Beyer House by John Lautner. Complete overview and walkthrough.

hello my dear audience today we're gonna visit one of the largest and most spectacular designs by John Lautner it's a house built on the rocks and located on a headland which is largely surrounded by the Pacific Ocean residence belongs to the category of large millionaire homes that John Lautner designed during the later part of his career these houses were futuristic concrete constructions placed on beautiful locations with its fish official striking and dramatic appearance it would be the perfect location for James Bond movie and it's no coincidence that this house was inspiration for a similar home in a movie Iron Man 3. although this house was a fictional CGI creation it was clearly based on a design of the Bayer house if you want to drive by and take a look at the house you will be disappointed because this is about the closest you can get it's located in a gated community and the surrounding beaches are privately owned from the street only the entry of the Gated Community is visible once you drive through this gate you have to go to the end of a cold lusak and only from there you can enter the house from above you can see how close it is located to the Shoreline and it's built literally on the edge of a cliff during High Tides the waves Roll Over The Terraces and the water splashes against the windows dangerous location caused many troubles Not only was difficult to build the house safely on rocks it also took many legal issues to get permission from the state of California to build the house on such an unusual location all these troubles caused many delays first it took seven years to design and finance the house then it took another two years before the permit process was completed and finally the house was built between 1982 and 1983. when the house was completed it looked like this but in later years it was extended with wings on the North and South Side creating a house with a very complicated layout to understand the difficult floor plan we're first gonna Focus solely on original house so we removed the extensions and come back to it later let's now make a vertical cross section of the main house like many designs by John Lautner the shapes of the house are dictated by the shapes of the landscape this means that the design follows the descending of the rocks from the street level on top we go downwards to the beach from the front the roof is curving and this distributes the weight of the roof to the concrete walls on the right and left side this allows an entire facade of Windows that provide an unbroken view of the ocean the only part that breaks the Panorama is the large concrete chimney but this chimney had to be so large because it also functions as a pillar to support the roof second floor level is in line with the street level while the first floor level is below the street due to the diagonal placing of the roof the second floor level is much smaller than the first one the lower level has many steps that descend over the rocks a very thick concrete retaining wall is footed deep in the ground this holds the house in place and it protects the ground from being Swept Away by the waves let's now take a look at the floor plan we remove the roof and look at the layout of the first floor level we color the parts that are inside then we decorate the drawing with Furniture to give an indication of the size and dimensions we named the separated spaces to explain the function of the rooms house has a large patio with a garden from there is a curving stair that leads directly to the front door and the street which is located one story higher here is the second floor level and correspondence with the first one when we remove the lower floor level we see that it is much smaller than a level below okay let's now walk through the house we start here near the garage in the front door seeing from the street the house looks small because a large part is hidden below the rocks a funny detail is the house number which is engraved in a boulder next to the entrance front door and go down over the stair from there we descend into the courtyard and go to the first floor level Orchard has a beautiful garden with Boulders stepping stones and Japanese pine trees from here we step through the second front door made of glass slow ceiling an ocean in the background the hallway reveals the Panorama slowly step by step finally the hallway breaks open into the large living space with Ocean View as the climax of the house the entire walk from the stairs through the garden in the hallway creates an almost cinematic effect building up tension by suppression that slowly transforms into expansion foreign the third thing that catches your attention are the many Bowlers and rocks that are placed on various locations integrating the rough landscape in a living space rocks that enter the interior we saw this previously at another design by John Lautner the El Roth house however there's one major difference the rocks in Al Roth house were already there before the house was built and they are real Rock points that break from underneath through the floor while the boulders in the Bayer house are placed afterwards and they are not even from the same landscape they were excavated from Yosemite National Park then transported to Malibu and simply placed on floor already during the early stages of the construction process in genuine from the landscape The Boulders created the illusion that the beach enters the interior at the same time the shiny and rimpled surface of the dark fleckstone tiles looks like sea water and the many wide cushions look like the foam heads of the waves Furniture is designed by Michael Taylor and together with Lerner he created this truly organic interior the living room has four separated seating areas that each look in a different direction so he can always sit on the right place with the best view of the ocean therefore the place of the Rocks is not just randomly chosen they function as room dividers given each of the sitting areas a private and enclosed feeling while a large open space is still maintained let's now take a walk through the living room the first sitting area is the largest it's placed in the back and it looks out of the West at the right side of the fireplace is a second sitting area which is placed in a bay window and looks out of the ocean at the north side of the house we turn back to the largest sitting area and then turn to the right where we see a sitting area that looks out of the ocean at the south side of the house from this area you can see how the waves head to rocks then we climb up a few steps and go to the Lost sitting area it provides a few of the shoreline southeast of the house this space has a glass ceiling that expands from underneath the roof like a conservatory on the Lost sitting area we go back to the dining table because of the elevated floor level you can Overlook the entire living room from here at Sunset the color of the ocean is reflected in a floor mixing interior with exterior large circular skylight brings extra sunlight inside and from the dining table you can look straight up to the sky the kitchen is in the backside of the living room and with its thick concrete walls it almost looks like a bunker these walls had to be so thick because it largely supports the second floor level next to the fourth sitting area is the door towards the kitchen surface hatch to bring food to the other side of the living space there are three glass doors that lead to three different Terraces so you can always sit outside in the sun or Shadow at any moment of the day the Terrace that looks North West over the ocean is the largest most of the strong winds that blow over the Terrace the table and chairs are made of concrete from here you can see that the curving lines of the roof resemble the shapes of the waves the third Terrace is placed in a point of the house and it looks over the west south and east side of the ocean store leads to the primary bedroom this bedroom is extra Sun lit by Windows placed between the top of the internal walls and the ceiling it has Windows that look Northwest of the ocean the bedroom has a large mirror in the back that enlarges the feeling of space the bathroom is directly behind it in this very large bathroom the shower and bath are separated by curving marble walls let's take a look at the rear of the house that holds the second bedroom and many utility rooms a funny detail is a small cargo elevator which is used to bring groceries from the garage to the storage units below now we go over the spiral staircase to the second floor level the spiral staircase is Sun lit by a circular skylight there are many striped skylights above the balcony not only bring the extra sunlight they also lead to perspective downwards over the sloped ceiling into the ocean and from the balcony the living room looks like a cinema with the ocean as a movie that is constantly playing the roof itself is a wooden frame with roof blades that are plastered with beige stucco this wooden roof was never the wish of John Lautner and originally you wanted to have a concrete roof like you can see in the silver top or a Rango house I think concrete would have been a better choice because when you see the silver top roof and it was transparent and floating while the roof of the bear looks very thick and bulky compared to the rest of the house next to the piano is a glass door that leads to a balcony that looks over the courtyard this balcony also connects the second floor level with the street from the garage you can walk through a back door and over the balcony you walk past a third bedroom and you enter the house through the glass door the backside the diagonal roof rises above the walls of the house creating a clear story that allows lots of sunlight from the backside under the ceiling because the bedroom has no lowered ceiling and is directly under the roof the light of the Claire story also sunlits the bedroom the bathroom has partially an independent ceiling but is also partly opened to catch light from the Claire story as well to maintain privacy in a path and bedroom to with those in front of the balcony are made of frosted glass for so far the walkthrough of the main house in 1987 the house had the first major extension an entire new Terrace with a swimming pool at the north side of the house was created also a very large walk-in closet was made by breaking open the walls of the bathroom this dressing room became accessible from the inside of the house the walk-in closet is divided by kerfing marble wall just like we saw in the bathroom it's Sun lit by a large Hall circular Clara story which you can see here at the outside foreign because of changes in the shoreline the new terrorists couldn't reach the placing of the Terrace of the main house therefore a Steel Bridge over rocks in a beach was necessary from this bridge you can enter the Terrace or over the Terrace we see an unusual structure cantilevering over the large swimming pool this is a canopy that prevents people to look into the pool from higher neighboring houses concrete wall curves like a wave over the pool and it is supported by another concrete wall that is half circular from above it's also connected to the wall of the dressing room and to the wall that separates the Terrace from the street this wall looks very high when you see it from a Terrace but due to the elevations in the ground level it looks much smaller when you see it from the side of the street there is an entrance in the canopy from here you can walk to a stair that brings you to the roof of the walk-in closet over this roof you can walk through an opening in a staircase which brings you directly at the front door a few years later the Terrace was even more extended with a half circular platform which is placed a few steps lower this Terrace is separated from the pool area by dividing wall and has a large outdoor jacuzzi [Music] in the 1990s the house was enlarged with the extension at the south side its wing was made by enlarging the second bedroom and break open the wall next to the spiral staircase it has a gym and a room that can be used for recreational use like a billiard room or a cinema it has even a fireplace and you can see the chimney at the outside here [Music] floor level the third bedroom was extended and next to the garage an office was created between the office and the third bedroom is a balcony this balcony is Sun lit by openings in the roof [Music] the gym is Sun lit by rectilinear skylines and is two stories high through a window in office you can look into the gym here in the back you see a clear story this was created by placing the roof of the South Wing higher than the roof of the main house finally we're gonna take one look at the beach [Music] from here it looks like we have arrived and the end of the world this was your tour guidance of one of the best houses by John longner thank you for watching and don't forget to like And subscribe I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: John Lautner Architecture Videos

Views: 22,251

Keywords: Beyer House, Beyerhouse, beyerhouselautner, malibu house, hollywood house, frank lloyd wright, john lautner, richard neutra, pacific coast house, mid century modernism, modernist architecture, organic architecture, space age, futuristic house, googie, luxury home, pool house, architecture video, interior design, michael taylor interior, modernism, american architecture, house design, house walkthrough, johnlautner, stanley beyer, beyer lautner, millionaire house

Id: RlyvmDHBxqM

Length: 19min 12sec (1152 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 31 2023