Modernism man (5/5)

 

This is a very comprehensive survey of Michael Boyd's career. He is probably best known for the restoration of mid-century designed homes in California and the first half of the book is about this. Editor Michael Webb in his essay 'Treasuring art and living' reveals the problems that Boyd faces in his restoration work, especially the famous Case Study Houses. They have flat roofs that leak, some are sited on hilly areas and are sinking, fifties materials wear out and Frank Lloyd Wright's textile block houses are as porous as a sponge! Contemporary building codes also have to be taken into account.

Boyd has restored houses designed by Quincy Jones, William Wurster, Craig Ellwood, Richard Neutra, Oscar Niemeyer and Thornton Ladd. Each house has a brief essay about what was involved and plenty of interior and exterior photos. A forty-page section has a detailed look at the Boyd-designed 'Shed House' in Malibu, inspired by the Case Study program (it's pictured on the book's cover).

There are several essays that explore other areas of Boyd's creativity. A section on chairs reveals his thoughts on seating. He designed an incredibly simple chair called Plank, using just four pieces of wood. Other seating designs are shown in photos of patios, house interiors and commercial premises. Christopher Farr writes about several abstract rugs Boyd has designed. 

The last two chapters in the book cover exhibition, museum design and gardens. 'Sitting on the edge', a 1998 show of furniture at SFMoMA, 'Birth of the Cool' in 2008 at the Orange County Museum and another furniture exhibition in 2016 at the private Tisch Museum. I was intrigued to read about Boyd's work for the Wende Museum, it has a collection of artifacts covering every aspect of life in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall (not the sort of museum one would expect to find in sunny Los Angeles). Boyd considers gardens an opportunity to use plants as sculptures that take advantage of the pleasant Californian climate. There are several photos of the contemporary garden work he did for Lautner's 1960 Chemosphere House, showing paths surrounded by cacti and palms.

Michael Boyd is one of those rare designers that can work creatively in various mediums and the book's essays and more than three hundred photos clearly reveal this.