The purpose of the building
Peter Eisenman designed the house for two of his clients Mr. and Mrs. Richard Frank between 1972-1975 who found great admiration for his work, it was built for the purpose of being a getaway house to be used during holiday periods.
Peter Eisenman's personal purpose of the house was not to make the inhabitants of the house feel comfortable but on the contrary he forced them to adapt to the architecture of the house. He purposely ignored the idea of form following function.
Peter Eisenman's personal purpose of the house was not to make the inhabitants of the house feel comfortable but on the contrary he forced them to adapt to the architecture of the house. He purposely ignored the idea of form following function.
The history and current status of the building
This house designed by Peter Eisenman was one of his greatest projects ever. The house was built in 1972-1975 for the Mr and Mrs Richard Frank. The building was designed in such a way that the couple living in there would be forced to live in a work or art. the house was design differently so that couple would have to grow accustom to the house.
The complexed design of the house and the enormous amount of land around the building was put on the market for $1.4 million in 2013. however in 2015 the price was dramatically decreased all the way down to $550,000. Looking at the recent pictures taken inside and outside of the building, there isn't much difference in the overall look so the only reason the prices could’ve decreased so much might be because of the new buildings being designed and created in this century. The buildings have become more created and also much more interesting.
The complexed design of the house and the enormous amount of land around the building was put on the market for $1.4 million in 2013. however in 2015 the price was dramatically decreased all the way down to $550,000. Looking at the recent pictures taken inside and outside of the building, there isn't much difference in the overall look so the only reason the prices could’ve decreased so much might be because of the new buildings being designed and created in this century. The buildings have become more created and also much more interesting.
The building location
House VI is located in Cornwall, CT 06796 in the United States of America. It has 6 acres of land around House VI with beautiful scenery. There is a ski resort just 0.7 miles 2 minute drive from where the house is located. If you would like to go to a near by restrount then that is one only 5.2 miles, just 8 minutes away, called the The Wandering Moose cafe. There is an American twist to the food. The nearest shopping centre is located by 13.4 miles away called the Torrington commons shopping centre 23 minute drive from where the house is located at. For schools there two called Cornwall Consolidated School. Which is from kindergarten to eighth grade. 4 mils away from the house and only 7 minutes drive. the second school called house tonic valley regional high school this sis only 9.2 miles away and is 18 minute drive. is there is medical problem the the nearest on is only just 8 minutes drive making it 13.4 miles away. The nearest gas station is only 5.6 miles only 8mines away from a full tank!
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The spaces within the building
Eisenman had crated a house that was maze like, completely ignoring the rules of a normal house. The solely of this building is just making lives difficult without the owners understanding, for example The house feels like they are forced to live in a specific way like the little window slit thats in the master bedroom splitting the couple up. The plans to this house is very unusual but the rooms being very well lit and quirky.
The materiality
House VI is a house for an art historian and a photographer couple and the architect Peter Eisenman intended it to be a studio landscape providing an abstract background for the photography of still life and people. The house started from 4 planes, but through shifting and subtracting process, it came to have several large openings and window slits. So his choice of materials were wood and concrete. He used wood frame and sealed wood panels for the structure and the interiors are colored with white and gray except for the stairs which are vivid red and green.
However, his lack of construction experience led to extended construction period and over budget. The client recalled that although the detailing was highly intricate, the drawings were lacked of specification, and most of the expenses were from window glazing. It took 3 years to build, but not long afterwards, the roof leaked and structural issues came out which required additional construction.
However, his lack of construction experience led to extended construction period and over budget. The client recalled that although the detailing was highly intricate, the drawings were lacked of specification, and most of the expenses were from window glazing. It took 3 years to build, but not long afterwards, the roof leaked and structural issues came out which required additional construction.
The concept of House VI
Peter Eisenman is one of the architects who sought Semiotic Architecture which means he tried to understand and explain architectural meanings based on the grammar system of language. He considered and approached architecture as a system of language thinking that space organization is similar with a construction of a sentence. He applied the relationship of words into architectural elements and that lead his architecture to a logical process.
Starting from House I, Peter Eisenman’s early works are mostly residential housings. Those housings are characterized by geometrical design as they are started from a cube with vertical and horizontal grid. This shows the influence of Purism in Le Corbusier and Giuseppe Terragni’s architecture.
House VI also starts from a cube. Along with the grid, 4 lines are extruded and become intersecting walls. The walls get extended and invert each other(inversion). The walls stretch and 2 of them fall down making vertical level difference(slippage). Then, some part of the walls get removed and other part keep extend, subtract, and shift(montage). Finally, the sequence of the walls makes space and shape.
When you get inside of the house, there are two colored stairs one of which is upside down, and columns penetrate walls or floors and even float in the mid air. These Non-functional composition plays a role as a reminder of an architectural process. However, the unconventional and non-functional design requires the users to get accustomed to it.
House VI is not an object in the traditional sense – that is, the result of a process – but more accurately a record of a process. Like the set of diagrammed transformations on which its design is based, the house is a series of lm stills compressed in time and space. Thus, the process itself becomes an object; not an object as an aesthetic experience or a series of iconic meanings, but an exploration into the range of potential manipulations latent in the nature of architecture, unavailable to us because they are obscured by cultural preconceptions. ( House VI, Eisenman Architects )
House VI is not an object in the traditional sense – that is, the result of a process – but more accurately a record of a process. Like the set of diagrammed transformations on which its design is based, the house is a series of lm stills compressed in time and space. Thus, the process itself becomes an object; not an object as an aesthetic experience or a series of iconic meanings, but an exploration into the range of potential manipulations latent in the nature of architecture, unavailable to us because they are obscured by cultural preconceptions. ( House VI, Eisenman Architects )
_Reference
1. Purpose of the building: Adelyn Perez, 4 June 2010, AD Classics: House VI / Peter Eisenman, [online], http://www.archdaily.com/63267/ad-classics-house-vi-peter-eisenman
2. House VI up for sale for $1.4 million: Rob Bear, 26 Aug 2013, Peter Eisenman's Experimental House VI Listed for $1.4m, [online], http://www.curbed.com/2013/8/26/10204836/peter-eisenmans-experimental-house-vi-listed-for-14m
3. house vi up for sale for $550.000: John Hill, 28 Nov 2015, Eisenman's House VI Marked Down, [online], http://archidose.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/eisenmans-house-vi-marked-down.html
4. Building location: Google maps, [online], https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/House+VI,+Cornwall,+CT+06796,+USA/@41.832723,-73.3236337,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e784ffcf92228f:0xbdcd92f721e1b91e!8m2!3d41.832723!4d-73.321445
5. Materiality: Suzanne Shulof Frank, Peter Eisenman’s House VI; The Client’s Response, 1994, Whitney Library of Design, p.54
6. Concept of House VI: Kim Joo Won, 2008, Study on the Peter Eisenman’s Timely Form Composition for Geometrical metamorphosis
7. Concept of House VI: Jeong-Seok Lee, Yong-Jae Lee, 2004, A Study on the Principles of Architectural Composition in Peter Eisenman,
8. Concept of House VI: Yong-Jae Lee, Sep 2001, A Study on the Spatial Analysis in Semiotic Architecture : Focus on the early works of M.Graves and P. Eisenman, Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal, p. 17-24
9. Concept of House VI: Desley Luscombe, 2014, Architectural concepts in Peter Eisenman’s axonometric drawings of House VI, The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 19, No. 4, p.560-611
10. Concept of House VI: Eisenman Architects, House VI, [online], http://www.eisenmanarchitects.com/house-vi.html