Breuer Houses

"Marcel Breuer (1902-81) is widely acknowledged as a master of Modern architecture and, along with Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the most significant Bauhaus architects to leave Europe for the United States in the 1930s. Born in Hungary, Breuer studied fine art and rose to prominence, first as a student and then as a master, under Gropius at the Bauhaus before emigrating to the United States in 1937. Breuer established his early reputation as a furniture designer - creating the revolutionary Wassily chair, renowned as the first chair to use tubular steel, in 1925. Notwithstanding his lack of formal architectural training, Breuer distinguished himself from his contemporaries in the architectural world through the sculptural power and clear logic of his building projects. Again working with Gropius, he taught at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design from 1937 to 1946, influencing a generation of American architects." "Breuer's houses have became quintessential examples of postwar residential architecture, with their emphasis on informal living, large expanses of glass and an 'additive system of composition' in which individual rooms and spatial units are grouped around a main living space. Viewed in sequence, the houses reveal the development of Breuer's spatial expertise and an adroit use of natural materials such as wood and stone." "This book is the first comprehensive critical assessment of Breuer's extensive residential architecture. Based on surviving documents and drawings, and richly illustrated with archival photographs and plans, it analyses 25 projects - houses, villas and apartment buildings - in the United States, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. An indispensable reference volume for architects, students and devotees of modern architecture, this volume also includes a bibliography and a complete catalogue of Breuer's built and unbuilt residential projects." --Book Jacket.