Are you interested in purchasing the English edition of Lautner A-Z, the new book by Tycho Saariste and Jan-Richard Kikkert? It isn’t available yet but when it is you can buy it from the Foundation. To make sure you are notified when we receive the copies, please complete this simple form.

About the book:

Lautner A-Z

An Exploration of the Complete Built Work

by Jan-Richard Kikkert & Tycho Saaristewith an introduction by Alan Hess

English version to be released Spring 2019

paperback, size: 6.7 x 9.4 inch (17 x 24 cm)386 pages with aprox. 500 b&w and colour images

Publisher: ArtEZ Press

From the front flap:

The American architect John Lautner (1911-1994) was well ahead of his time. His original, unconventional and very versatile oeuvre was never repetitive. His concern for the dreams and desires of his clients, his sensitivity to the location of his buildings and his interest in the latest technical developments in were constants in his work.

Lautner blurred the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, between nature and architecture.Lautner’s oeuvre spans more than half a century, from his first independent commission in 1939 until his death in 1994. In this time period he carried out 144 of his designs, 103 of which are still standing. Most of them are located in and around Los Angeles.

Lautner’s work developed greatly throughout the years: he started off close to his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright and ended with an uninhibited, unique and personal architectural style.

This book provides an unprecedented treasury of information about all of Lautner’s built works. It is an odyssey, the story of two architects on a mission: Jan-Richard Kikkert and Tycho Saariste located, visited and described all the surviving buildings. This began with finding the correct addresses through Google Earth and ended with studying dusty rolls of drawings in owners’ attics. Each house visit is described separately, with a focus on striking architectonic elements, the locations and the clients.

Kikkert and Saariste also conducted extensive (archival) research on buildings that no longer exist and designs that were never built. The book is richly illustrated, often with photographs made specially for this book.

‘The purpose of architecture is to improve human life.’ John Lautner

‘After years of indefatigable research, Tycho and Jan-Richard’s book adds an invaluable resource for our understanding of Lautner. The contentiousness around Lautner’s work was probably inevitable, given his particular genius. For him, architecture was about finding the creative and perfect solution to the problem without concern for precedent, tradition, or fashion.’ Alan Hess