John Lautner exhibition travels from LA to Glasgow

Installation shot of the Lautner show at the Hammer Museum in LA
Installation shot of the Lautner show at the Hammer Museum in LA
(Image credit: Joshua White)

If you missed the John Lautner exhibition in Los Angeles last summer, you will be delighted to hear that the show is now on tour. Its only European stop is Glasgow, where the show is opening today at the Lighthouse.

The show, Between Heaven and Earth: the Architecture of John Lautner, was originally curated by Nicholas Olsberg and Frank Escher for the Hammer Museum in LA and shows work from the Lautner archive, held at the Getty Research Institute. The work presented includes a series of rarely seen original drawings, as well as large-scale models, some especially made for this exhibition.

The Frank Lloyd Wright-trained architect’s show is organised chronologically, starting from early works, and focusing on six of the architect’s main projects: the Pearlman cabin in Idyllwild (1957), the Chemosphere and the Walstrom House, both in LA (1960), the Elrod House in Palm Springs (1968), the Marbrisa in Acapulco (1973), and the Turner House in Aspen (1982); and these are just a small sample of around 25 projects explored in the exhibition.

John Lautner drawing

John Lautner’s architectural drawing

(Image credit: press)

Known for his extensive and progressive residential work, Lautner’s hand was behind over 100 (some built, some unbuilt) projects, many of which are present in this show, which promises to be architectural heaven for the lovers of rare hand drawings, sketches and detailed models.

A series of events have been organised to accompany and compliment the show, so if you are keen to find out more about the American architect, there is a number of happenings to choose from, from exhibition tours, to film screenings. A hard-back catalogue of the show will also be available at the Lighthouse shop, so even if a trip to the West Coast for a Lautner-inspired tour proves difficult, you can at least take some of his architectural magic, home.

Elrod House in Palm Springs

(Image credit: Joshua White)

The Marbrisa in Acapulco

(Image credit: press)

Turner House in Aspen

(Image credit: Stefanie Keenan)

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).