Construction Process

The first plan of the Eameses’ home, known as the Bridge House, was designed in 1945 by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. The design used pre-fabricated materials ordered from industrial and commercial catalogs. Materials were ordered for the Bridge House and the design was published in the December 1945 issue of the magazine, but due to a war-driven shortage, the steel did not arrive until late 1948. By then, according to Ray, she and Charles had “fallen in love with the meadow.” The nature of the site, and the Eameses themselves, yearned for a different solution.

Charles and Ray were summoned by a new problem: how to build a house that would not destroy the meadow, but would “maximize volume from minimal materials.” Using the same off-the-shelf parts, but notably ordering one extra steel beam, Charles and Ray reconfigured the house’s first design into a two-story pair of structures: a residence and separate studio. They integrated the new design into the landscape’s north-south hillside, rather than imposing on it. Construction began in February 1949, and after 16 hours, the foundation and steel frame were complete. The remainder of the modular home was finished by December.