Eames: The Architect & The Painter Page #7

Eames design of all

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was the image

of Charles and Ray.

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Their playful self-portraits,

eccentric dress,

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and quotable quotes

all contributed

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to the endearing picture

of a happy, modern couple

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absorbed in the challenges

of their work.

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Charles and Ray

were cultural icons,

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but their public face masked

a deep desire for privacy.

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After long hours at 901,

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they would retreat

to the home they built

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in Pacific Palisades.

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SUSSMAN:
Charles and Ray were

their own community,

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and we were

in the satellite group.

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And so was everybody else.

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ASHBY:
I had no sense that they

were trying to keep out

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the outside world

or anything else.

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They had created a world

and a lifestyle

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that just required them to go

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in this tunnel from their house

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to the work, you know,

back home again,

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so what you surround yourself

with and the choices you make

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about where you live

and how you live

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and the artifacts you have,

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they're all based upon

trying to create

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a seamless environment

and a seamless life.

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FRANCO:
Originally, the house

was designed by Charles

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with Eero Saarinen as part of

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the influential case study

housing program in 1945.

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But Charles and Ray were not

ones to let a good design rest.

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DEMETRIOS:
Charles Eames and

Eero Saarinen designed a house

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that we now call

the Bridge House,

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and it was forthis site.

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It would have cantilevered

from the hillside

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out into the middle

of the meadow.

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One of the ideas of the house

was to use technologies

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that had come

out of the war effort.

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So all the parts of this house

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were off the shelf.

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FRANCO:
But the Bridge House

was never built.

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DEMETRIOS:
After World War II,

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there were major

material shortages,

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and it took about

two or three years

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to even get the parts

that they had ordered.

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And in that time,

Charles and Ray

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fell in love with this meadow.

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RAY EAMES:
We spent all...

all our spare time here.

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Began to think it would be

criminal to put that house

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in the middle

of the field.

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WOMAN:
Charles realized,

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"Oh, we're making the classic

architect's mistake."

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You find

a beautiful site,

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and you plunk a house

in the middle of it.

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FRANCO:

With the meadow in mind,

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Charles and Ray redesigned

the Bridge House

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and began construction.

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MAN:
It was relatively quick,

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because they were relying on

some form of prefabrication,

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of bringing materials

to the site

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and assembling them.

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FRANCO:
On Christmas Eve, 1949,

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Charles and Ray moved in.

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Hines:
The Eames house

in Los Angeles

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on that bluff

overlooking the Pacific Ocean

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is surely one of the great

buildings of the 20th century.

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FRANCO:
Known to architectural

historians

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as Case Study House Number 8,

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it is the archetypal

modern house.

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Or at least,

it started thatway.

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WRIGHT:
The Eames house

as it was first made

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is very different

from what it became

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as they lived in it

through the years

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and as it acquired

all their little touches.

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I think people miss that

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unless you've really been there

and been inside of it.

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Now, do you remember this?

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Do you remember this?

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I do.

I do.

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Uh, I don't remember

this one here,

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but there was at least one

at the Office.

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[Playing tune]

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MAN:
Modern design has this

sort of clich of being

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the, you know,

the homes of super villains.

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Very hard-edged things.

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You can't have, you know,

your Pepperidge Farm cookies

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on the kitchen counter,

because that's going to ruin,

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you know,

this perfect tableau

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of this perfect life

that you live.

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But you would never look

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at the Eames House

and think that.

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The container for your life

can be simple,

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but that doesn't mean

your life has to be simple.

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SUSSMAN:
What was in the house

was a combination of things

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that one hadn't seen before.

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There was a tumbleweed

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