Sheats Apartments by John Lautner. Complete overview and walkthrough of L'Horizon/The Treehouse

[Music] hello my dear audience in this episode we going to visit the only design by John lner in which multiple homes were combined into one structure this apartment building is best known for its nicknames La horizon or The Treehouse but its official name is the sheets apartments and yes it was commissioned by the same person who also commissioned the sheets house but then 14 years later Paul sheets was a professor at University of Los Angeles and in 1949 he approached John lner to design a building in which many of his students could live while PA sheets himself lived with his family in an apartment at the top floor the building is located very close to the university compound where pole sheets once was teaching and his tenants were studying in 1963 po sheets had earned enough money and he approached John lner a second time to design a larger home in befly Hills this house was later sold to James Goldstein who hired John ler again to make many improvements hence the name sheets Goldstein house today the Sheet's apartments are still in the original condition and they are still inhabited by students of the UCLA the Sheet's apartments are enclosed by adjacent buildings in west north and south and accessible from the street in the east from above it appears that the apartments are placed under one roof and connected with hallways but once we remove the roof we see that the seven apartments are more like seven individual homes each of them is different and they are connected by Courtyard and Pathways that climb up the hillside I made an animation explaining the placing of the different apartments it all started with a pair of Threes that were growing on a location organic architecture is in harmony with the landscape so the elevation had to be maintained and the trees were not allowed to be removed so John lner had to design the structure at against the hill and around the trees the ground was climbing so rapidly that none of the apartments could be located at street level so first a stair was placed to connect the apartments with the street below the first and second apartment were placed next to each other and both apartments are can delivering over the edge of the hillside so a large balcony was placed under it for extra support a a third apartment was placed on top of the second one while the space above the first apartment remained empty allowing sunlight and space for the trees to grow a utility space was placed behind the second and third unit where the ground level is higher but because the utility space is sunken in the hillside it is on the same level as the first two apartments on top of the utility space the Ford apartment was placed which is at the same level as the third home the fifth apartment was placed next to the fourth [Music] unit between the fourth and fifth unit was space for a pathway that led to the top of the hill over the fourth and fifth apartment a large balcony was placed on top of this roof the six apartment where pole sheets Liv was placed and next to it was space for the seventh and lost apartment finally a cying roof structure was placed over the highest point and the apartment block was [Music] finished although the building appears to be made out of concrete the entire structure is framed in steel and wood and the roofs are made with a tension ring structure the roundhouses are supported on Central concrete [Music] columns the wooden surface of the structure is covered with a stucco of light yellow plaster and together with the many balconies in can delivering roofs the visual appearance reminds me of Frank Lloyd R's falling water while the cylindrical shapes placed on a horizontal base is somewhat similar with the Guggenheim Museum which was also designed by R but then 10 years [Music] later okay let's now take a look inside we start at street level at the parking lot you can park your car underneath the Cy liing [Music] balcony that also provides a lot of Shadow to protect your car against the burning Sun through the entry gate we walk over the stair and we arrive at the courtyard placed at the lowest floor [Music] level let's now take a look at the floor plan here you see the first two circular apartments and utility space connected with Pathways and a courtyard in the middle the Tranquil Courtyard has the effect of an oasis in the city in just a matter of seconds you step from the busyness of the street into an enclosed space filled with Greenery and Shadow the trees that were already standing long before the houses were built have grown and are towering now high above the building first we're going to take a look at the apartment at the North side it has two bedrooms and the black dot indicates the concrete column in the middle that is supporting the structure an interesting design detail is that the external wall continues underneath the balcony forming a half circular wall next to the entrance from the sliding Windows of the first apartment you can walk over the balcony to the sliding Windows of the second home but for this time we go through the front door which is placed left from the [Music] trees the second apartment has two bedrooms as well but unlike the first it has a fireplace and the layout of the floor plan is different now we go to the third apartment placed directly above the second one over the pathway you walk around the trees and you turn to the left from there is a wooden stair that leads to a balcony when we climb up the stair we arrive at the third apartment and here you see the front door we Chang the floor plan into a new drawing that shows the third apartment and the fourth and fifth units which are placed higher on the hill and therefore at the same level at the third [Music] house we continue our walk through right here the third apartment has two bedrooms a fireplace and a half circular balcony which you can see from the outside here on this photo from this angle standing on the balcony you can look down on a pathway that leads to the utility space underneath the fourth apartment this utility space has boiler laundry and storage facilities the utility space is also accessible from an emergency stair that leads to the parking lot here you see how the multiple floor levels are interacting with the elevation of the [Music] hillside let's now take a walk from the Riser and stair over the pathway through the garden and to the fourth and fifth apartment [Music] between the fourth and fifth apartment is an upper garden with two ponds and Planters and even a small waterfall the Planters and ponds were once beautiful but unfortunately they are not what they used to be and after years of dis repair the ponds have dried out over a few concrete slabs you can walk walk to the front door of the Ford apartment this is the concrete column that is supporting the structure and this is the brick fireplace and here the other side of the living room with at right the kitchen and the two bedrooms in the [Music] background this drawing shows the forth unit in correspondence with u utility space placed [Music] underneath we walk across the pathway and step through the front door of the fifth unit this apartment has two circular bedrooms the rear of the living room has a half circular wall made of rectal linear Windows combined with wooden window frames while the other side of the same living space has a large window that looks out of the [Music] courtyard we walk towards the rear of the building underneath the seventh and sixth apartment and arrive at the highest point of the Hill there is a small community square with a brick barbecue place the square is enclosed by adjacent buildings because the sixth and seventh apartment are placed higher than a hillside you need to climb over a wooden stair to [Music] enter now we have arrived at the third and highest floor level [Music] first we're going to take a look at the seventh apartment this apartment was not part of the original plan and it's a later addition therefore it looks different while all the other units are circular the seven apartment is triangular it has a large rooftop Terrace that looks out over the courtyard Paul sheets live with his family in a sixth apartment and because he had three children there was a master bedroom and three smaller bedrooms the second bedroom was originally a den or an [Music] office the idea that young students can live in such a great design is amazing and I cannot imagine a better place for students to live the living room has large sliding windows from where you can step on the rooftop Terrace over the roof you can walk around the Treetops towards the street here I show the different parts of the roof construction first the roof of the lowest apartment then the roof of the third fourth and fifth apartment and then the roof of pul sheets his home you can see the the roof Ro of the seventh apartment is placed lower than the sixth there is a part of the middle roof that is skeletonized this was done to allow more sunlight at the windows and front doors of the lower Apartments a second open structure is in higher roof these rectilinear openings allow more sunlight and rainwater to fall on the plants and trees in the courtyard I think think that the sheets apartments are unlike any other condominium in the world the strong relationship with nature combined with a constant interaction between interior and exterior makes the apartments a prime example of organic architecture while at the same time the cering structure with the many round shapes makes it also a futuristic design related to the Space Age movement I think it's unfortunate that John lner did not design more apartment buildings or public spaces although still original the sheets Apartments have deteriorated over the decades and I hope they will be renovated in the future bringing them back into their full Glory [Music]

Channel: John Lautner Architecture Videos

Views: 6,110

Keywords: john lautner, johnlautner, franklloywright, richard neutra, l'horizon, thetreehouse, sheats goldstein, sheats apartment building, ucla, los angeles apartment, los angeles architecture, american architecture, space age, mid century modernism, modernist architecture, googie, organic architecture, fallingwater

Id: jGtVVnzEoNE

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024