Photo: Physical model
HOUSE X
1975 (unbuilt)
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICHIGAN
Most houses are conceptually vertebrate. That is, in addition
to their literal, necessary condition of structure they are
metaphorically vertebrate. They have a center, usually a
hearth or a stair; their roofs pitch from the center, and their
construction exhibits a concern for an overall centrality. The
center expresses both the functional core and conceptual
unity of the house. In House X, the center is nothing.
The vertebrate house is also mimetic; it mirrors man’s upright,
axial condition. In an attempt to produce a conceptual distance
between man and object, House X is nonvertebrate; to this
extent, it is nonmimetic. There are no exposed linear elements
– columns or beams. These are covered by solid vertical and
horizontal surfaces, and further, two of the major horizontal
living surfaces are void. This is a distortion of the Modern
Movement’s preferred section – two solid horizontal planes –
as well as of the house’s traditional mimesis of anthropocentric
man, who stands on a solid horizontal surface and “dominates”
the landscape.
The specific configurations of House X can be understood
initially as the juxtaposition of four squares. This configuration
is only an initial analogue, a heuristic device used to approach
a more complex sign condition, which in itself is only a
possible approximation of the reality it signifies. In fact, the
final configuration is a cumulative attempt to dissolve its own
seeming connection with any initial analogue. In other words,
the final plan is only a series of traces that refer, in a sense,
forward to a more complex and incomplete structure rather
than backward to a unitary simple, and stable structure. It thus
becomes a kind of pre-distillation of amore complex “future”
condition.
The 8,000-square-foot private residence was designed for a
large, wooded, sloping site, adjacent to a country club and
surrounded by a swimming pool, tennis court and summer
house. The design used the slope in such a way that the
natural landscape ran through the house, splitting it into four
quadrants to reduce the scale.
EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
 Study-sketch

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric model, North-East corner

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Site plan

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Plan View

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
East Elevation

West Elevation

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric model

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Diagram of four els in a pinwhell Diagram of five els with central space seen Diagram of five els with the central space
configuration as two els of unequal legth contained within seen as two els of equal length but not
a perimeter contained within a perimeter

Diagram showing center els in condition Diagram showing the transposition of the el Axonometric drawing showing the cube as
of shear thus fragmenting the el (X) in the in the northwest quadrant, again producing an expansion of the el
northwest quadrant an ABCX reading due to position

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric drawing, Scheme H,
view from northeast

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric drawing showing four Axonometric drawing showing four els Axonometric drawing showing two els
els with their vertical corners at the with their vertical corners in the center inverted
periphery

Diagram showing two els inverted and dropped so Diagram showing this same condition in the context of
that they form a mid-point congruence about their the final form of the house
horizontal elements.

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Scheme F, First floor plan

Scheme F, Second floor plan

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Scheme F, Third floor plan

Scheme F, Roof plan

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric diagram showing the relationship of Axonometric diagram showing the relationship of Axonometric diagram showing the relationship of
all four interior elevations the northwest interior elevation to its quadrant the northeast interior elevation to its quadrant

Scheme F, section BB

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Axonometric diagram showing the relationship of Axonometric diagram showing the relationship of Axonometric diagram showing the relationship
the northwest interior elevation and the southwest the northwest interior elevation to the southwest of the notheast interior elevation to the
interior elevation interior elevation southwest interior elevation

Scheme F, section CC

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Scheme F, West interior elevation

Scheme F, North interior elevation

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Scheme F, East interior elevation

Scheme F, South interior elevation

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS
Model, Scheme G, view from northeast

EISENMAN ARCHITECTS