John Lautner
Alan Hess
Photographs by Alan Weintraub
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| ‘The book is as sumptuous as the words are spirited ... it’s a joy to read’ | | – FX |
| ‘Carefully selected, amazingly atmospheric images, worthy of the architecture they bring to life ... an elegant book at an affordable price’ | | – Perspective |
| ‘The superb images complement this interesting tale of Lautner’s career’ | | – Intra |
John Lautner is increasingly seen as one of the great American masters of the twentieth century.
Rooted in a personal philosophy that is the imaginative extension of Frank Lloyd Wright's theories, his exuberant designs epitomize the landscape of southern California – from the fifties techno-optimism of the drive-in, freeway and Cadillac tail-fin to the structural innovation of hilltop houses overlooking the ocean. Despite his extraordinary technical achievements, the pushbutton glass walls and retracting roofs, however innovative, always serve to create humane spaces that allow occupants to commune with nature and themselves.
His eye-popping creations include the celebrated Googie’s, with jazzy roof lines and kaleidoscopic geometry, and California houses sporting hexagonal roofs, free-floating walls and indoor-outdoor pools. In the sixties he built the now-iconic Chemosphere, Elrod and Silvertop houses. Finally, Lautner’s athletic use of concrete reaches its zenith in dizzyingly fantastic forms.
Alan Weintraub is a widely published architectural photographer whose most recent book is . Alan Hess, an architect and architecture critic, is the author, with Alan Weintraub of Hyperwest: American Residential Architecture on the Edge.
Part of Thames & Hudson's exciting
Architecture/Design series
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|  |  | | | | ISBN 0500284202 | | ISBN-13 978-0500284209 | | | | 21.0 x 16.5 cm | | Paperback with flaps | | 240pp | | 228 illustrations, 228 in colour | | First published 2003 | | | | £15.95 | | | |  | | | | 
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