Lawson-Westen House (Architecture in Detail)

This text looks at the Lawson-Westen House - the first major residence that Eric Owen Moss has completed since the Petal House, also in Los Angeles, which led to him being mis-cast as an unpredictable practical joker. He is now regarded equal in skill to Frank Gehry. The house was designed for a couple who cook together and entertain frequently. The vertical funnel of space above the food preparation area that results, is a dominant form in the building's composition and one of the major ordering devices in the building's circulation system. It is also a complex geometric feat, relying on shifting grids and subtle subdivisions, revealing a geometrically based order of Moss's own devising.