Apart from being his home, the VDL Research House was
also his office. In this building, over 30 years, he designed
hundreds of international projects. Some of the most
representative architects from the Modern American
movement also spent time in his practice as apprentices.
The house was also a meeting point for the cultural milieu
of those times, with visitors such as Julius Shulman, Frank
Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, Jørn
Urtzon and László Moholy-Nagy.
In 1990, on the death of Dione Neutra, Richard Neutra’s
wife and Dion’s mother, the house was donated to the
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Kettal
In 1932, Richard Neutra built his house thanks to a donation
from the Dutch philanthropist Dr Van Der Leeuw (hence the
acronym VDL). This house is a particularly important example
of Richard Neutra’s work because it encapsulates all the
architectural theories that he first posited in his book Wie
Baut amerika?, 1927 and later on in his more philosophical
reflections Survival Through Design, 1953.
Seven years later, when the family had grown, he built an
annex in the garden. In 1963, the house was devastated by
fire, leaving only the annex standing. At that time, Richard
Neutra and his son and colleague Dion Neutra rebuilt the
house and added a solarium/atrium on top of the original
structure. He incorporated everything he had learned over
the years in this reconstruction: modularity, natural climate
control, water roofs, interaction with the natural environment,
technological advances, etc.
VDL Research House
Kettal
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Architecture