Materialidad pionera. Experimentación material en la arquitectura doméstica de A. Lawrence Kocher

Abstract

This text studies 3 architectural experiments developed, independently or associated with Albert Frey, by the North American architect A. Lawrence Kocher during the 1930’s. These experiments were based on material innovation within the construction processes. The experiments were fostered by different industrial material producers to study the feasibility of the implementation of materials in the field of architecture: aluminum was tested in the <em>Aluminum House</em>, fabrics in the <em>Canvas Weekend House</em>, and Plywood in the <em>House of Plywood. </em>All of these buildings pioneered the idea of transforming the detached single-family house into a laboratory to experiment with materials produced by industries not traditionally associated with building technology. The later move by Albert Frey to the West Coast may have initiated a new chapter in material experimentation through the Californian residential architecture developed in the following decades.

Este texto estudia tres experimentos arquitectónicos realizados por el arquitecto norteamericano A. Lawrence Kocher, individualmente o asociado con Albert Frey durante los años treinta del siglo XX. Basadas en la innovación material en los procesos constructivos, estos experimentos domésticos fueron promovidos por diferentes fabricantes de materiales industriales para estudiar su posible aplicación en el ámbito de la arquitectura: aluminio en la <em>Aluminaire House</em>, textiles en la <em>Canvas Weekend House </em>y madera contrachapada en la <em>House of Plywood</em>. Estas casas fueron pioneras en convertir la vivienda unifamiliar en un laboratorio en el que experimentar productos provenientes de industrias no vinculadas tradicionalmente a la tecnología constructiva. El posterior traslado de Frey a la Costa Oeste pudo resultar el germen de un nuevo capítulo de experimentación material en la arquitectura residencial californiana.