University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Preserving modernist architecture

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Preserving modernist architecture

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Content NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. ® UMI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PRESERVING MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE By Jill Marie Vesci A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION August 2005 Copyright 2005 Jill Marie Vesci Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 1430407 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 1430407 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents List of Figures..................................................................................................................iii Abstract..............................................................................................................................v Section I Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 Section II Evolution of the Floor Plan - Historical Precedents....................................12 Section III The Modem House - a concept for living..................................................38 Section IV Applying Preservation Standards: A case study of the Eames House... .66 Section V Conclusions...................................................................................................87 Bibliography....................................................................................................................91 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iii List of Figures Figure 1: Parlor Hall Floor Plan.................................................................................... 12 Figure 2: Origin and diffusion of European building styles in the United States.... 13 Figure 3: 47 North Main St. Earlville New York 1875.............................................. 15 Figure 4 Comstock, Modem Architectural Designs 1881............................................15 Figure 5 W. Watts Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1874. H. Hobson Richardson....................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 6: Floor plan for a $5,000 fireproof home by Wright.....................................21 Figure 7 A bungalow floor plan from the 1920s.........................................................23 Figure 8 Shindler House, Kings Road West Hollywood 1922....................................26 Figure 9 Floor plan, Case Study House #22................................................................. 27 Figure 10 Floor plan Eames House...............................................................................28 Figure 11 "Birch Crest" Floor plan for a 2,331 sq. ft. log cabin.................................34 Figure 12 A sample “small home of the west” built in the San Fernando Valley 42 Figure 13 Floor Plan, Case Study House #1................................................................. 45 Figure 14 A Suburban House for $6,500..................................................................... 46 Figure 15 Case Study House #23................................................................................... 48 Figure 16 Case study House 21..................................................................................... 50 Figure 17 Weather damage on exterior plywood panel with photograph, Eames House..................................................................................................... 51 Figure 18 Degrading Vinyl Asbestos Tile, Eames House........................................... 52 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 19 "Spanish" Style home in Fontana, California.............................................. 58 Figure 20 “Craftsman” Style house Brea, California...................................................58 Figure 21 ’’English Baroque” style home in Valencia, California...............................58 Figure 22 Boston Public Library 1887-1898................................................................ 59 Figure 23 Penniman House, Eastham Massachusetts, 1867........................................ 60 Figure 24 Wellington house, Ohio Mid-nineteenth Century....................................... 60 Figure 25 Floor Plan 2297 M, Lexington at Etiwanda, Rancho Cucamonga, California.........................................................................................................................61 Figure 26 Advertisements form Arts and Architecture Magazine, April 1948........ 67 Figure 27 Eames House in 1948.................................................................................. 74 Figure 28 Eames House in 1953.................................................................................. 74 Figure 29 Floor tile fragment front and back. Eames House...................................... 75 Figure 30 Floor of the Eames H ouse............................................................................76 Figure 31 Details of deteriorating VAT, Eames House............................................... 77 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V ABSTRACT Mid-century modernist residential architecture in Southern California is beginning to turn fifty years old, and is becoming eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The need to conserve the building materials used specifically in this period is becoming increasingly critical. This thesis explores elements of modernism’s contributions to residential architecture and discusses the issues inherent in the preservation of the materials used. One important contribution of the modernist movement was its effect on residential floor plans. The influence of the modernist movement is documented through a history of the floor plan from the colonial period to the present. The materials used in modernist buildings and their implications for historic preservation are also examined. Innovative use of experimental materials was integral to the movement’s objectives for remaking the American home. The vinyl asbestos tile flooring of the Eames house is presented as an example of these issues. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Section I. Introduction Mid-century modem residential architecture in Southern California is turning fifty years old in 2005, thereby qualifying to be considered for the National Register of Historic places. It is now time to re-examine how it is treated under current preservation standards. While many of the stylistic features of modem design, such as minimal ornamentation, exposed building elements and the use of industrial materials, have been integrated into the American building tradition, the general population (based on the sheer volume of merchant built housing1 ) still seems to desire a more “traditional” look. This bias towards traditional styles is also present within existing preservation standards. 1 Merchant built housing refers to “tract” homes, typically part of master plan developments that are based on a common design. Large home building corporations such as KB Homes, Centex, Toll Brothers and Lennar are all examples of merchant builders. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 The response of the preservation movement2 to modernism3 has been problematic both in terms of perceptions of these buildings and how to attribute historic significance to them. Firstly preservationists have been slow to recognize that the intrinsic value of modernist icons is often in their conceptualization rather than with the building materials or craftsmanship with which they were built. This thesis will explore these issues by using an analysis of the conceptual evolution of one of modernism’s main contributions to American architecture, the residential floor plan, and suggest future directions for preservation efforts. A bias within the preservation movement often assumes that what was designed during the modernist era does not have as much importance as what came before. As stated by Virginia McAlister (author of “A Field Guide to American Houses”) in her article American Single Family Homes from 1935 to 1960 In the Late 1960’s, increasingly bits of “period” detailing began to be added to Ranch houses and Split-level houses. By about 1980, a ftill-scale “Neo- Throughout this thesis the term preservation movement or system will be used extensively. This is meant to refer to two major groups of stakeholders whose interests and actions are often intertwined. The first is a community-based movement that seeks to preserve the character of American communities through the preservation and retention of architectural heritage. The second is a body of federal, state and local laws and regulations and the bureaucracies that manage them that support the goal of preserving historic architecture and landscapes. 3 In this thesis modernism refers to the body of work that was produced by avant- garde designers and architects in the post-war period in Southern California. However these issues have relevance for the preservation of architecture produced during this period in general and in other regions of the United States. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 Period movement was underway. Homes built in new developments during the last fifteen years mimic almost every housing style found from about 1870 to 1953 - Colonial Revival, Tudor, Neo-classical, Queen Anne, Shingle, Folk-Victorian, and even Italian Renaissance. Conspicuously absent are the “Modem” styles that dominated the period from 1935-1960.4 But were modernist homes and the values that they promoted really absent during this period? Completely overlooked in this statement is how the interior spaces of these new homes were designed. Are modem day Victorian tract homes in fact warrens of small dark rooms designed to keep the sun out and women and children contained to specific places? Are the kitchens of these homes hidden away workrooms for servants and staff? Are the room heights and sizes found in modern- day Tudor-Style homes still limited to the size of logs that can be harvested? The answer of course is no. What all of these post modernist era homes contain - regardless of their exterior appearances - in a modem interior. The failure to look past a building’s exterior design elements to determine its’ significance is a common problem is preservation. As Richard Longstreth points out in his article: “I can’t see it; I don’t understand it; and it doesn’t look old to me:” 4 Virginia McAlister, “American Single Family Homes from 1935 to 1960”, Preserving The Recent Past ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer (Washington, D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995) 1-15 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 Preservationists also need to rid themselves of their “style” fetish - the reliance on simplistic categories presented in guides that is antithetical to what is taught in serious programs of history. In these books, a very complicated and elusive subject is reduced to a series of motifs, which in turn tend to become a test of “purity” - again as if the process of design was synonymous with breeding. Anything that doesn’t fit these limited categories is immediately suspect, or at best ignored, because preservationists do not know how to deal with it. Many resources from the mid-twentieth century pose problems when this kind of approach is taken - not just the high-art examples where the architect’s personal style is such a determining factor, but in vernacular examples as well.5 Recognizing the historical precedent of a concept for living (as many modemist-era architects attempted to address) is difficult in a field of study that has previously used physical traits to define and assign value. It appears that up until now very little historical value has been assigned to the modernist concepts of flexible open- planned living. This has been the case despite that fact that open-floor plans are conveniently employed even when re-modeling an older home. The very elements that defined how the occupants lived in a period-style house are often removed or enlarged. To modernize a home kitchens are opened up, glass doors are added to living rooms and other modem techniques are used. Yet the modernized historic house will still be designated to be whatever its original style was on the exterior, despite the fact that the home’s blue prints will now read the same as those of a modernist home. 5 Richard Longstreth, “I Can’t See It; I Don’t Understand It; and It Doesn’t Look Old to Me”. Preserving The Recent Past ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer (Washington, D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995) 1-15 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5 Additionally, new homes often reflect this condition with historical references on the exterior and completely modem interiors. Indeed, the majority of new merchant built homes mass produced since the 1960’s all contain a modernist concept for living via their open-plan design. Based on its reproduction the open- floor plan as conceived by the modernists has become one of the most ubiquitous architectural concepts in American architectural history. As it stands today, preservation’s heavy reliance on ornament and building materials to define a building’s significance is therefore ill suited to deal with the key innovations of modem architecture. Many of the mid-century modernist contributions are about concept as well as material. The modernists often experimented with new technologies and materials that ended up being less durable, disposable or at the very least not destined to last more than 50 years. The preservation system is now challenged to incorporate the non-traditional contributions of modernism to America’s architectural heritage. Do people really fly from around the globe to see the vinyl asbestos flooring at the Eames house? Is Case Study House 22 the object of one of the world’s most famous photos because it used factory built sliding glass doors or because it used sliding glass doors as walls? Or are these and other modernist icons so prized not Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6 only because they introduced us to a new style, but also because they demonstrated a new way to define the home? If concept is a critical feature of the modernist house, this raises the problems traditional, style oriented preservation norms are ill equipped to confront. How, in other words, do we preserve buildings whose significant contributions to architecture are their concepts rather than just their physical materials alone? The existing system for historic preservation in the United States has been slow to react to the challenges posed by modernism. In particular, preservation efforts have focused on traditional craft based materials and have tended to prioritize physical conditions above conceptual innovation in American architecture. This thesis will explore important elements of modernism’s contributions to American residential architecture and discuss issues inherent with the preservation of materials from this period. The importance of the conceptual contributions of modernism and its place in American preservation will be the focus of this thesis. After this introduction, the second section will provide an over view of the residential floor plan in American architectural history. The section will also include an overview of the evolution of stylistic changes in American residential architecture along with a discussion of the building materials that were used. Each of the major periods will be discussed in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7 terms of the social context in which the buildings were produced. The thesis takes the perspective that housing is strongly influenced by a confluence of factors ranging from the material and technological to the social and cultural context in which it is produced. Each of these themes will be explored in this section. One of the most enduring contributions of the modernist movement was the opening of the interior of the American home. This core innovation of modernism is essentially an intellectual rather than a material innovation. This contribution has had long lasting effects on American architecture. By demonstrating the changes in floor plan from the colonial period to the start of the 20th century it becomes apparent just how important and long-lasting this design innovation has become in the design of contemporary homes. In many ways this contribution serves as one of the most lasting and permanent contribution of the modernist movement to American architecture. Modernism is discussed as being part of a continuum of change within the American home with innovations in materials and design that endure and influence contemporary housing. Evidence of these lasting contributions and the diffusion of modernist approaches into the contemporary vernacular are also presented. Section three elaborates on the goals and accomplishments of the modernist movement by focusing on the Case Study House program and tracing its influence Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8 on contemporary housing. The section demonstrates how the innovations that were produced by the case study house program in how a home’s interior was structured has become one of the most widely reproduced forms in the American architectural landscape. Other contributions are explored as well, including the focus by the case study architects on applying what was then new and advanced technology to the home, along with a desire to anticipate changing family structures and social needs. Many of these issues were addressed through the design of the house itself, in particular the floor plan. The Case Study House program presented itself as a comprehensive lifestyle with social implications beyond the architecture itself. The enduring effect of these design approaches are assessed along with discussion of the innovative materials and production techniques that were also central to the efforts of the mid century modernists. Section four turns the attention of the thesis to the material conditions of mid century modernism and their implications for historic preservation. While the previous two sections have focused on design concepts developed by modem movement architects, this section will present a case study focusing on the materials that were used in constructing the buildings themselves. Innovative use of new and experimental materials was central to the agenda of mid century Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9 modernists in general and to the Case Study House program in particular and as such are integral to understanding the design intent. Unlike traditional building materials, such as wood, masonry and decorative painting, the materials found in modernist houses are often no longer made or have been proven hazardous and are therefore illegal to reproduce. As many of the best examples of modernist architecture turn fifty years old and are eligible for inclusion in the National Register, the question of how we address specific building material issues (while still meeting the guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior on how historic building materials should be treated) is becoming increasingly critical. As these building materials come to the end of their functional life, many of the finest examples of modernist architecture will have a difficult time adhering to the standards as they are currently written. Section four uses the Eames house, (Case Study House #8) in the Pacific palisades section of Los Angeles, California as an example of these issues. Because the Eames house is a Los Angeles Cultural Monument and is in the process of receiving national recognition. National recognition will require that all recommendations for repair and maintenance will need to be within the guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Because the Eames house is of such national importance, it should be afforded the Secretary of the Interior’s national Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 10 register designation, and should therefore follow the guideless for preservation, rather than rehabilitation or restoration. The section focuses on the condition of an existing floor within the home. Presently it its covered in Vinyl Asbestos Tile, which is both physically deteriorating and causing, changes to the design intent of the house. The flooring issues at the Eames house represent a typical problem often faced by preservationists when dealing with modem resources. The standards call for preserving the materials that were used in an effort to retain authenticity. But, when working with obsolete industrial products this is often not a viable option. The flooring issues at the Eames house poses such a problem. Aside from a full on replacement of the floor with a different material than was originally specified, many of the recommended standards for repair do not address the issue that the flooring has lost the original intent of its design. Which was to be a stark, clean, white utilitarian floor. Recommendations for repair, maintenance and management of the floor are presented in the thesis and each of the approaches suggested includes a discussion of how well each approach would fit with the existing preservation standards of the United States Department of the Interior. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11 Section five of the thesis provides a summary of both the practical and historical issues raised in the thesis as a whole. Ultimately preservation standards will need to be changed to fully accommodate the preservation of modernist architectural heritage. Changes in the preservation standards are not without precedent. In the 1970s standards were changes in order to protect the contributions of African American vernacular architecture that did not meet the documentation standards of the first set of preservation standards established in the mid 1960s. Similar accommodations my need to be made in order to fully protect modernist architecture. The challenges are centered on the movement’s distinctive break from craft traditions that are at the core of existing preservation standards. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 12 Section II. Evolution of the Floor Plan - Historical Precedents Early American Housing Many of the homes that were built in the early years of the United States reflected the dominant styles of England the country of origin of the colonists, particularly in regards to the floor plan. The “Hall/Parlor” plan was established as the way to divide up interior space based on establishing “public” and “private” rooms within the home. This pattern of domestic architecture persisted from the beginning of European settlement in the 1600s all the way through the Victorian Era in the late 1800s. Although this notion of public verses private space within the interior of a home has a long and geographically widespread history in architecture, its transfer to the United States can largely be traced back to England. Because of our nation’s strong early ties to England (both economic and political) the colonists brought with them English conventions of home design, style and construction. These early homes had a great impact on how Americans built their homes and designed interior spaces long after Figure 1: Hall parlor floor plan. Source: Foster 9 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 13 the colonial period. The simple Hall/Parlor plan (and its various derivations) dominated American Housing stock for much of our nation’s early history.6 Styles Included: The exterior styles that retain the basic Hall/Parlor interior plan (see figure 1) vary widely. What we refer to today as Georgian, Quaker, Dutch, “I” houses, and even Victorian styles are largely based on the appearance of the house’s exterior envelope. As demonstrated in the Foster Guide to American Houses - these exterior styles were disseminated throughout the United States as settlers moved west taking with them they’re various building traditions: O Figure 2: Origin and diffusion of European building styles in the United States. Source: Foster 15 6 Mark Gelemter, A History of American Architecture (Hannover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1999) 59. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 14 However, regardless of their exterior styles, these houses remained remarkably similar on the inside. There was always a front hall or keeping room - as described in Gwendolyn Wright’s Book: “Building the Dream, a social history of housing in America.” The Hall, or keeping room, was the center of the family’s waking life: the place for cooking, eating, making soap and candles, spinning yam and weaving homespun cloth, sewing shoes, repairing tools, keeping accounts, and reading Scripture.7 This space was considered “private” space. A guest to the home would not normally be admitted to this room and this room would usually have a door that would be keep shut thereby keeping it from view to outsiders of the home. The more public space would have been the parlor. The parlor could be used as sleeping quarters for the parents of the family but more specifically it would have been used as a room to receive guests, lay bodies in state and display treasures8 . Additionally, sleeping quarters were often located in the attic spaces. This basic notion of “public” verses “private” space with rooms performing specific tasks while not interrelating to each other remains the most prevalent floor plan produced in the United States right on through the Victorian period, regarding the building’s style. See figures 3 and 4 below. 7 Gwendolyn Wright, Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America (Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1981) 15. 8 Wright 15. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 15 Figure 3: 47 North Main St. Earlville New York 1875. Source: Reiff 96 PANTRY. 4'6"K6' KITCHEN. ) 4 ' x 16' BED ROOM. tq\ |CIUAR L IV IN G R O O M 14 'X 16' PORCH. flR ST FLOOR Figure 4 Comstock, Modem Architectural Designs 1881. Source: Reiff 106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 16 Social Factors: It is important to consider the social factors that may have contributed to the wide spread adoption of this style of floor plan. The first consideration in American homes was practicality. During much of the country’s early history and through Victorian times, the home was the main focus of a household’s social and economic activity. All domestic production ranging from meal preparation to cutting and sewing of clothing and other domestic necessities took place within the house. Kitchens in particular were unsightly places. Cooking all meals from scratch meant there would be animal remains, flour and lots of dirty pots and dishes. Without modem technology such as, hot running water, multitudes of cupboards to hide things in, and electric appliances, the kitchen was not the best presentation of a family in public. Instead, it was important to set up a public room that could be shut off from the rest of the house and kept tidy as a room to receive guests. In the most modest of homes, the public receiving space might only be as minimal as an interior entry porch that allowed the front door to be opened without allowing people to see the interior of the house without being invited in. As houses grew in size additional rooms could be added but all adhered to the same basic notion of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 17 “public” or “private” space, with the public rooms being ones that could be viewed by outsiders, and “private” rooms those where family tasks could be preformed. As far as relating to the “outdoors” these houses did not. At various points in our early history - moonlight was considered dangerous; we needed to protect ourselves from invaders (both human and animal) and generally, fortify ourselves against the outdoors. In this period the home was a bulwark against nature, which was unpredictable, and hostile. Over time American attitudes towards the outdoors and the natural environment would change but at this point the out of doors was a factor to be kept at bay. Building Materials: As important as it is to look at social factors and style when talking about architecture - it is equally important to consider what building materials were available for construction during the time period. The settlers found abundant traditional building materials in the United States. Lumber, stone and the materials to make brick were all readily available (glass for windows however was not and need to be imported at a very dear price). By and large the settlers coming to the United States were able to transfer their traditional building methods to the new land with relative ease. Room spans however, and building heights were still Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 18 determined by the length of logs that could be harvested and the structural capacities of brick and stone. So even though building supplies were abundant, the basic limitations of these supplies still applied when designing a building. It was not until the invention of iron and steel during the industrial revolution that architects and builders would be able to confront the mechanics of designing interior spaces with new tools used to create new effects. Pre-Modernism From the 1890s through the early part of the 1900s architects in the United States began to turn away from previous design traditions, in particular the European- inspired forms that had so dominated the architectural landscape of the previous century. Instead the new architectural movements began to struggle with finding a new type of architecture, one that reflected life in America as well as one that suited the American lifestyle. As a result, interior spaces began to get some reconsideration. Styles Included: Some of the more prominent changes in interior space were made during 1890s to the 1910s. Styles such as Arts and Crafts, Shingle and Prairie not only addressed Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 19 how to create new and attractive exterior homes, they also began to re-examine interior space. Two of the most prominent architects who affected these interior floor plans in the United States were Henry Hobson Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright. Henry Hobson Richardson was one of the first architects to “open” up interior spaces. And though by today’s standards Richardson’s “open spaces” would still seem rather closed-off, for their time they were quite a leap forward. Richardson’s shingle style residences in particular are examples of early explorations of open space. Figure 5 W. Watts Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1874. H. Hobson Richardson. Source: Gelemter 179. Often designed as vacation cottages for the wealthy, these homes began to seek a relaxation of the formal room layout of the past. With this style of building, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 20 Richardson opens up the grand staircase and entry way of the home to the main rooms of the house. Prior to this design, staircases and entry ways such as this were walled off to the rest of the house and did not allow visual accesses to any of the rooms of the home. With this new and more open style we a relaxing of formality by allowing visitors to step directly into one’s home. Because of this the shingle style is often considered a predecessor to modernism, the style itself did not have widespread popularity across the U.S. Rather it remained a style for the wealthy, largely associated with a particular architect. Frank Lloyd Wright must also be recognized for pushing forward the evolution of how to design interior space. Though many of Wright’s mid to late era floor plans (starting with the “pin-wheel” design) often reflected a struggle with how to best blend a room’s various functions (his kitchens were small and designed as “women’s or servants” work spaces not meant to be interactive with the rest of the house) he did start to play with open vistas of interior space that allow for connections between different parts of a home. One of Wright’s most acclaimed innovations to the floor plan is the pinwheel design. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 21 Ifc* I M « r r Mm Figure 6: Floor plan for a $5,000 fireproof home by Wright. Source: Ladies Home Journal 1905 With the pinwheel design Wright worked-out a floor plan that placed a hearth at the center and rotated the other rooms off of it. This allowed rooms to interact with each other rather than being separate walled off entities. However, work rooms such as kitchens and pantries still remained hidden from rooms of leisure such as living and dining rooms. Important as these two architects were to the re-examination of interior space, it is therefore useful to look at how these architects’ visions were translated into popular vernacular architecture. One example of a vernacular translation would be the bungalow. Starting around (1900) as an approach to what was developing into a distinctively California lifestyle and drawing from both the arts and crafts movement and from design notions from the shingle style - the bungalow became Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 22 one of the more popular styles in the United States. As noted in Clifford Edward Clark’s Book: The American Family Home 1800-1960. The public fascination with the new bungalow home was reflected in the flood of house design books and articles published after 1905. Substantial coverage of the variations in the new bungalow forms could be found in periodicals as different as the Architectural Record and the Ladies Home Journal,9 What is significant about this bungalow craze is that the bungalow represented a more relaxed style of house. Rooms opened on to one another with out the formalities of past styles. Designs no longer assumed that a family would need a formal parlor as a public space and that the rest of the family’s “private” life should remain hidden behind closed doors. Instead what is advertised about the bungalow style is its ease of maintenance and its practicality. This relaxation of the formality previously applied to housing reflects changes that were occurring in the housing market - most notably, that due to population increases and the standardization of American business practices, the single family residence was being viewed as an attainable object by more families and not just as a show place for the wealthy. 9 Clifford Edward Clark, The American Family Home. 1800 to 1960 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press) 171. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 23 F irst F loor Plan. Figure 7 A bungalow floor plan from the 1920s. Source: Wilson Social Factors: Beginning in the late 1800’s Americans started to turn away from the excesses of formality of the Victorian period. Time saving devices such as gas fired hot -water heaters, indoor plumbing and mechanical washing machines in addition to the availability of pre-packaged foods freed up more of women’s time. Additionally the national birthrate began an historical decline from the 1880s forward. 1 0 This all contributed to a much less labor-intensive life for the average American woman. The country began to undergo a transition from a primarily rural and small town society to a more urban one. In 1920 the percentage of the population living in cities surpassed the rural population for the first time in history. Additionally, the women’s movement began to coalesce at this time and women began to advocate for more education and work experiences outside the home. By 1 0 Clark 135. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 24 the turn of the century the Victorian period was in a state of collapse and people were shunning its excessive designs and overly complicated interiors as being obsolete. As a result people began to embrace simplicity and sought to relax the standards on how to keep a proper home. Instead, magazines of the time such as Ladies Home Journal urged homes to have rooms that had more that one function and to forgo the notion of public rooms verses private rooms. Designers of the time promoted the notion that: The habit of keeping shut-up parlors for occasional company is so absurd that it is difficult to give people who practice it credit for ordinary common sense.1 1 Instead what resulted was as Clifford Edward Clark observed, The first major change in floor plans since the 1750’s, houses were now organized without the elaborate entrance halls and front and back parlors. In their place was a new multipurpose space - the living room - designed to fit a more informal life style.1 Building Materials; Traditional building materials such as wood stone and brick were still the primary materials used for building. The structural restrictions inherent in these materials still applied to the building process. However some architects of this time period 1 1 Clark 144. 1 2 Clark 132 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 25 began experimenting with some new more industrial products. Frank Lloyd Wright advocated the use of concrete to build a home because he felt: A structure of this type is more enduring than if carved intact from solid stone, for it is not only a masonry monolith but interlaced with steel fibers as well. Insulated with an impervious non-conducting inner coating it is damp-proof; it is, too, warmer than a wooden house in winter and cooler in summer.1 3 He also argued that the use of concrete would make the house “fireproof’. Wright also began using steel beams to extend the spans of open spaces for his interiors, although he generally hid the steel beam behind wood or some other “natural” material. Modernism Modernism as an architectural style developed over the course of the 20 century through the 1960s. The goals of modernism as a movement were to embrace technology in order to improve human welfare. Domestic architecture, which had been largely conservative and stagnant in its functional form, was a topic of great importance to the modernists. The opportunity to improve and reform social relations and to apply new technologies for living was a central focus of modem 1 3 Frank Lloyd Wright “A Fireproof House for $5,000 , Ladies Home Journal April. 1907: 24 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 26 domestic architecture. As a result the modem movement led to the first comprehensive restructuring of the floor plan in American homes. M en ovca. filt is * Figure 8 Shindler House, Kings Road West Hollywood 1922 Source: MAK Foundation Styles Included: Though the works of early modem architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Irving Gill and Henry Hobson Richardson pushed on the existing limitations of architecture in America, it took some foreign influence to really effect residential building traditions in the United States. Rudolf Shindler and Richard Nuetra, both Austrians, brought approaches to architecture that reflected their European predecessors and contemporaries. They were influenced by the work of early Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 27 European modernists such as Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos.1 4 These influences melded together with the American ideas for residential architecture to produce a thoroughly new and unconventional approach to the American home. 4 Figure 9 Floor plan, Case Study House #22 ,1959. Source: Smith Additionally, the work of the Case Study House program in California added to the changing look of interior space. Bom as a magazine project by a wealthy patron of the arts, John Entenza, The Case Study House Program actively sought to re examine how Americans live in their homes and through using pre-fabricated industrial material, break the mold of how to view interior space. Some of the more famous Case Study houses are: The Eames House (designed by Ray and Charles Eames) and Case Study House #22 (designed by Pierre Koenig). 1 4 Gelemter 238 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 28 1* ------------ , W n Figure 10 Floor plan Eames House Source: Steele As demonstrated in the illustrations, gone are the walled up rooms that do not related to one another or serve specific functions. Instead of “public” verses “private” rooms we have multi-functional rooms that respond not only to the lifestyle changes occurring in the United States, but these buildings also respond creatively to budget restraints, climate and the availability of new building materials. Most importantly, what has happened is that the notion of room has now thoroughly changed into something that responds to its inhabitants needs in a variety of ways rather than the room dictating or imposing its restrictions on the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 29 inhabitants. This change in concept about interior space would permanently effect how Americans would build their homes from this point on. Social Factors: During World War II consumers in the United States and the civilian economy were subject to rationing to support the war effort. This rationing system affected the availability of the materials and the means of production for residential construction. As a result few new homes were built during this period. During the post-war years the country began experiencing a baby-boom which increased the demand for more housing units along with the pent-up demand for new housing that remained unmet since the war years. This dynamic led to a severe housing shortage. Additionally, due to a variety of reasons such as domestic labor shortages, formality within the home had given way to practicality. Other than in the homes of the extremely wealthy, it became very rare for a family to have live-in servants or domestic help. Mothers kept house on their own and were additionally responsible for solely raising the children while fathers were either off to war or off to work. This meant that less space could be dedicated to specific functions such as a “public” reception room or a “private” parlor and instead the home needed to be a place that could be managed by one person while additionally being a relatively Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 30 safe place for children who were being supervised by that same one person. Thus the need for the open floor plan home was bom. The post-war building boom called for innovation and efficiencies in housing construction. The depression and war had nearly halted new residential construction in the US from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s. Most new housing that had been built was directly related to the war effort1 5 . This housing product required fast constmction and extreme efficacy in its production. Both requirements could be met by using modem era innovations and experiments. In the post war era, developers and builders began to satisfy the un-met demand from the civilian labor force for new housing that had been building since the depression. One important innovation was the creation of federally backed mortgage guarantees. Originally a new deal era program designed to stimulate residential construction, federal loan guarantees opened up the possibility that the vast middle class of American society could mortgage a home. Prior to this time most home constmction or purchases were undertaken on a cash basis. This was tme for both residential and commercial real estate. It was very difficult for all but the most affluent to have access to mortgage finance prior to federal involvement. Once the mortgage market opened up, the demand for new housing grew 1 5 Greg Hise. Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the 20th Century Metropolis (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press) 1997. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 31 dramatically. In fact, new home construction has grown to become one of the cornerstones of the post-war US economy. Building Materials: The modem movement embraced all pre-fabrication, mass-production, and improvements to structural steel and glass. Many of these materials grew directly out of production for the war effort. There was increasing interest in the post-war era in finding civilian applications for the new technologies and production methods that had been developed for the war itself. The promotion and use of these materials allowed for experimental approaches to the floor plan thereby pushing the boundaries of “openness” further than ever before. The use of steel beams finally broke through the limitations on span that the use of lumber imposed on a building. The lifting of this limitation allowed architects to re-examine room layout and interior heights. Some architects seized on this new ability and created interior space that shattered the notion of “room” and instead created blended multifunctional spaces that no longer were tied to a specific task. Kitchens could be entertaining spaces, living rooms could also be dining rooms, and bedrooms could be on roofs and outside of the house, given the right climate. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 32 While other housing styles since the industrial revolution utilized mass produced elements, the goal was to make design elements that looked like they were hand crafted. In the modem era the technology of mass production was embraced and celebrated. A machine aesthetic developed that highlighted the manufactured nature of building elements. This is an important stylistic characteristic of American modernism. Also the conditions were right to allow for experimental use of new materials and constmction methods, which represented a complete break from the craftsman ideal of pre-modem era housing. Examples include the Lustron home made of enameled steel panels, or the use of glass curtain walls that did not serve a structural function. In this era of rapid innovation new materials, approaches and forms were rapidly adopted and discarded. Contemporary Architecture and Mass-Produced Housing Present day architects are still attempting to push the boundaries of residential architecture forward. Building on the legacy of the Case Study House Program, many of these architects reside in California and have made their own homes stylistic and experimental showcases. Examples include the Frank Gehry house in Santa Monica, the Crawford house by Morphosis in Santa Barbara, and the Ray Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 33 Kappe house in Pacific Palisades.1 6 The floor plan though has not changed all that radically, even among the most avant-garde. Instead it continues in the vein of opening, multi-functional spaces that blend the interior and exterior. Bedrooms are still by and large designed as “private” space while all other rooms are designed as open “public” spaces. This model of open “public” interiors is also the dominant plan type in contemporary merchant built housing. What is interesting about this mass- produced housing is that the exterior does not match the interior. Exteriors are generally built in various “revival” styles. Spanish, Victorian, Tutor, or some improbable blending comprises the exterior of these buildings, while the interior spaces are purely modem. Take for example design plans found in a pattern for a log cabin published in 2005. 1 6 Diane Ghirardo Architecture After Modernism (New York: Thames and Hudson 1996)134 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 34 o o o -O Ik 4 . ________ . A - - - - MURRAY A R N O T TD E S IG N LTD. i MurrayArnott » main f l o o r p la n S * * * * 9 * 1 r ; B I R C H C R E S T 1.558 SO . FT. (.'■ J . U L U Lfct Figure 11 "Birch Crest" Floor plan for a 2,331 sq. ft. log cabin. Source: Murray Amott Design Note the large open plan space sheathed in glass. Based strictly on the blueprints this is not a cabin that 17th and 18th century Swedish and German immigrants to the U.S. would recognize. Shindler on the other hand, might. Styles Included: Late Twentieth and Twenty-first century architect designed housing, merchant built housing, and contractor built homes are typical of this style. In Southern California a mixture of European, Italianate and “Mediterranean” styles predominate on the exterior of merchant built homes. Elements of other architectural styles also filter Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 35 in, including a style that is meant to recall a New England cottage. In general all of these styles have an exterior decorating pattern that is referenced to another architectural style or represents an eclectic mix of references, both real and imagined, to formal elements found elsewhere. What is interesting to note though, is that regardless of the exterior style, the interior largely retains the core values of the modernist movement as developed in Southern California during the 1930,40s and 50s. Irrespective of exterior style, homes built today (and sometimes by the thousands) have large open space rooms that merge into one another and have multiple uses. Kitchens today are often designed with areas for couches to watch T.V., family rooms and dining rooms are visually open to each other and the notion of public versus private space is largely only applied to bedrooms, which retain their status of “private” space (except in some of the more avant-garde architect designed spaces). It seems as though the modernist idea of interior space has thoroughly been embraced into the contemporary vernacular. Of particular note are the highly romanticized neo-traditional homes that are included in new urbanist developments. On the whole new urbanism is an argument about urban form and planning however some projects depend on highly Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 36 determined architectural standards to reinforce a manufactured sense of place. One of the most well known examples is the resort community of Seaside in Florida. Social Factors; In contemporary America consumers have increasing access to the design process and as a result, residential architecture responds quickly to changing consumer styles. Facades, looks and styles can go in and out of fashion rapidly as American consumers change their conception of the style of the ideal home. Merchant builders constructing homes in large sale subdivisions such as KB Homes, Toll Brothers or Centex Homes use sophisticated market research to present the right look to an increasingly conservative consumer. In this context the exterior of new homes may change stylistically but the core floor plan remains Building Materials: A wide variety of building materials are used in the production of modem residential architecture. While many forward thinking architects continue to build on modem traditions of using experimental and technologically advanced mass - produced materials, merchant built housing still employs a fair amount of traditional building materials, such as lumber and brick. Ironically, many of the technological advances that were pioneered by early modernists that found their Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 37 way into contemporary building vernacular (steel beams, re-enforced concrete) are generally disguised to look like traditional materials in an attempt to appease the continued preference for more traditional design. Steel beams or re-enforced concrete are often used to allow for a more “open” floor plan, but most often in merchant built homes these modem materials are hidden behind dry wall or covered with false wood fronts. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 38 Section III The Modern House - a concept for living In the previous section I discussed how the post war period housing markets in the United States began to change. The need to address a severe shortage of housing quickly was at the root of the development of many new approaches. The Depression, and the subsequent diversion of resources to the war effort, led to a tremendous pent up demand for new housing in the post war era, but the federal governments policies as well as the architectural strategies had already taken shape during the 1930s. The Evolution of Post-War Housing Efforts to promote home ownership as an economic stimulus began as part of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal policies. The key policy intervention was the establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Prior to the creation of the FHA in 1933, relatively few Americans were able to finance the purchase of a home. Typical mortgage terms prior to FHA insurance would only allow borrowing up to 50% of a home’s value and all of the balance plus interest Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 39 were required within five years.1 7 This generally meant that only the most affluent could afford home ownership. The effects of FHA’s programs were slow to take effect, and the policies were revised in 1937 to allow for direct federal guarantees for residential mortgages. The programs begin to stimulate the civilian housing market until the United States’ entry into the Second World War in 1941. The war itself diverted resources from civilian projects, which further limited construction. Although before the war ended many predicted an economic downturn would follow from demobilization, the opposite occurred. In the post war period FHA loans along with the GI Bill allowed for a tremendous growth in the nation’s housing stock. However there were economic limits to the type of housing these programs supported. After 1948, FHA and GI Bill programs allowed purchase of a new home valued at $7,500. This became the de facto base price for new homes of that period.1 8 Given these restrictions many builders and architects began to think about carve the most house out of these lean parameters. 1 7 “The Federal Housing Administration”, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, May 10 2004. <www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/fhahistory.cfm> 1 8 Barbara Kelley “The Houses of Levittown in the Context of Postwar American Culture” U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, <www. cr. nps. gov/nr/publications/bulletins/suburbs/kelley. pdf> Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 40 Some of the more successful and iconographic examples of this of new, budget driven house can be found in Southern California. Throughout its history, Los Angeles in particular had been the site considerable experimentation in residential construction. Rapid growth combined with a willingness to break with tradition led to a distinctive and heterogeneous building stock even in the pre war era. The film industry, the automobile and the climate all contributed to a southern California vernacular that was quick to adopt new fashions, styles and technologies.1 9 By the late 1940s and early fifties Southern California was still largely undeveloped and seen by the rest of the nation as a new 9 f ) frontier open to social and cultural experimentation. This confluence of circumstances made Southern California particularly well suited as the first location for modernist residential architecture in the United States. Arts and Architecture One of the most influential forums for the modernist movement in architecture was Arts and Architecture magazine. Through the support of John Entenza, Arts and Architecture sought to promote and embrace modernism as a way to solve the 1 9 Sam Hall Kaplan, LA Lost and Found (Santa Monica, California: Hennesy and Ingalls, 2000) 2 0 Kevin Starr, The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 41 nation’s housing shortage by using creativity in design and new mass-produced and expensive building materials that could address the pressing need for cheep new housing. Entenza employed a wide variety of contributors to the magazine; these included many notable thinkers in architecture, design and planning of the time. Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and J.R. Davidson were all regular 7 1 contributors. The editorials of Arts and Architecture consistently held the position that artists and designers would be the key to solving not only the residential housing shortage that the post-war nation faced, but also issues involving urban planning and industrial design.2 2 One of the many ways in which Arts and Architecture tried to educate the public about the benefits of modernist housing was by featuring individual residences as examples of how the new style of housing it was advocating would be built and how it would look. A first attempt at this began in November of 1938 with a series titled “Small Homes of the West”. This series featured low-cost and prefabricated homes and also outlined the homes’ building costs and floor plans.2 3 2 1 Esther McCoy ed., Arts and Architecture: The Entenza Years (Santa Monica, California: Hennesy and Ingals, 1998) 2 2 Elizabeth A. T. Smith ed, Blueprints for Modem Living (Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press 1998) 2 3 Smith. 145 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 42 Figure 12 A sample “small home of the west” built in the San Fernando Valley. Source: Arts and Architecture November 1938 Though the homes featured in this series were not especially innovative in regards to building materials and floor plan design, what was important about this series is that it recognized that modestly priced homes were becoming a large part of the residential housing market. With the “Small Houses of the West” series Arts and Architecture magazine attempted to address the needs of the more modest income homebuyers and to assist these buyers in navigating the residential design and construction industries. The “Small Houses of the West” series did not have a large impact on residential construction through the United States; however, it was the progenitor of a much more influential program — “The Case Study House”. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 43 The Case Study House Program The case study house program began in 1945 with an announcement by John Entenza in Arts and Architecture magazine. What man has learned about himself in the last five years will, we are sure, express itself in the way he will want to be housed in the future. Only one thing will stop the realization of that wish is the tenacity with which man clings to old forms because he does not understand the new2 4 The program documented the design, building and costs for various new and modernist style homes. Entenza believed in the transformative potential of modernist architecture. He also felt the general public would embrace the style if it were presented to them. He a seems to have genuinely believed that it was his mission to head off the continuation of more traditional styles of home building which he saw as economically inefficient and socially retrograde. Entenza held that Modernism was an inevitable approach that would effectively address the future needs of American society. Although the case study houses were not the only way in which Arts and Architecture promoted modernism Gust as women’s magazines such as Home and Garden and Ladies Home Journal had done in generations past, Arts and 2 4 John Entenza “The Case Study House Program” Arts and Architecture January 1945 37 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 44 Architecture promoted an entire “life-style”) the Case Study Houses were a large part of what was to become a “concept for modem living2 5. Some of the key design and architectural concepts of modem-living included the use of mass produced, inexpensive building materials, the blending of indoor and outdoor space, and open floor plans. Floor Plans and Interior Space Each of the case study houses began with an initial scenario established as to who would be living in the home. This is where Arts and Architecture veered radically from past home magazines. Many of the scenarios that the magazine put forth included families where both the husband and wife worked outside of the home. The very fact that this was even considered represented an image of a very different lifestyle than that of the pre-war period. Instead of homes with rooms designed for women to sit and do sewing or rooms set aside as receiving parlors, these houses assumed the wife would not actually be in the home as much as in previous generations. Instead the woman of this house was just as likely to have a career of her own and therefore the house and housework needed to be streamlined in order to affect this result. 2 5 Smith. 13 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 45 Take for example case study house #1 designed by J. R. Davidson. As stated in Arts and Architecture January 1948: The house is planned for a hypothetical family consisting of a couple in early middle age, both active in careers which keep them away from home frequently. It has been developed with special consideration for an abundance of light and air, easy housekeeping and minimum maintenance, with an emphasis of indoor-outdoor living.2 6 |o 0 0 Figure 13 Floor Plan, Case Study House #1. Source: Arts and Architecture, January 1948. Contrast this floor plan with the lifestyle and resulting floor plans being promoted in the Ladies Home Journal just a few decades before: 2 6 J. R. Davidson “Case Study House #1” Arts and Architecture January 1948 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 46 N M f M O O * M.AM Figure 14 A Suburban House for $6,500. Source Ladies Home Journal, March 1901 In the Davidson plan, gone are the formal spaces dedicated to specifics tasks. Embraced here is a notion that a house had to serve the occupants in a different way. The modem house was to be simple and efficient and its maintenance not to be a burden to its occupants. The house, it seemed, ought to be a vehicle for speeding up the family’s efficiency and ability to pursue life in ways that had not been considered before. In these houses an attempt was made to apply a machine like efficiency to home life in an attempt to reduce the amount of effort that would be need to run a home. Society had already embraced the success of mass- production and the efficiencies of factory life, so why not attempt to apply these same notions to the home? The house could be simplified, with rooms that were easily maintained and open spaces that could perform in more ways than one. A high proportion of the houses featured in Arts and Architecture during the 1950’s were designed with the assumption that the woman or mother of the family would Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 47 be working outside of the home. Although during the War many women did obtain jobs outside the home to help support their families, this began to change in the immediate aftermath of the war as men returned to the civilian labor force. The idea that the average middle-class family would have a mother who worked outside the home was rare and only occurred as result of economic necessity. Large numbers of American women working outside of the home, and as equal economic contributors to a household, had not yet reached fruition. In the 1950’s when the floor plans of these homes were being advocated only 33 percent of all American women over 18 years of age worked out of the home. These home designs became popular despite addressing practical issues that only a minority of American families were facing at the time. This suggests that there was a desire in society to break from the past, even if the anticipated future had not yet arrived. Additionally, the fact that the concept for these homes so anticipated what family life would look like in the future (two parent working families, the need for a home to be more efficient) may explain why these open-floor plans have increased in popularity as American society has changed. As time passed the family structure began to resemble more and more what the case study houses predicted and designed for. This may help to explain the open floor plan’s hold on American residential architecture. 2 7 Richard Judy and Carol D’Amico, Workforce 2020 (New York: Hudson Institute, 1997) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 48 Building Materials The architecture promoted by mid-century modernists also looked very different in its exterior appearance. Exposed industrial and manufactured parts, glass facades, plastics and steel were embraced and advertised as the style of the future. The modernists believed that these industrial building materials should not be disguised or hidden, but rather openly displayed and admired as a new kind of streamlined industrial beauty. Figure 15 Case Study House #23 1959-60. Source: Jackson 70 Though the materials used represented a break from the past, the concept of using building materials in a frank and honest way was not a new concept to architecture. 19th Century bungalows and craftsman architecture, and the work of Frank Lloyd Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 49 Wright and others all had promoted the honest portrayal of building materials. What is different about the frankness of these building materials however is that they openly celebrated that they were inexpensive. Prior uses of building materials were advertising the beauty inherent in the natural material - such as wood. But wood and other building materials were often expensive and required specialized skills and craft techniques. Economy in materials and their presentation was not considered a virtue prior to the modernists. In fact builders and architects often went to considerable lengths to disguise their use of inexpensive building materials in the past. In this way movements such as the craftsman style were in keeping with past traditions of using one’s home as a means of expressing status. The use or appearance of use of expensive materials was often the goal of many homes built before the modem era. The modernists, on the other hand, used inexpensive and off the shelf building materials in a blatant and undisguised way and saw their utility as an integral part of their vision. The craftsmanship of the modernist home was not in their (monetarily speaking) material value - but rather, in their designs. The use of inexpensive and industrial parts was seen as a virtue particularly if the building material could be employed in an inventive and unexpected way. In these homes the concept of the design mattered most. Modernist designers believed that their ability to conceive a solution was what was important about their projects. They did not focus on the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 50 materials, which they viewed as a means to achieving their vision, but without any intrinsic value beyond their utility. Rather, building materials were secondary to the design concept. The modernist home represents a proposition that a building’s value comes from how well it addresses the needs of its occupants, rather than through the use of expensive materials. Figure 16 Case study House 21. Note the use of pre-fabricated steel bays and corrugated metal sheeting as the roof. Source: McCoy 121 Because the building materials chosen often did not have a long track record their durability was not known at the time. This was consistent with the pioneering and experimental nature of the modernists’ agenda. Over time many of these non- traditional building materials did not age well and have proven difficult to manage when trying to maintain these homes as they age. These issues and the implications Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 51 for preservation of modernist architecture, in the context of the American preservation system, will be explored in detail in the section which follows. Figure 17 Weather damage on exterior plywood panel with photograph, Eames House, Case Study House #8 Photo taken 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 52 Figure 18 Vinyl Asbestos Tile, Eames House. Photo taken 2004 Legacy and Implications Americans seem to have selected what they liked from the case study house approach and left behind what didn’t appeal to them. Mostly what the public seemed to have rejected was the industrial machine-made look of the buildings. Perhaps it was because after the war people were attracted to an idealized traditional style home. Perhaps it was because the existing industries could not make it economical to mass-produce residential housing (Kaiser Steel tried and Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 53 failed).2 8 Perhaps even at some level this notion of “economical, mass produced” housing felt a little too “socialistic” for American consumer society2 9 Additionally, rather than adopting avant-garde notions of utility and class consciousness, the American consumer seemed to want houses that advertised status in a way that their neighbors could understand - not the values of efficiency and design. The American public seems fairly stubborn about how they want their houses to look - especially on the outside. The steel and glass exteriors promoted by the architects of Arts and Architecture as the answer to mass-produced housing is rarely seen in the mass-produced housing of the era, or today for that matter. Many feel that this lack of replication of the style (again, explicitly exterior style) means that modernism didn’t have as much of an impact on residential architecture as its originators had hoped. The case study architects themselves often felt that the very industries that they were helping to promote, for example steel, let them down by not being more flexible with the materials application. Or that the various unions sabotaged their efforts for fear of job losses to machine made mass-produced houses3 0 . But the reality is that the modernist movement did have an enormous impact on residential 2 8 Hise 153 2 9 Smith 3 0 Pierre Koenig, lectures “Architecture 404” University of Southern California Spring 2004. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 54 construction - however it was the concepts of interior spaces that triumphed rather than a specific visual esthetic. Open floor plans, indoor/outdoor spaces, large glass doors which invite the landscape in and rooms that blend and mix their uses are all so common in residential architecture today that these concepts have now become unquestioned features of current home construction. In this way, the contributions of the mid century modernists to design by means of the floor plan has become so ingrained that in many respects these concepts are no longer an active design choice but rather have become the expected standard. The reality of this was noted as early as 1958 - When in Popular Mechanics, Wayne Whittaker noted that: More than ten million homes had been built in the United States between 1946 and 1958 and some 9 million of them showed directly the influence of the California style in domestic architecture, [which is] Simplicity of design, flexibility of indoor-outdoor spatial arrangements, the convenient resiting of family rooms adjacent to kitchens, the use of glass walls and skylights, the integration of heating, ventilation, and electrical systems, the concern for landscaping, the ease of maintenance.3 1 3 1 Kevin Starr “The Case Study House and the Impending Future” Blueprints for Modem Living ed. A.T. Smith. (Cambridge Massachusetts: MIT Press 1998)143 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 55 The fact that as early as 1958 the proliferation of this interior style was being observed is no small accomplishment for the California mid-century modernist movement. Often unappreciated for its sense of style, or stark aesthetic appearance, elements of the movement nonetheless crept into the vernacular of the American building tradition and altered it permanently. When considering how often the open floor plan design has been reproduced in tract homes and merchant built housing, this design concept has perhaps had the greatest single impact on residential architecture. Though often overlooked - or only casually acknowledged - no other architectural style can claim this level of mass acceptance and reproduction. To appreciate the significance of the impact of modernist floor plan designs on residential housing in the United States one need only look at contemporary mass-produced housing. Contemporary Mass-Produced Housing Although much has been written about Levittown on Long Island, New York, the model for contemporary master planned communities of the post war era was Greenmeadow near Palo Alto, developed by Eichler Homes. Interestingly, the units were based on designs by A. Quincy Jones- a case study house architect.3 2 This was the beginning of a model for large-scale residential development that 3 2 Cory Buckner A. Quincy Jones (London: Phaidon) 2002 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 56 would predominate throughout the U.S. The basic transactional structure for master plan developments tends to have the following form. First a developer, often in partnership with a landowner, obtains the planning approvals for development of a community. The developer is then responsible for obtaining infrastructure for the subdivision; this can be done in a number of ways with varying degrees of public funding. Finally the developer sells the right to build homes to a builder who acts as a retailer to the developer’s wholesaler in delivering residential units to the market. These are refereed to as merchant builders. The homebuilder must agree to perform to certain specified standards in terms of size, amenities and quality of the homes that they build as part of their agreement with the developer. In California, major land holdings such as the Irvine Ranch, (now much of central Orange County) or the Newhall ranch (now the city of Santa Clarita) were developed in this manner. The homebuilders needed to have access to larger and larger amounts of capital in order to provide enough dwelling units for increasingly large master planned communities. True to their form as retailers, the merchant builder is most effective when they are able to take advantage of scale economies to provide a “standardized” product that will be accepted by a wide variety of consumers. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 57 Over time the industry has consolidated from a set of smaller, regionally based homebuilders to a few major national, and in some cases international, participants. These merchant builders deliver tens of thousands of units based around a few standard plans and styles in communities across America. They are able to take advantage of economies of scale by reproducing the basic design of the homes they build while making accommodations to changing local tastes and trends in each development. The innovation of the modem floor plan makes this possible by keeping the functional core of the home essentially the same from product to product with the merchant builder only changing the exterior, say from Cape Cod style to “Mediterranean” depending on local market preferences. Exterior Appearances and Floor Plans Exterior appearances in contrast to the interior floor plans are where contemporary mass-produced housing turns into an unusual hybrid. Exteriors are rarely modem, and almost always evoke some past traditional style. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 58 Figure 19 "Spanish" Style home in Fontana, California. Source: KB Homes Figure 20 “Craftsman” Style house Brea, California. Source: KB Home. Figure 21 ’’ English Baroque” style home in Valencia, California. Note the decorative quoins on the fa9ade. Source: Prudential Realty of Santa Clarita. Romanticized versions of Craftsman style, “Spanish” style and Colonial style or even various hybrids, are all found on these homes. American buildings have a Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 59 long history of appropriation of historic styles to transmit a particular statement about status and authority. For example Mckim, Mead and White, the celebrated American architectural firm of the turn of the century, typically employed this approach. A famous example is the Boston Public Library built in 1887 to 1898 which borrowed from Italian renaissance classicism and was used to promote the status of the city of Boston. Figure 22 Boston Public Library 1887-1898 Source: Gelemter 202 This notion of not adhering to strict definitions of a style or type proved to be very popular in the United States, where most of the styles were imported from foreign nations anyway. Builders and clients saw a wide array of housing styles here in the Untied States and though some regional styles did develop in various pockets, strict adherence to any particular style was never very popular. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 23 Penniman House, Eastham Massachusetts, 1867. Source: Poppeliers 53 Figure 24 Wellington house, Ohio Mid-nineteenth Century. Source: Gelemter 139 Americans seems to employ this tradition right from the start with modernism. The stark, angular and unadorned exteriors promoted by the modernists were not widely accepted by consumers. What the general population did embrace were the simplified floor plans, the less ornately decorated interiors (which were easier to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 61 maintain), the blending of indoor and outdoor space, and the ease of living that the modernists sought to promote. ' n o o k M A ST E R B E D R O O M FA M IL Y RO O M K IT C H E N D IN IN G R O O M L IV IN G RO O M B D R M . 2 G A R A G E B D R M V Figure 25 Floor Plan 2297 M, Lexington at Etiwanda, Rancho Cucamonga, California: Source KB Home Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 62 When examining mass market housing being built today one is struck by their similarity, in terms of floor plan, to the case study houses. Both have kitchens that open onto family rooms with large glass doors that lead onto a yard or patio and invite the outdoors in. In case study house tradition, family life is not oriented toward the street, but rather to the back yard, where family and invited guests can enjoy the outdoors in private. In this way the contributions of the modernists was included in the American tradition of eclecticism -w ith the floor plan being the most commonly borrowed element. Building Materials Despite the high expectations of mid-century modernists regarding new and innovative building materials and their ability to transform residential construction, the reality is that they never quite caught on. Steel obviously plays a larger part in residential architecture, but complete steel construction (i.e. steel framing) is rare. Additionally, apart from items such as dry wall and modem insulation material (fiber glass, gypsum board) the building materials used in residential construction are by and large still the same as they have been for hundreds of years. Wood, brick, concrete, steel nails, are the most commonly used materials. Mass Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 63 production did play a part in being able to meet the increased housing demand, but not as expected. Instead, it was the ability speed up the processing and manufacturing of traditional building materials (milling of wood trim, mass production of pre-fabricated windows and doors) rather than embracing new and innovative building materials has occurred. In short, rather than mass-producing the entire home, as had been envisioned, components and materials are mass- produced with increasing efficacy and scale. Additionally, true pre-fabricated housing, one of the architectural aspirations of mid-century modernism, has yet to become a large segment of the residential market. Mass produced, residential construction is still by and large assembled on the building site and not in a factory and shipped to the site, as many modernists hoped would be achieved3 3 . Prefabricated or manufactured housing held a stigma associated with temporary encampments in the post war era from which it never fully recovered.3 4 The Quonset hut was widely seen as the typical prefabricated dwelling unit in the 1940s and 1950. Manufactured housing was not re-configured in a meaningful way until the development of the “mobile” home. Despite the fact that these dwelling units were rarely if ever moved, they were restricted by zoning laws to being located at 3 3 Edward L Barnes “House in a Factory” Arts and Architecture September 1946 31 3 4 Dana Cuff The Provisional City (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press) 2002 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 64 camp grounds or trailer parks rather than being allowed to integrate into single family residential districts. Manufactured housing was excluded from the mainstream of American life and began to take on negative class associations that were difficult to overcome. Beginning in the late 1970s and 1980s interest was revived in manufactured housing as a method to produce affordable housing units. In 1978 the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development issued development standards for manufactured housing, opening up the opportunity to obtain mortgage financing that had been denied in the past. Soon, affordable housing advocates began to look at ways in which a manufactured home could be integrated into the urban fabric. A number of innovative uses of the units, redesigned on the exterior to look like town homes, were employed in affordable housing projects in Oakland, California. But the inability to modify zoning regulations to accommodate manufactured homes has severely limited their adoption in American communities.3 5 The optimism and enthusiasm exhibited by the California mid-century modernists was not realized with the acceptance of manufactured housing. Class and social stigma quickly obscured the notions of economic efficiency and lifestyle advantages that were advocated by its proponents. 3 5 David Bergman “ Trends for manufactured housing” Zoning News September 1989 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 65 Summary The legacy of the mid century modernists on residential architecture in America is somewhat mixed. On the one hand their ideas about the use of indoor and outdoor space along with the development of the open floor plan have been widely accepted and disseminated. On the other, their interest in manufactured housing and use of inexpensive and experimental materials did not find widespread acceptance. On a superficial level its is also possible to say that their design aesthetic was not widely adopted. However the innovations that they produced in a how a home’s interior is structured has become one of the most widely reproduced forms in the American architectural landscape. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 66 Section IV Applying Preservation Standards: A case study of the Eames House Introduction While the previous two sections have focused on design concepts developed by modem movement architects, this section will present a case study focusing on the materials that were used in constmcting the buildings themselves. Innovative use of new and experimental materials was central to the agenda of mid century modernists in general and to the Case Study House program in particular. Entenza himself often expressed an belief in the transformative power of new building technologies, believing that the adoption of manufactured and technologically advanced materials, rather than traditional and craft based materials, was both inevitable and necessary to met the demands of American society. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 67 i R o o f— Sidewalk— Partitio ns ALL CiM ISTO CONSTRUCTION M l USTIH IUOTT... n Aicsntcn 111 nm m in ts u rn Figure 26 Advertisements form Arts and Architecture Magazine, April 1948 It is clear from a review of the advertisements in Arts and Architecture that the audience to whom the magazine was directed valued technical innovation as an end onto it self. Figure 26 shows advertisements found in Arts and Architecture for two new building products that were used in the Case Study House program, one Cemesto which was a prefabricated modular wall panel system and the other Corilite which was a synthetic laminate. Note that neither of these two products are currently in production. This section will examine the use, of new materials in Case Study House #8 (the Eames House) and, how to address the difficult problem of the preservation of materials that can no longer be reproduced. Working with these obsolete, manufactured modem building materials represents a critical set of issues for preservation as it begins to consider the treatment of modem era architecture. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Modernism Many of the building materials used by the modernists were not designed to last in the same way as traditional building materials. Unlike traditional building Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 68 materials, such as wood, masonry and decorative painting, the materials found in modernist houses are often no longer made or have been proven hazardous and are therefore illegal to reproduce. As many of the best examples of modernist architecture turn fifty years old and are eligible for inclusion in the National Register, the question of how we address specific building material issues (while still meeting the guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior on how historic building materials should be treated) is becoming increasingly critical. As these building materials come to the end of their functional life, many of the finest examples of modernist architecture will have a difficult time adhering to the standards as they are currently written. Indeed, as stated by Bronson and Jester “Preserving the Recent Past”, Many of the resources of the modem era were designed for a shorter lifespan that their earlier counterparts, and their conservation raises complex philosophical and technical questions of authenticity and sustainability.3 Because the Eames house is a Los Angeles Cultural Monument and is in the process of receiving national recognition, all recommendations for repair and maintenance will need to be within the guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards3 7 . Indeed because the Eames house is of such national importance, it 3 6 Susan Bronson and Thomas Jester. "Conserving the Built Heritage of the Modem Era: Recent Developments and Ongoing Challenges." Association for Preservation Technology Bulletin 24.4 (1997): 3-60 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 69 should be afforded the Secretary of the Interior’s highest level of protection, and should therefore follow the guideless for Preservation (rather than rehabilitation or restoration). The guidelines for Preservation as outlined by the Department of the Interior include the following principals:3 8 1. A property will be used as it was historically, or be given a new use that maximizes the retention of distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships. Where a treatment and use have not been identified, a property will be protected and, if necessary, stabilized until additional work can be undertaken. 2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The replacement of intact or repairable historic materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided. 3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time place and use. Work needed to stabilize, consolidate and conserve existing historic materials and features will be physically and visually compatible, identifiable upon close inspection, and properly documented for future research. 4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved 5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved 6. The existing condition of historic futures will be evaluated to determine the appropriate level of intervention needed. Where the severity of deterioration requires repair or limited 3 7 United States Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. as Amended through 2000 (with Annotations'). 2000. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. •5Q United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards of the Treatment of Historic Properties. (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, Historic Preservation Services) 1995. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 70 replacement of a distinctive feature, the material will match the old in composition, design, color and texture. 7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used. 8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken. The concepts of authenticity and material integrity are central to the guidelines. However, a workable definition of authenticity is somewhat problematic when working with experimental modem materials. Additionally, the whole concept of what is authentic may be brought into question when developing standards for the preservation of architecture that was both innovative and avant-gard at the time of its construction. Whether the preservation of authentic materials or the preservation of a building’s esthetic and design intent should be privileged is an emerging issue for the treatment of modernist buildings within the existing American preservation framework. The Secretary of Interior’s guidelines were written under the assumption that all building materials could be replaceable or reproduced, and as a result they are ill equipped for preserving modernist innovations in architecture and for providing guidance in working with non-traditional materials. A good example of this would be the Ennis-Brown House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright located in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. Wright incorporated the soil of the site into the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 71 concrete that was used to make the blocks. The problem with this however, is that the soil compromised the sustainability of the bricks and the house is deteriorating at a much faster rate than normal concrete brick would.3 9 The question then arises, when repairing this building (which is on the National Register) whether it sis necessary to include the site soil again in the concrete (this affects the color and texture of the brick) or is it acceptable to simply make the concrete out of a standardized concrete mix with the assumption that it will make the building less likely to have the same problems with deterioration. Another example of the difficulties modem building materials pose to preservation standards is occurring at the Eames House in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles. The vinyl asbestos tile (VAT), which serves as the floor covering for much of the first floor, is suffering from deterioration. 3 9 Joseph Giovannini “Falling Because of Water” New York Times April 24 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 72 Repairing a Modern Material: Vinyl Asbestos Tile A Case Study: The History of Vinyl Asbestos Tile Chemist Leo Baekeland introduced the first completely synthetic plastic in 19094 0 He experimented with creating a variety of products using “Bakelite” the plastic product that he developed. One of his early products was a floor covering that was made with Bakelite mixed with paper. While this was the first use of synthetic flooring, it was not until after World War II ended that synthetic flooring really came into mass production based around the use of vinyl. During the war much of the vinyl resin needed for the production of the flooring was being used for the war effort, but in the post war period there was a search for commercial applications for the product. Not only was the vinyl resin readily available after the war, but also much of the machinery that already was used to produce existing products such as asphalt and rubber tile could also be used in the production of vinyl flooring. This confluence of events led to a boom in the production and application of vinyl flooring in the United States. 4 0 Thomas Jester, 20th Century Building Materials. (New York: McGraw Hill, 1995.) 241 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 73 The term Vinyl flooring generally refers to three basic types: vinyl asbestos tile (VAT), vinyl composition tile (VCT) and backed vinyl tile: Vinyl Asbestos Tile: is composed of vinyl resin binder, usually vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer (30 percent); asbestos fiber fillers and crushed limestone aggregate (6 percent); and plasticizers, stabilizers, and color pigments. Vinyl Composition Tile: is composed similarly to VAT only without the asbestos fiber fillers. However, the asbestos gave the tile its wearing strengthen, so VCT is not as durable as VAT. Backed Vinyl Tile: consists of a wearing layer of vinyl resins, plasticizers, pigments, and fillers overlaid on a backing that may be alkali resistant or waterproof, or provide extra resilience. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 74 Flooring in The Eames House The original blueprints for the Eames house called for a combination of wood flooring and concrete to be used in the living room.4 1 As the design progressed over several months the plans show that the ratio of wood to concrete covering the flooring was altered several times. In the end, much of the living room floor was finished in concrete with wood utilized for only a small section in the alcove sitting area. Pictures of the house shortly after it was built show the concrete was mostly covered with a series of tatami mats lay around the room.4 2 The tatami mats served as Figure 28 Eames sitting areas as well. The floor was left as unfinished House in 1953 Source: Arts and concrete. Whether this was a conscious design choice, or Architecture Figure 27 Eames House in 1948 Source: Arts and Architecture 4 1 Charles and Ray Eames, Plans for Case Study House #8, The Eames Papers, J. Paul Getty Trust, Research Institute, Los Angeles California 4 2 "Case Study Houses No. 8 and 9." Arts & Architecture (1948). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 75 done for cost reasons, or both, is unknown. However, as evidenced in House After Five Years4 3 , within five years the concrete is covered with 12 X 12 inch white vinyl tile. Testing (that was done for this thesis) has determined that the 12 X 12 inch tile used at the Eames house contained asbestos. 4 4 Additionally, the adhesives that were used to adhere the tile to the concrete floor appear to contain asbestos as well. This use of asbestos was common because the asbestos filler in both the tile and the adhesive added a great deal of strength and durability to the product. Though today asbestos is regarded as a hazardous material and is no longer used in residential construction, in the 1940s and 1950s, asbestos use was common as it was an inexpensive waste product from the mining industry that seemed to offer new 4 3 Eames, Charles, et al. The Films of Charles & Rav Eames. Volume 2. Video recording . Pyramid Film & Video ; Image Entertainment [distributor], Santa Monica, CA Chats worth, CA, 2000. 4 4 With the assistance of John Curulli, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California Figure 29 Floor tile fragment front and back. Eames House Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 76 and affordable ways to insulate, strengthen and decorate new homes. It was not until the 1970s that health hazards associated with asbestos became widely known. The problem with asbestos is when the fibers deteriorate they become airborne (or friable). Airborne particles of asbestos are carcinogenic. It is important to realize however, that the asbestos fibers must be friable in order to pose a health hazard. This may not be the case with the VAT at the Eames House. Contained, or sealed asbestos does not pose the same health hazards as friable asbestos and is often safe to leave in place if can be left undisturbed. The VAT present at the Eames House is located only in the living room (or main room) or the house. The rest of the flooring in the main house is linoleum over a concrete slab. The condition of the individual VAT tiles is mixed. Some of the tile is still in excellent condition - particularly the tiles located towards the center of the main living room. Additionally, the tiles that are covered by rugs are also in excellent condition. (See figure 30) Figure 30 Floor of the Eames House Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 77 Figure 31 Details of deteriorating VAT, Eames House The tiles that surround the perimeter of the room however are in very poor condition. They are bubbling, cracking and extremely brittle. Some tiles are missing pieces and have separated from the adhesive and have come loose. (See Figure 31). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 78 Because the tiles are exhibiting different types of wear, it is important to consider what, if any, external factors exist that might account for the different states. The one apparent pattern is that the broken tiles seem to all be located around the perimeter of the room. The room is surrounded by floor to ceiling glass walls; the metal frame of the window serves as a sill and abuts the floor. On the exterior side of the sill, the garden comes in many places in direct contact with the slab base of the building. Additionally, several flowerbeds also contact the base of the building and require frequent watering. Given these factors, it is possible to consider that moisture could be permeating the concrete slab and serving to deteriorate the VAT tiles from underneath the surface. Concrete. Vinyl and Moisture One way to test if the concrete slab and the flooring are being exposed to too much moisture is to perform a moisture emission rate test. A number of basic tests are available; the methods described here are the least destructive to the building materials. The Plastic Sheet Test (Standard Test Method for Indicating Moisture in Concrete by the Plastic Sheet test)4 5 and An Electronic Moisture Meter can be used. Both of 4 5 Jester 244 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 79 these tests can be used to indicate if the moisture level of the floor is too great to sustain a vinyl floor. If moisture is permeating the concrete, as the water vapor raises it will get trapped by the VAT, which has a slower water vapor emission rate than concrete. The water vapor will then accumulate between the concrete slab and the VAT and cause deterioration of both the adhesive material and the VAT. As indicated by Thomas Jester: High moisture can promote swelling and generate stresses at the bonding planes between the tile and adhesive or the substrate and adhesive, which can lead to localized bubbling and delaminating. Moisture may also induce migration of oily plasticizers from within the vinyl tile and introduce bond- inhibiting compounds at the interfacial bonding planes between the adhesives and the tile and between the adhesive and the concrete4 6 This implies that, if moisture is indeed penetrating the slab then the water vapor that results is chemically altering the composition of the tile and the adhesives and accelerating their demise. Bubbling and delamination is being exhibited by the VAT flooring, so it would be advised to do a water emission test on the flooring both around the windows and in the middle of the room where the tile is not exhibiting these conditions and comparing the results of the two tests. If the test 4 6 Jester 243 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 80 results show higher moisture levels around the windows, then one should assume that moisture is contributing at least in part to the VAT’s deterioration. Another factor to consider would be UV damage from the sun, due to the large windows that surround the room. The room does receive a fair amount of sunlight, however, this does not explain the general pattern of deterioration, for the sunlight reflects equally on the middle of the room as it does on the edges. Additionally, several large area rugs are kept over the tile around the living room. The areas that are covered by the rugs are in considerably better condition than the tiles which are not covered. One reason this may be happening is that the rugs have not only protected the areas from dirt particles, but also have prevented the particles from being ground into the tile, which over time will erode and compromise its durability. The rug may also serve as a temperature modifier - keeping the tiles warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Lessening the extreme in temperature changes would serve to prolong the use of the tile as expansion and contraction will eventually affect the tile’s durability as well. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 81 Recommendations for Repair Because The Eames house is on The National Register of Historic Places and is being considered for National Monument status, any repair of the building must be seriously weighed before action is taken. Current best practices within the preservation field would indicate an initial approach that would be both cautious and reversible in the future. Another consideration when dealing with the Eames House is that it is no longer used as a residence. The house is largely a museum whose maintenance is over seen by the Eames office, which is run out of a neighboring office building. Visitors to the house are not allowed in, and the floor is rarely walked on, though the family housekeeper cleans the building on a weekly basis. Because the house is no longer lived in, and very few people spend any prolonged time in the building, any threat posed by the friable asbestos is very low. Any repair taken on should therefore be based on preventing further damage to the building materials or for restoring the material’s original appearance, rather than for any health threat posed by the VAT. Additionally, the reason behind the deterioration of the VAT should be determined before any repair or change be attempted on the floor. Once the cause of the damage is determined it should be Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 82 addressed before any changes to the floor is made otherwise the damage will re occur. If it is determined by moisture tests that the building is being penetrated from external moisture, than the source of this moisture should be considered. As far as addressing any aesthetic issues with the deteriorating VAT, several approaches could be taken that would be allowed under the Secretary of the Interior Standards. It is first important to recognize that as long as the cause for the deterioration is repaired, the floor could be left as is. Though the floor does not have the original appearance that it had when first installed, the value of preserving the original material of the house should be considered before any restoration attempt be considered. The fact the house is no longer lived in and that guests are rarely admitted means that the floor is rarely walked on so further deterioration caused by pressure put on the floor is unlikely. However, if the floor’s appearance were to be addressed there are several options for repair that could conform to the existing standards of the Secretary of the Interior. 1. Once a determination of the cause of the deterioration was identified and repaired, a sealer could be applied to the entire floor to essentially “seal it in place” and prevent further damage. This would not bring the floor back to its original condition, but it would help to secure any broken or cracked pieces of tile and would also seal any friable particles of asbestos thereby Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 83 preventing the fibers from becoming airborne. This approach would conform to the requirements of the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for stabilization (#1). This approach would not be preferred as it may lead to increased delaminating by placing an impermeable barrier over the tile. 2. The tiles that have sustained the most damage could be removed and replaced by matching VCT white 12x 12-inch tiles. The new tile could be waxed or polished to obtain a similar coloration to the existing tile. This approach may conform to standard #6 if the new material will “match the old in composition, design, color and texture”. Note that the use of VCT rather than VAT may not allow for a match of the composition of the materials used originally. 3. A “floating” floor could be placed over the existing floor with all new white 12 x 12 VCT tile. This floating floor could be installed so as to not damage the existing floor and the existing floor could thereby be preserved beneath the floating floor. This would leave the existing floor intact and issues could be dealt with at a later date. Additionally, this approach would also seal the asbestos and therefore abatement issues could be avoided. This approach may conform to standard #3 if the original floor was documented and the treatment was reversible. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 84 4. A fourth consideration would be to replace all of the VAT with 12X12 inch white VCT. If this approach were to be taken however, issues of asbestos abatement, as well as the loss of original building material would need to be considered. The loss of historic character and original building material would be great if this approach were taken, so this approach would probably not be advisable in this building. A case might be made for returning the floor to its 1948 condition with the exposed concrete and no tile covering. However because this condition lasted less than five years and because the house was frequently photographed from 1953 on it is most likely the case that the white tile flooring has achieved the status of being an historically significant change to the property which should be retained. Maintenance Issues Cleaning and maintenance are issues in any historic house and it is important to examine a building’s housekeeping practices to insure that they are not contributing to the building1 s demise. In the case of the Eames House, VAT flooring was designed to be low maintenance. Since the house is no longer used as a residence and admittance to the house is very limited, it is not recommended that the floor be Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 85 regularly washed (the floors are currently being washed weekly) - as any additionally moisture will only exacerbate the floor’s deterioration. It is recommended that the Eames Foundation follow the maintenance guidelines established by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) for the care and cleaning of historic vinyl flooring. Conclusions of Case Study The Eames house in the Pacific Palisades is a national treasure and issues surrounding its’ preservation should represent the highest level of thinking and consideration available within the preservation field. Any action taken to mend or preserve an element must reflect what is best for the building in the longest term possible. Summary The flooring issues at the Eames house represent a typical problem often faced when dealing with modem resources. The standards call for preserving the materials that were used in an effort to promote authenticity. But, when working with obsolete industrial products this is sometimes not a viable option. The Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 86 flooring issues at the Eames house poses such a problem. Aside from a full on replacement of the floor with VCT (which would be a different material than was originally specified) all of the recommended standards for repair do not address the issue that the flooring has lost the original intent of its design. Which was to be a stark, clean, white utilitarian floor. As stated by Wessel De Jonge, Secretary of DOCOMOMO International, in his article “Early Modem Architecture: How to Prolong a Limited Lifespan?” To them (the modernists), the idea of preservation was totally irrelevant or even contrary to the conception of the Modem Movement as regards the use, time and form of its products. By deciding in favor of conservation of their buildings, we act against their principle at the same time.4 7 This brings us back to the original question, in reference to modem architecture - what should be preserved, the idea or the artifact? Do current approaches to preservation focus on authentic materials to the point of exclusion of the intent of the architecture? 4 7 Wessel De Jonge, “Early Modem Architecture: How to Prolong a Limited Lifespan?”. Preserving The Recent Past ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer (Washington, D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995)IV-7 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 87 Section V Conclusions Modem architecture poses new challenges for the preservation movement. The field may have to re-examine its current practices to include a new definition of authenticity - one that includes the importance of concepts of design. This would not be the first time that preservation has had to widen its scope in order to adequately accommodate an architectural style. Until the early 1970’s the contributions of African-Americans to American Architectural history were largely ignored. This was because the Preservation Standards up until that time were not set up in a way that could include their contributions. As stated in their article “The Preservation Movement Rediscovers America” Elizabeth Lyon and Frederick Williamson state: When the National Historic Sites Act was passed in the 1930’s Americans had little doubt about what constituted the heritage of a nation and its people. In the minds of most, it was the magnificent edifices and places associated with monumental events of war and peace and the great personages that had shaped the direction of the nation since it’s beginning. That the predominant European groups that settled particular sections of the country were to be honored for their contributions to our heritage was an accepted principle. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 88 But with the passage of the Historic Preservation Act in 1966, the nation began ..to recognize that large and diverse ethnic and racial groups, plus the indigenous Native American population, have left a rich and varied legacy of accomplishments and historic places that cannot be ignored.4 8 In part these traditions had been ignored because there was no way to include these histories in the given regulatory parameters. Oral history, vernacular architecture and cultural landscapes were not recognized as making significant historic contributions. Today this oversight seems apparent. At the time however, these contributions did not fit traditional definitions and were overlooked. In many ways this same phenomenon is happening with modem architecture. If what is most significant about a particular building is that it advanced a new and influential conceptual vision for architecture, there are no real parameters for preserving that design. Instead we have whole traditions based on how to preserve the materials that the concept was built with - but what do you do when in for example in the case of the Eames house - the material itself is compromising the concept? 4 8 Elizabeth Lyon and Fredrick Williamson, “The Preservation Movement Discovers America”. Preserving The Recent Past ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer (Washington, D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995)111-39 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 89 Reprising one of questions posed in chapter one of this thesis. Do people travel from all around the world to see the VAT flooring of the Eames house - or do they come to see the nature of its design and setting? How far must a concept be compromised in order to preserve the material? Certainly the flooring of the Eames house was not meant to be cracked, bubbling and yellowed. This appearance is in direct conflict with its design concept. Yet current preservation standards would indicate that the original flooring should be saved. Perhaps modernism will best be served by the preservation movement if preservationists will once again stretch the definitions to recognize a new set of contributions. When examining modernism’s contributions to architecture it is important to recognize the significance of the innovations of the building materials that were used. However, those same building materials were part of a larger concept based on innovation and change, and in that sense they were subordinate to their function within the building. Importantly, the intellectual contributions of the modernist movemnt was its most influential legacy. The modernist re-examination and predictions of how people will live within their homes represents a huge contribution to archtecture. More than any other style that has come before it, modernism affected more lives with its re-conceptualization of the floorplan. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 90 As Richard Longstreth states: At no time, past or present, for instance, has such commodious housing been available to persons of moderate means in major metropolitan areas than during the postwar years - not in this country and certainly not anywhere else. 9 Modernist architecture developed in during a particular time in American history. The need for new housing combined with a willingness to experiment and adopt new approaches led to important advances in residential architecture. With their simple, open planned interiors and the use of creative design to accommodate those of modest means the modernists have changed the face of American architecture on the grandest of scales. Now we must to develop a way to recognize and the magnitude of this contribution within the parameters of preservation. 4 9 Longstreth 1-19 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 91 Bibliography The Federal Housing Administration. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Available: www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/fhahistory.cfm. May 10 2004. "Case Study Houses 8 and 9." Arts & Architecture (1945): 44-51. "Case Study Houses No. 8 and 9." Arts & Architecture (1948). "Case Study House for 1949." Arts & Architecture (1949): 26-39. "A Designer’s Home of His Own: Charles Eames Builds a House of Steel and Glass." Life (1950): 148-50. "Sixteen Southern California Architects Exhibit Contemporary Trends in a Group Showing at Scripps College." Arts & Architecture 67 (1950). "Case Study House." Arts & Architecture 67 (1950): 26-39. "Steel on the Meadow: Charles Eames' Dream House Is Held Together with Bolted Trusses." Contract Interiors 110 (1950): 108-15. "Steel Shelf with a View." Architectural Forum 93 (1950): 97-99. "Case Study House No. 9 under Construction." Arts & Architecture (1949): 31-32. "Modem Architecture Meets Historic Preservation." Connecticut Preservation News 22.1 (1999). National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as Amended through 2002. Washington DC: United States Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 2002. Albrecht, Donald, Library of Congress., and Vitra Design Museum. The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with the Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum, 1997. Alloway, Lawrence. "Eames' World." Architectural Association Journal.72 (1956): 54-55. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 92 Ashurst, John. Practical Building Conservation Volume 4 Metals. New York: Hallstead Press, 1988. Banham, Reyner. Guide to Modem Architecture. London,: Architectural Press, 1962. —. The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment. [Chicago],: University of Chicago Press, 1969. —. The Aspen Papers: Twenty Years of Design Theory from the International Design Conference in Aspen. New York,: Praeger, 1974. —. Age of the Masters: A Personal View of Modem Architecture. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. —. Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. 1st MIT Press paperback ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1980. —. Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Bames, Edward L. "House in a Factory." Arts & Architecture. September (1946): 31. Barron, Stephanie, Sheri Bernstein, and Ilene Susan Fort. Reading California: Art. Image, and Identity. 1900-2000. Los Angeles Berkeley: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 2000. Baxter, Alan. "Twentieth Century Buildings." Journal of Architectural Conservation 7.2 (2001): 27-30. Bergman, David. "Trends for Manufactured Housing." Zoning News. September (1989). Blyth, Alastair. "Restoring the Modem at Last." Architects Journal 202.9 (1995): 9. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 94 De Jonge, Wessel. "Early Modem Architecture: How to Prolong a Limited Lifespan?" Preserving the Recent Past. Ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer. Washington DC: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995. Demetrios, Eames. An Eames Primer. New York: Universe Pub., 2001. Dixon, Glenn. "Whimsey and Regimentation: The Happy March of Charles and Ray Eames." Harvard Design Magazine (2000): 88-93. Dixon, John Morris. "Within a Hallowed Shell." Progressive Architecture 71 (1990): 96-103. Dunn, Timothy. "Glass with Class: The Structural Glass Kitchens of the Early 20th Century." Old House Journal 30.2 (2002): 58-63. Eames, Charles. "What Is a House?" Arts & Architecture (1944): 24-25. Eames, Charles. Re-Connections : The Work of the Eames Office. September 2- October 16.1999, Yale University School of Architecture. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University. School of Architecture, 1999. Eames, Charles, et al. The Films of Charles & Rav Eames. Volume 2. videorecording. Pyramid Film & Video ; Image Entertainment [distributor],, Santa Monica, CA Chats worth, CA, 2000. Eames, Charles and Eliel Saarinen. "Organic Design." California Arts & Architecture (1941): 16-17. Eames, Charles and Ray. Plans for Case Study House #8. The Eames Papers, J. Paul Getty Trust, Research Institute, Los Angeles. Entenza, John. "The Case Study House Program." Arts & Architecture. January (1945): 37. Fisher, Thomas. "Restoring Modernism." Progressive Architecture (1989): 75. Flamini, Ronald. "The Farnsworth House Restored: Mies Van Der Rohe's Illinois Icon Survives a Flood." Architectural Digest 56.2 (1999): 66. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 95 Foster, Gerald. American Houses. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Fram, Mark. Well-Preserved. Erin Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 2003. Freeman, Allen. "Complexities and Contradictions: Preservation Meets Modernism." Historic Preservation 47.4 (1995). Friedman, Willian Rupp and Arnold. Construction Materialals for Interior Design. Whitney Library Design, 1989. Gebhard, David, and Robert Winter. An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2003. Gelemter, Mark. A History of American Architecture. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1999. Ghirardo, Diane. Architecture after Modernism. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Gill, Brendan, and Derry Moore. The Dream Come True : Great Houses of Los Angeles. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980. Giovannini, Joseph. "Falling Because of Water." New York Times. April 24 (2005): 2. Giuliani, Maria Vittoria; Bucchignani, Valeria. "Preservation through Change: Renovating Modem Architecture." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 17.1 (2000): 34-46. Gleye, Paul, et al. The Architecture of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: Rosebud Books, 1981. Greenberg, Cara. Mid-Century Modem. New York: Harmony Books, 1984. Group, Harold E., ed. House of the Month Book of Small Houses. Garden City New Jersey: Garden City Publishing, 1946. Harris, Frank. A Guide to Contemporary Architecture in Southern California. Los Angeles: Watling & Co., 1951. Hay, David. "A Modernist Masterpiece in the Desert Is Reborn." Architectural Record 187.9 (1999): 92-98. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 96 Heaver, Melissa M., and National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Housekeeping for Historic Homes and House Museums. Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2000. Herr, Jeffrey. Landmark La. Los Angeles: Angel City Press, 2002. Hise, Greg. Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the 20th Century Metropolis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. Howland, Richard. "Preserving Twentieth Century Architecture." 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Kaplan, Sam Hall, and Julius Shulman. LA. Lost & Found : An Architectural History of Los Angeles. New York: Crown, 1987. Kaufmann, Edger. "Three New Buildings on the Pacific Coast." Architects Yearbook 4 (1951): 55-63. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 97 Kelly, Barbara. The Houses of Levittown in the Context of Postwar American Culture. Available: www.cr.nps/nr/publications/bulletins/suburbs/kelly.pdf. Kirby, Peter, et al. The Case Study House Program. 1945-1966 an Anecdotal History & Commentary, videorecording. The Museum of Contemporary Art : distributed by Media Art Services,, Los Angeles, 1989. Kirkham, Pat. Charles and Rav Eames : Designers of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1995. —. "Humanizing Modernism: The Crafts, 'Functioning Decoration' and the Eameses." Journal of Design History 11.1 (1998): 15-29. Koenig, Gloria. Iconic LA : Stories of LA's Most Memorable Buildings. Glendale, Calif.: Balcony Press, 2000. Lange, Alexandria. "Big Plans Small Houses: As Demolition Threatens Mid Century Houses Fans of Modernism Seek Stronger Protections for Our Recent Architectural History." Metropolis 22.9 (2003): 36. Laurie, Girard A.H. and W.D. For Modem Living. Detroit: Detroit Institute of the Arts, 1949. Library of Congress. The Work of Charles & Rav Eames. a Legacy of Invention. May 20 - September 4.1999. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1999. Lockwood, Charles. Bricks and Brownstone: The New York Row House 1783- 1929. New York: McGrawHill, 1972. Longstreth, Richard. "I Can't See It; I Don't Understand It; and It Doesn't Look Old to Me." Preserving the Recent Past. Ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer. Washington D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995. Macdonald, Marie-Paule. "The Ageing Modem: The Fate of the Old New." Canadian Architect 40.5 (1995): 22-23. Marmol, Leo. "Creating a New Classic or Restoring an Old One?" Dwell. Jan-Feb (2004): 76-77. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 98 May, Cliff, Marlene L. Laskey, and University of California Los Angeles. Oral History Program. The California Ranch House. [Los Angeles]: Oral History Program, University of California, Los Angeles, 1984. McAlister, Virginia. "American Single Family Homes from 1935 to 1960." Preserving the Recent Past. Ed. Deborah Slaton and Rebecca A. Shiffer. Washington D.C.: Historic Preservation Education Foundation, 1995. McCarter, Robert, Richard Weston, and James Steele. Twentieth-Century Houses : Frank Lloyd Wright. Fallingwater: Alvar Aalto. Villa M airea: Charles and Rav Eames. Eames House. Architecture 3s. London: Phaidon, 1999. McCoy, Esther. Modem California Houses: Case Study Houses. 1945-1962. New York,: Reinhold Pub. Corp., 1962. —. "Arts & Architecture Case Study Houses." Perspecta 15 (1976): 54-73. —. Case Study Houses. 1945-1962. 2d ed. 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Keeping Time : The History and Theory of Preservation in America. Rev. ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. National Register of Historic Places. How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. 1997. Text. National Park Service. Available: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS47003. Neuhart, John, et al. Eames Design : The Work of the Office of Charles and Rav Eames. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989. Newsom, Joseph C. Artistic Buildings and Homes of Los Angeles. Los Angeles: Calliope Press, 1981. Noyes, Eliot. "Charles Eames." Arts & Architecture (1946): 26-44. Page, Max, and Randall Mason. Giving Preservation a History : Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States. New York; London: Routledge, 2004. Palliser, Palliser and. Palliser's New Cottage Homes 1887. Mineola, New York: Dover, 2003. Park, Sharon C., and United States. National Park Service. Preservation Assistance Division. The Repair and Thermal Upgrading of Historic Steel Windows. Preservation Briefs ; 13. 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The Thesis Show

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Creator Vesci, Jill Marie (author)

Core Title Preserving modernist architecture

Degree Master of Historic Preservation

Degree Program Historic Preservation

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Architecture,Art History,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

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Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-46691

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Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

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