Pierre Koenig
Encyclopedia
Pierre Koenig was an American architect.
Born in San Francisco
, he received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California
. Koenig apprenticed under Raphael Soriano
, among others, and began private practice in 1952. Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for the design of the Case Study Houses
No. 21 and 22 in 1960. Both 21 (the Bailey House) and 22 (the Stahl House
) were constructed on dramatic, otherwise-unbuildable sites.
. In 1939, the family moved to San Gabriel
, a Los Angeles
suburb, and here, among a new group of friends who also wanted to be architects, Koenig's earlier interest crystallized. Yet World War II loomed, and at age 17 Koenig enlisted in the United States Army Advanced Special Training Program, which offered a compressed 4-year college degree in 2 years. However, in 1943 the program was abruptly ended and after only one semester of study at the University of Utah
, School of Engineering, Koenig was sent to basic training. From 1943-1946, Koenig served on the front lines in France and Germany as a flash ranging observer, spotting enemy fire and calculating their position, with the 292nd Field Artillery Observation Battalion.
After the war, Koenig returned to Los Angeles and applied to the University of Southern California
(USC), School of Architecture
. Due the influx of returning GIs, there was a two-year waiting list for admission, and Koenig spent this time studying at Pasadena City College
until he was finally admitted to USC in 1948. At this time, USC was the leading architectural school in California, and a hotbed of new ideas brought about by the aftermath of the war: ideas about how architecture should respond to social issues, such as the population boom in Los Angeles
and the need for low-cost housing, and ideas about how to apply the new materials and industrialized techniques of the wartime economy, such as mass-production and pre-fabrication, to peacetime. Although Koenig struggled somewhat within the strictures of a traditional academic framework, he certainly absorbed the new ideas surrounding him, and they would continue to guide him throughout his career.
After receiving his B.Arch in 1952, Koenig worked both independently and for a number of other architectural practices. In fact, Koenig had begun designing and building houses while still a student. When a USC studio instructor rejected his design for a steel house, questioning the applicability of steel to residential architecture, Koenig decided to prove him wrong. His response, Koenig House No. 1, designed and built by Koenig in 1950, was constructed at a cost lower than a traditional wood frame structure and earned him the American Institute of Architects' "House and Home" Award of Merit. After graduation, Koenig would design and build three more steel houses in rapid succession. During this period he also worked for other practices, both to supplement his income and for the professional experience required before taking the California licensing exam. In 1950, the same year he built his first house, Koenig worked as a draftsman for Raphael Soriano
, who shared his interest in steel, doing the presentation renderings for Soriano's unnumbered Case Study House. Koenig subsequently worked for brief periods for Candreva and Jarrett, Edward H. Fickett
, Kistner, Wright and Wright, and finally in 1956 for Jones and Emmons, on the Eichler X-100 steel model. Also in this period, Koenig began a short-lived furniture business, designing and building modern case goods.
1957 was a watershed year for Pierre Koenig. He was licensed; he received his first invitation to participate in an international exhibition, the São Paulo Biennial; and Arts and Architecture magazine published his designs for a "Low-cost Production House" exemplifying his goal to produce "off-the-shelf" houses as efficiently as automobiles. Most importantly though John Entenza
invited him to participate in Art and Architecture's Case Study House Program.
Case Study House # 21, immediately followed by Case Study House # 22, defined Koenig's style and brought him great attention. With their steel construction, open-planning, and emphasis on the unity of nature and architecture, these two steel houses exemplified the California aesthetic as being different from East Coast Modernism. Despite their conceptual similarities, the two houses were quite different from one another. Case Study House # 22, which quickly came to be seen as the perfect manifestation of modernity in Los Angeles and of life in post-war America in general, was a unique custom house, an exercise in overcoming the engineering issues of a near vertical site. Case Study House #21, on the other hand, was meant to be a prototype for affordable, mass-producible housing, an embodiment of Koenig ’s belief in architecture as a social study.
After this early recognition, Koenig went on to have a long and prolific career as an architect, designing and building over forty-three steel and glass houses, including award-winning structures, such as Schwartz House and Koenig House No. 2, as well as many residential additions and renovations and commercial buildings. Throughout his long years of architectural practice Koenig never relinquished the principles that led him to design and build his first house. He retained a sense of mission, never losing his commitment to the social agenda of Modernism. He truly believed that he could make people's lives better through architecture.
In addition to his architectural practice, Koenig was passionate about teaching. In 1964, Koenig officially joined the faculty of the USC School of Architecture
as an assistant professor, having worked as an instructor there since 1961. He gained tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 1970 and then to Full Professor in 1997. Along with his teaching load, Koenig filled a variety of administrative roles during his many years at USC including serving as Assistant Director of the Institute of Building Research, and Director and Founder of both the Natural Forces Laboratory and the undergraduate Building Science Program.
Koenig's work has had a tremendous impact on contemporary architects worldwide. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
in 1971 and named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
in 2000. His work has received numerous awards and has been celebrated in over one thousand journal and periodical articles and more than seventy books. Exhibits in cities around the world have featured his architecture. In 1989, a landmark exhibition, Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses, held at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, included a full-scale walk-through model of Case Study House #22. Pierre Koenig remained active in both his architectural practice and his teaching until shortly before his death in April 2004.
Born in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, he received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. Koenig apprenticed under Raphael Soriano
Raphael Soriano
Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, was an influential architect and educator who helped define a period of 20th century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern...
, among others, and began private practice in 1952. Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for the design of the Case Study Houses
Case Study Houses
The Case Study Houses were experiments in American residential architecture sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig and Eero Saarinen, to design and...
No. 21 and 22 in 1960. Both 21 (the Bailey House) and 22 (the Stahl House
Stahl House
Case Study House #22, aka Stahl House, is a modernist styled house in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, California that was designed by Pierre Koenig...
) were constructed on dramatic, otherwise-unbuildable sites.
Biography
Pierre Koenig was born in San Francisco on October 17, 1925. Even as a boy, Koenig displayed a nascent interest in architecture and ModernismModernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. In 1939, the family moved to San Gabriel
San Gabriel
San Gabriel may mean:Ecuador*San Gabriel, EcuadorGuatemala*San Gabriel, SuchitepéquezMexico*San Gabriel, Durango*San Gabriel, Guanajuato*San Gabriel, Jalisco*San Gabriel Chilac, Puebla*San Gabriel Mixtepec, OaxacaPhilippines*San Gabriel, La Union...
, a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
suburb, and here, among a new group of friends who also wanted to be architects, Koenig's earlier interest crystallized. Yet World War II loomed, and at age 17 Koenig enlisted in the United States Army Advanced Special Training Program, which offered a compressed 4-year college degree in 2 years. However, in 1943 the program was abruptly ended and after only one semester of study at the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, School of Engineering, Koenig was sent to basic training. From 1943-1946, Koenig served on the front lines in France and Germany as a flash ranging observer, spotting enemy fire and calculating their position, with the 292nd Field Artillery Observation Battalion.
After the war, Koenig returned to Los Angeles and applied to the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC), School of Architecture
USC School of Architecture
The USC School of Architecture is the architecture school at the University of Southern California. It is one of USC's 17 professional schools, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture and historic preservation...
. Due the influx of returning GIs, there was a two-year waiting list for admission, and Koenig spent this time studying at Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College
Pasadena City College is a community college in Pasadena, California, USA, located on Colorado Boulevard. PCC is the third largest community college campus in the United States. PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another junior...
until he was finally admitted to USC in 1948. At this time, USC was the leading architectural school in California, and a hotbed of new ideas brought about by the aftermath of the war: ideas about how architecture should respond to social issues, such as the population boom in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and the need for low-cost housing, and ideas about how to apply the new materials and industrialized techniques of the wartime economy, such as mass-production and pre-fabrication, to peacetime. Although Koenig struggled somewhat within the strictures of a traditional academic framework, he certainly absorbed the new ideas surrounding him, and they would continue to guide him throughout his career.
After receiving his B.Arch in 1952, Koenig worked both independently and for a number of other architectural practices. In fact, Koenig had begun designing and building houses while still a student. When a USC studio instructor rejected his design for a steel house, questioning the applicability of steel to residential architecture, Koenig decided to prove him wrong. His response, Koenig House No. 1, designed and built by Koenig in 1950, was constructed at a cost lower than a traditional wood frame structure and earned him the American Institute of Architects' "House and Home" Award of Merit. After graduation, Koenig would design and build three more steel houses in rapid succession. During this period he also worked for other practices, both to supplement his income and for the professional experience required before taking the California licensing exam. In 1950, the same year he built his first house, Koenig worked as a draftsman for Raphael Soriano
Raphael Soriano
Raphael S. Soriano, FAIA, was an influential architect and educator who helped define a period of 20th century architecture that came to be known as Mid-century modern...
, who shared his interest in steel, doing the presentation renderings for Soriano's unnumbered Case Study House. Koenig subsequently worked for brief periods for Candreva and Jarrett, Edward H. Fickett
Edward H. Fickett
Edward Hale Fickett, FAIA, was a nationally recognized, award-winning architect who was a consultant to federal and local governments in the United States and to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.-Biography:...
, Kistner, Wright and Wright, and finally in 1956 for Jones and Emmons, on the Eichler X-100 steel model. Also in this period, Koenig began a short-lived furniture business, designing and building modern case goods.
1957 was a watershed year for Pierre Koenig. He was licensed; he received his first invitation to participate in an international exhibition, the São Paulo Biennial; and Arts and Architecture magazine published his designs for a "Low-cost Production House" exemplifying his goal to produce "off-the-shelf" houses as efficiently as automobiles. Most importantly though John Entenza
John Entenza
John Entenza , born in Calumet, Michigan, was one of the pivotal figures in the growth of American modernism: in the fields of environmental, architectural, landscape, and product design; and fine arts, and artisan crafts; in post-war California and the United States.-Arts + Architecture...
invited him to participate in Art and Architecture's Case Study House Program.
Case Study House # 21, immediately followed by Case Study House # 22, defined Koenig's style and brought him great attention. With their steel construction, open-planning, and emphasis on the unity of nature and architecture, these two steel houses exemplified the California aesthetic as being different from East Coast Modernism. Despite their conceptual similarities, the two houses were quite different from one another. Case Study House # 22, which quickly came to be seen as the perfect manifestation of modernity in Los Angeles and of life in post-war America in general, was a unique custom house, an exercise in overcoming the engineering issues of a near vertical site. Case Study House #21, on the other hand, was meant to be a prototype for affordable, mass-producible housing, an embodiment of Koenig ’s belief in architecture as a social study.
After this early recognition, Koenig went on to have a long and prolific career as an architect, designing and building over forty-three steel and glass houses, including award-winning structures, such as Schwartz House and Koenig House No. 2, as well as many residential additions and renovations and commercial buildings. Throughout his long years of architectural practice Koenig never relinquished the principles that led him to design and build his first house. He retained a sense of mission, never losing his commitment to the social agenda of Modernism. He truly believed that he could make people's lives better through architecture.
In addition to his architectural practice, Koenig was passionate about teaching. In 1964, Koenig officially joined the faculty of the USC School of Architecture
USC School of Architecture
The USC School of Architecture is the architecture school at the University of Southern California. It is one of USC's 17 professional schools, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture and historic preservation...
as an assistant professor, having worked as an instructor there since 1961. He gained tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 1970 and then to Full Professor in 1997. Along with his teaching load, Koenig filled a variety of administrative roles during his many years at USC including serving as Assistant Director of the Institute of Building Research, and Director and Founder of both the Natural Forces Laboratory and the undergraduate Building Science Program.
Koenig's work has had a tremendous impact on contemporary architects worldwide. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
in 1971 and named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
in 2000. His work has received numerous awards and has been celebrated in over one thousand journal and periodical articles and more than seventy books. Exhibits in cities around the world have featured his architecture. In 1989, a landmark exhibition, Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses, held at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, included a full-scale walk-through model of Case Study House #22. Pierre Koenig remained active in both his architectural practice and his teaching until shortly before his death in April 2004.
External links
- Pierre Koenig's web site
- Koenig tribute page at Jet Set modern
- Pierre Koenig papers and drawings, 1925-2007. Getty Research Institute, Research Library. Los Angeles, California. The archive of Los Angeles architect Pierre Koenig, consisting of drawings, photographs, documents, writings and client correspondence, and three models. The archive is an important resource for the study of Southern California Modernism, as well as for the study of pre-fabrication in housing in the United States.