Case Study Houses. The Complete CSH Program 1945-1966

Hardcover, 33.2 x 25.7 cm, 3.41 kg, 440 pages
ISBN 978-3-8365-1021-9

Edition: German, English, French

A monumental retrospective of the Case Study House project

A monumental retrospective of the Case Study Houses program

The "Case Study House Project" (1945-66) was an extraordinary, innovative and to this day unique event in the history of American architecture. Focused on the Los Angeles area, it called for the design of 36 prototypes that would enable simple, inexpensive construction of modern homes during the post-war construction boom.

The driving force behind this project was John Entenza, editor of Arts & Architecture and a champion of modernism, whose relevant connections were able to attract talents such as Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen. The highly experimental project produced homes that would redefine modern living, thus having a significant impact on American and international architecture, of its time and even today.

This book is a monumental retrospective of the entire project, with comprehensive documentation, excellent photographs from the time it was built and recent photos of the houses that still stand, as well as detailed floor plans and sketches.

The photographer

His images of Californian architecture are deeply ingrained in 20th-century memories. A book about modern architecture without the American photographer Julius Shulman is unthinkable. Some of his architectural photos, such as the iconic shots of Frank Lloyd Wright or Pierre Koenig's remarkable buildings, have been published countless times. It was Shulman's photographs that were the first to highlight the greatness of the buildings, for example by Charles Eames or his close friend Richard Neutra. His work helped develop architectural photography into an independent art form. Each of Shulman's paintings reflects his particular perception of buildings and his understanding of their place in the landscape. His compositions not only reveal the architectural idea behind the surface of a building, but also the dreams and hopes of an entire age. Although there are usually no people present in his photographs, there is always something human about them. Many of the buildings Shulman documented have disappeared or been altered in an unstylish manner, but the demand for his images is stronger than ever.

The author

Elizabeth AT Smith is Executive Director of the New York-based Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. Previously, she was executive director of curatorial affairs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; Senior Curator and Associate Program Director at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, where she curated the 1989 exhibition Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses. She has organized a large number of exhibitions, published writings on contemporary art and architecture and given lectures on them.

The Publisher

Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. For TASCHEN, he has edited monographs on Julius Shulman, RM Schindler, John Lautner, and Richard Neutra, as well as several architecture titles in the Small Series.