ABSTRACT
Before John Lautner built the unmissable Bob Hope house half way up a mountain overlooking Palm Springs, California, the highest house in the city, at 220ft. (about 65m), was a discrete, almost unnoticeable shelter in glass and Cor-ten, built by Albert Frey for himself in 1964. (Figure 4.20) Indistinguishable against the brown, rock-strewn desert hillside, Frey’s house was carefully positioned on axis, across the city’s gridded plan, with the City Hall he built in 1952. Like the earlier house he had built for himself down on the desert floor, this one is sensitive to the extreme climate. It faces south, the aluminium-framed glass sliders pulled back to allow in the cooling evaporation from the swimming pool directly outside the windows. The mono-pitch corrugated Cor-ten roof is turned towards the sun, the generous overhang shading the long glass wall. As if further reminders of the desert were still needed, a vast boulder penetrates the house, separating the dining, living and sleeping areas. (Figure 4.21) The roof appears to perch on its top and the glass walls run unchecked into its side. Half in and half out of the house, it catches the sun and provides this lightweight structure with a natural thermal core.
