La familia Kaufmann y la modernidad americana

El rol jugado por la familia Kaufmann como mecenas de las artes en la escena cultural de Norteamérica, es invisibilizado en el cometido de dos de las casas modernas más importantes del siglo XX, la Casa de la Cascada de Frank Lloyd Wright, y la Casa Kaufmann de Richard Neutra. Este artículo revela los criterios y necesidades objetivas de los clientes durante el encargo, construcción y apropiación de las casas, el cual más allá de la financiación económica, sin duda sitúa a los Kaufmann como pioneros que, interactuando de manera activa con los autores de estas piezas icónicas de la arquitectura doméstica, adoptaron y promulgaron nuevas formas de vida, modernas y revolucionarias para la época.

La casa kaufmann del desierto. El paisaje en el análisis de la composición arquitectónica

Este artículo vincula instrumentos desarrollados para la valoración del paisaje y su utilidad, en el análisis de la composición arquitectónica. El aporte consiste en explicar mediante operaciones de proyecto las categorías estéticas para la apreciación del paisaje. Para esto se estudia la casa Kaufmann en Palm Springs de Richard Neutra mediante un análisis formal, cuyos resultados discuten el grado de conmensurabilidad en el tránsito de conceptos entre una disciplina a otra. Se plantea que la idea de paisaje es un constructo cultural que demanda educar la mirada para su apreciación. El paisaje le confiere sentido a la composición arquitectónica cumpliendo metafóricamente el papel de una semántica, que junto con una sintaxis de la forma, completan la propuesta de tener una gramática para el aprendizaje del proyecto de arquitectura planteado en una investigación anterior.

Mobiliario built-in como articulador del espacio en la arquitectura residencial de Richard Neutra

Richard Neutra nos ha legado algunos de los ejemplos de arquitectura residencial más relevantes de la Arquitectura Moderna. Sus diáfanos y luminosos espacios fueron concebidos para reconectar nuestro cuerpo y alma con su origen biológico, así como con la naturaleza de la que formamos parte. En este sentido, el mobiliario built-in (fijo, construido) tiene una función relevante en las salas de estar diseñadas por Neutra, utilizado para separar espacios, focalizar vistas y crear una relajante atmósfera en la cual la familia se reúne en torno al fuego. Este conjunto de muebles está integrado por la chimenea, el sofá, estanterías, y otros elementos hechos con panel de contrachapado, piedra, ladrillo o acero. El presente artículo estudia la evolución de estos muebles en las casas de Neutra a través del análisis de varios ejemplos, los cuales han sido recreados en 3D con la intención de comprender el papel que juega cada elemento.

The Delcourt House: the last house by Richard Neutra

The only French building by the architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970), Delcourt house, built in Croix near Roubaix, France, is frequently forgotten in publications on his work, and is generally considered to be of little significance in the largely American career of its designer. At the end of the 1960s, Marcel Delcourt (1923-2016), a young Chief Executive Officer at the head of the mail order company Les Trois Suisses, was attracted to the American way of life. As the final work of Richard Neutra, the Delcourt residence is a fragile heritage, the result of complex and fruitful exchanges between Europe and the United States of America (USA), between architects and the client, but also between the customized design of most of the features and the use of sophisticated techniques, products that the interior finish industry was able to supply at the end of the 1960s. The edifice now stands as a repository of domestic architecture techniques.

Notas sobre utopia e distopia a partir da Casa Kaufmann em Palm Springs, Califórnia

Cidades e suas arquiteturas permitem leituras diversas sobre como utopias e distopias se manifestam nas experiências urbanas. Com essa perspectiva, este ensaio apresenta uma discussão sobre o tema a partir da Casa Kaufmann, emblemático projeto do arquiteto modernista Richard Neutra no final dos anos 1940, situado na cidade de Palm Springs, Califórnia. Ao observamos o projeto no contexto social da cidade, é possível identificar utopias e distopias que se estabelecem a partir de diferentes vivências e visões de mundo. Para este fim, o texto apresenta inicialmente as motivações da família Kaufmann e as intenções do arquiteto na construção de uma casa no deserto, aspirando viver o assim chamado California Dream – Sonho Californiano. Considerando especificamente o recorte comparativo entre lazer e mão de obra, o texto em seguida discute esse enfoque na cidade de Palm Springs no pós-guerra, trazendo as bases para uma posterior leitura da utopia/distopia presente na cidade, apoiada em análises de particularidades do projeto da Casa Kaufmann. O ensaio conclui observando que utopia e distopia podem ocorrer de modo simultâneo e complementar, num fluxo contínuo ao longo dos anos.

Rudolph M. Schindler

R. M. Schindler (b. 1887–d. 1953) was born in Vienna, Austria, and received architecture degrees from the Vienna Polytechnic University (Technische Hochschule) in 1911 and the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Kunste) in 1913. While influenced by the Viennese architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, Schindler was exposed to the work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright through his Wasmuth portfolio and was inspired to go to the United States in March 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I. In the United States, he found work in February 1918 with Wright, who sent him to Southern California in December 1920 to work on a project for his client, Aline Barnsdall. Schindler began his independent practice there, designing and building his own house and studio in 1921–1922. He had intended to return to Vienna, however, due to the difficult postwar economic conditions in Europe, he settled for the rest of his life in Southern California, with its mild climate, promising economic future, and openness to experimentation. Throughout his career Schindler wrote articles on architectural theory, designed over 500 projects—more than 150 of which were built, almost entirely in Southern California—and acted as his own contractor on the vast majority of his commissions. He has been identified as the first modern architect in Southern California, introducing innovative ideas and construction techniques, along with his contemporary and fellow Viennese architect Richard Neutra, who came to Southern California at Schindler’s invitation in January 1925. Schindler distinguished his own individual approach to architecture from that of the so-called International Style, proclaiming that architecture should be about “space” rather than focusing on any particular style or material. Throughout his career, Schindler experimented with a wide variety of materials and building techniques, resulting in buildings that, while they looked very different, retained their focus on a consistent set of spatial principles along with specificity to their site, climate, and client. In part due to his unorthodox approach to modern architecture, while his early projects were published with some frequency, the later works were published increasingly less and Schindler did not receive the large commissions for which he had hoped. After his death, with the postmodern reevaluation of the direction of architecture starting in the mid-1960s, Schindler’s work began to receive renewed critical attention, with books and exhibits devoted to his career, and recognition continues to grow in the present day.