In the early 19605, Don Wexler's graceful steel houses revolutionized home design and made the California desert sparkle with Modernist gems

摘要

How many times have we heard that the future of the American home lies in steel? Or that the customized factory-built house is right around the corner? Whether it's the sexy post-and-beam framing of the Case Study House program or the stucco-clad steel-stud framing that promises "you'll never know it's steel!" the stories are frustratingly futile. Wood always wins. Most midcentury houses that defied convention prevail only as pedigreed collectibles. Nonetheless, supporters are still out there, arguing for them not as artifacts but as robust prototypes. In Palm Springs back in the early 1950s, well-known local architect Don Wexler recognized he could harness an innovative new system for school classrooms devised by Bernard Perlin, a civil engineer, with steel fabricator Calcor Corporation. Faced with a rapidly increasing population, the local school district challenged the two men to design classrooms cheaper than $10 per square foot. The steel-panel system they delivered also proved quick to build, aesthetically striking, and, above all, durable for generations of kids and maintenance workers.