Category Archives: About John Lautner

Information on John Lautner

100th Birthday, About John Lautner

Stellar Panel to Take on Preservation

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The Foundation and the Los Angeles Conservancy are pleased to announce details of the long-awaited panel discussion on preservation. On October 9, five panelists will discuss their experiences with renovating or restoring Lautner homes.

Where: Wilshire Christian Church Fellowship Hall (Wilshire and Normandie).

When: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

How much: $15 general public, $10 members of either organization

Who: The panelists are:

  • Helena Arahuete (Lautner Associates) on Harvey House (1950)
  • Frank Escher (Escher GuneWardena) on Chemosphere (1960)
  • Mark Haddawy (owner) on Harpel (1956)
  • Michael LaFetra (owner) on Rawlins (1980) or Stevens (1968)
  • Ron Radziner (Marmol Radziner) on Garcia (1962)
Harvey Residence
Harvey Residence. Photograph by Judith Lautner
Each panelist will introduce his or her project with a five-minute slide presentation, then Conservancy Executive Director Linda Dishman will moderate the discussion. The aim of the discussion is to have a candid dialogue that will ultimately advance our thinking and practice when it comes to preserving Lautner (and other) structures.
RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. Reservations and more information can be found on the Conservancy’s website.

 

 

100th Birthday, About John Lautner

Watch Escher’s Lecture Online

The DeVos Art Museum in Marquette, Michigan sponsored a special lecture on John Lautner by Frank Escher on September 2, 2011. Now the entire lecture is available online, complete with slides. (To watch and listen, your browser needs to run an application called “Silverlight”, by Microsoft. If your browser does not have it you should get a notice with a link to where it can be downloaded. It works with both Windows and Apple computers.)

The lecture can be found at this location.

100th Birthday, About John Lautner, Exhibits

Exhibits’ Official Openings Friday

Both new exhibits on John Lautner, already open in Marquette, Michigan, will host a formal opening reception Friday, September 2, 2011.  Frank Escher, editor of the monograph John Lautner, Architect, will speak on Lautner at 5:00 p.m., and the DeVos art museum’s reception will follow at 6:00 p.m. The reception at the Marquette Regional History Center begins at 7:00 p.m. (so you can go to everything if you want!).

See this article on the exhibits for more information on the opening reception and all related events.

 

100th Birthday, About John Lautner

New Exhibits Open in Marquette

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Part of the 2011 celebration of John Lautner’s 100th birthday, two new exhibits on John Lautner opened Friday, August 19, 2011, in Lautner’s home town, Marquette, Michigan. Both go by the same name: John Lautner: A Life in Architecture, but are otherwise very different.

Entrance to DeVos Art Museum
Entrance to DeVos exhibit

 

The exhibit at the DeVos Art Museum features photographs, models, video, magazine articles, and books about Lautner’s work. Projects featured are the Chemosphere, Carling residence, Sheats-Goldstein residence, Marbrisa, Harpel 2 (Alaska), Hatherall residence, Concannon residence, and the Garcia residence. A new model of the Concannon residence (demolished several years ago) was created by a class at the Artez Academy of Architecture at Arnhem (the Netherlands).

 

Concannon model
Model of Concannon residence

The exhibit at the Marquette Regional History Center focuses on the influences on Lautner, particularly his parents and early adult life. This exhibit features a 12-minute film of John and Mary Lautner at Taliesin, many paintings by Lautner’s mother Vida, photographs and artifacts from Lautner’s early life.

Both exhibits will have opening receptions on September 2, following a lecture by Frank Escher. Additional events include a lecture by Dutch architects Jan-Richard Kikkert and Tycho Saariste on September 18 and the screening of The Spirit in Architecture, Visual Acoustics, and Infinite Space in September, October, and November. Visit the art museum’s website for more information on these events.

The DeVos exhibit will close on November 13, 2011. The History Center exhibit closes on January 7, 2012.

Some photos of Garcia residence

 

Photographs by D. Scott Stobbelaar

100th Birthday, About John Lautner

City Council to Consider John Lautner Resolution

At its July 15 meeting, the Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution proclaiming July 16, 2011 “John Lautner Day”. Anyone who is interested can attend City Council meetings and there is usually an opportunity to speak as well.

If you would like to be there, go to the John Ferraro Council Chamber, Room 340, City Hall, 200 N. Spring, Los Angeles, at about 10 a.m. this Friday morning, July 15, 2011.

Contact the Foundation with any questions: lautner (at) johnlautner (dot) org.

100th Birthday

Get It All On Your Phone

If you have a “smart phone” you can get a list of all JL 100 (John Lautner’s 100th Birthday Celebration) events on it easily. When you click on one you will get an explanation of the event, including how to buy tickets where applicable. Here’s how:

Create a Google calendar of your own. Go to www.Google.com/calendar to create one. Takes a few minutes.

Get the Google calendar on your phone. If you have an Android phone you already have it. If you have an iPhone just download it (free!).

Go back to your calendar on the web. On the left sidebar you’ll see “My calendars” and “Other calendars”. Under “Other calendars” you’ll see “Add”. Click on this and choose “Add a friend’s calendar”.

A box will open. In this box type lautner@johnlautner.org and hit the return key.

That’s it. All events on the johnlautner.org calendar will be imported into your calendar, in a different color. These events will be displayed on your phone as well. So when you don’t remember exactly when that event takes place or where, you can go to your phone and look it up.

If you have difficulty with these instructions please let us know! We’ll fix it. Write to lautner@johnlautner.org.

100th Birthday, John Lautner Buildings, News

Lautner House Tour Date Changed Because of 405 Closure

The date for the tour of Lautner homes, originally scheduled for July 17, has been changed to Saturday, July 23, to avoid traffic difficulties expected to arise from Cal Trans’ temporary closure of the 405 freeway in the L.A. area. The Foundation Board of Directors and the MAK Center decided there was too much risk associated with the closure to assure a smoothly-operating tour.

Tickets are available at the MAK center: http://makcenter.org/MAK_Exhibitions_Current.php#
JLF members get $10 discount.

The Calendar of Events is kept up to date as quickly as new information comes in. Be sure to check it at http://www.johnlautner.org/wp/?page_id=663 for the latest information and ticket information.

100th Birthday, 100th Birthday Press, Bibliography

100th Birthday Press

For media inquiries, contact Erin Cullerton, Design Agency Co, erin@designagencyco.com.

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The following articles have been written this year about John Lautner’s work and the 100th Birthday events:

L.A. Confidential magazine October 2011

My Marquette (blog) September 11, 2011

art & education August 2011

HUGE Magazine, Japan August 2011

The Architect’s Newspaper (comment) July 29, 2011

Curbed LA July 28, 2011

Curbed LA July 28, 2011 (tour)

Curbed LA July 25, 2011 (Sheats-Goldstein)

Hollywood Patch July 2011

LA Times Blogs July 27, 2011

LACurbed July 25, 2011

LA Times July 23, 2011

SFGate July 15, 2011

LACurbed July 14, 2011

New York Times Movie Section July 14, 2011

Design & Architecture July 14, 2011

L.A. Weekly July 14, 2011

New York Times July 13, 2011

Wallpaper magazine July 12, 2011

Residential Architect July 6, 2011

flavorpill July 2011

Take Sunset June 13, 2011

The Architect’s Newspaper June 10, 2011

California Home + Design June 6, 2011

Dexigner June 6, 2011

PrairieMod June 6, 2011

Wolfram Publications Blog, May 11, 2011

e-architect.co.uk, May 2011

DesignBoom, May 14, 2011

Thought2form blog, May 17, 2011

Calendar listings:

http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2011/07/culturedjuly-2011.html (may need to find “culture(d)” section from main page.

MEDIA SPONSORS
Dwell
The Architect’s Newspaper
FORM magazine
California Home + Design

About John Lautner, In his own words, News

The Purpose of Architecture

The purpose of Architecture is to improve human life. Create timeless, free, joyous spaces for all activities in life. The infinite variety of these spaces can be as varied as life itself and they must be as sensible as nature in deriving from a main idea and flowering into a beautiful entity. The overriding essence is found in the intangibles, life–heart–soul–spirit–freedom–enduring within the structure.

The basic needs of the human being and the subtle variations of the individual are the source for Real Architecture as well as, of course, the natural environment and the natural use of materials. Thus creating – new- changing- to infinity yet timeless Architecture.

–John Lautner, Architect F.A.I.A.

Celebrate John Lautner’s 100th birthday. See our calendar of events.