With his geometric structures perched upon the hillsides, beaches, and deserts of California, John Lautner (19111994) was behind some of the most striking and innovative architectural designs in mid-20th-century America.
This introductory book brings together the most important of Lautners projects to explore his ingenious use of modern building materials and his bold stylistic repertoire of sweeping rooflines, glass-paneled walls, and steel beams. From commercial buildings to such iconic homes as the Chemosphere, we look at Lautners sensitivity to a buildings surroundings and his unique capacity to integrate structures into the Californian landscape. With several of Lautners houses now labeled Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, well also consider the architects cultural legacy, as much as his pioneering of a visual paradigm of 1950s optimism, economic growth, and space-age adventure.
