Neutra Place

The future of architecture, as I have looked at it also in the past, will depend on a deepened knowledge of nature, and of man’s nature especially, however encroached on by his own patented artificialities. We must love and know him if we want to serve him”, Richard Neutra, Life and Shape, 1962.

I find myself there on a Sunday afternoon. “There” being the Reunion House, on Neutra Place, just above the Silver Lake Reservoir. Sitting on the edge of Boomerang chairs, we listen to the stories of a ninety-two-year-old Dion Neutra, son of the late Richard, and partner in his firm. The 2 o’clock sun is filtered by a canopy of trees. It meets us inside by way of sky lights dotting the ceiling and of impossibly long sliding glass doors. They span the length of the space and float us within that canopy. In this scene, it’s clear: the mission of Neutra’s design respects nature, tests boundaries and uses natural materials as its greatest advocate. Fitting as ever, this mission becomes the topic of research for the week.

Richard Neutra came to the US with the teachings of Adolf Loos as his architectural vernacular. He worked first with Frank Lloyd Wright before accepting a position with friend and colleague, Rudolf Schindler. This brought Neutra to Los Angeles and began the decades of influence he would have over the California modernist architecture and lifestyle.

As an architect, Neutra had a philosophy that revealed itself in his buildings. A tenant of his design was not just embracing the aesthetic of the site upon which he built, but truly believing firmly that it must be respected before anything else. Rather than leaning on embellishments and excess, he relied on the usage of practical materials like glass, wood and water to enhance one another and their surroundings. Mirrors reflect large areas so as to maximize the space perceived by the eye. Beams extend beyond walls and cut through glass to lengthen the line of sight beyond the walls. All of these elements reveal an incredibly thoughtful consideration of the way in which a site grows around a building as much as a building grows on a site. It comes from an understanding that we borrow these spaces from the earth, and it’s an ongoing relationship. It’s something to keep at the forefront of our minds as we move forward.