and reinforces its horizontal proportions and movement. Figure 2 shows what the house would look like without the cantilever-not so dynamic.
