Stephen P. Leet, associate professor of architecture, will speak on his new book, Richard Neutra’s Miller House, at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in Steinberg Auditorium.
After the lecture, Centro Modern Furnishings, 4729 McPherson Ave., will host a book-signing and an exhibition of period duotone photographs of the Miller House by Julius Shulman, many of which are reproduced in the book.
In 1936, St. Louis socialite Grace Lewis Miller commissioned the Austrian-born Neutra to design a small winter home in the desert resort of Palm Springs, Calif. The therapeutic value of modern architecture espoused by Neutra in earlier works appealed to Miller, an instructor of the “Mensendieck System of Functional Exercise,” an avant-garde, posture-improving exercise program.
Miller sought an open, light-filled house that would also accommodate her studio — a unique program that, along with the beautiful desert site, attracted Neutra to the project.
Leet traces the Miller House from conception to realization, illuminating how Miller’s advocacy of the Mensendieck System shaped its development. He also examines the complex relationship between architect and client as detailed in their extensive and impassioned correspondence.
The volume also reproduces Neutra’s sketches and drawings of this seminal work, in addition to the Shulman photos.
Wallpaper magazine praised Richard Neutra’s Miller House as “an essential history of modern architecture”; Publisher’s Weekly noted that, “In a world of coffee-table architecture books that simply scan the surface of movements, styles and artists, this book’s focus is refreshing: It takes a single, significant construction and explores it from beginning to end … ”
Currently No. 5 on Princeton Press’ list of top-selling architecture books for 2004, the volume received an award for graphic design in the 2004 Communication Arts Graphic Design Competition.
Leet, a registered architect, has worked in several New York City firms, including I.M. Pei & Partners, as well as in private practice with Bower Leet Architects. His architectural work has been selected for exhibitions in the United States, Italy and Japan and has also received national and international design awards from the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects and ID magazine.
He has curated and designed numerous exhibits on architecture, photography and industrial design, including the work of the architects Franco Albini, Charles Eames, Jose Antonio Coderch, Erich Mendelsohn and others; the industrial designers Paolo Rizzatto and Alberto Meda; and St. Louis contemporary and modern architecture.
Leet has researched and written extensively on modern American and Italian architecture and industrial design, including essays, biographies and reviews published in Harvard Design Magazine, The American National Biography, Metropolis, Domus, Design Book Review, Costruire and others.
Previous books include Franco Albini: Architecture and Design 1934-1977 (1990); and Le Forme Della Ragione: Marco Albini, Franca Helg, Antonio Piva, Architetture e Design 1980-1995 (1995).
The talk is free and open to the public. A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Givens Hall.
For more information, call 935-6200 or go online to www.arch.wustl.edu.