Raphael Soriano [Hardcover]

Wolfgang Wagener (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2002

Born in Rhodes, Soriano brought an outsider's perspective when he arrived in Los Angeles with little grasp of English in 1924, at the age of 17. After first studying French literature and music, he graduated with an architecture degree from the University of Southern California and thereafter worked in the offices of Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, and for Los Angeles County, finally starting his own practice in Los Angeles in 1936. Soriano expertly combined two of World War II's technological innovations, aluminium and plywood, with advanced construction processes. His characteristic horizontal roofs, transparent exterior walls, and open plan responded well to the postwar demand for family-friendly housing and an informal, indoor-outdoor lifestyle that was well suited to the benign Southern Californian climate. Independent-minded and often irascible, Soriano's architectural contribution has been largely overlooked until now. An architect's architect, he tapped the burgeoning Southern California aerospace and steel industries for his architectural experiments. His advocacy of prefabricated, modular construction using a minimum of materials often alienated him from the traditional building industry and developers. Moreover, his buildings have suffered inordinate damage; although he designed 150 buildings and built 38 during his career, little more than a dozen projects remain standing. In 1953, weary of his persistent scrapes with the architecture establishment in Southern California, Soriano relocated to Tiburon, near San Francisco, where he designed and built housing for the maverick developer Joseph Eichler, as well as innovative aluminium housing and an office tower, and the IBM Research Laboratory in San Jose. This monograph provides a well-researched written account of the architect's life and oeuvre. It includes a complete biography, an in-depth examination of 30 key Soriano buildings, and a listing of complete works that documents for the first time every known project in Soriano's archive, with bibliographic references. In addition to previously unpublished original plans and drawings, this volume features approximately 160 photographs by renowned architectural photographer Julius Shulman, who was a close friend of Soriano and documented his work over a period of 40 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wolfgang Wagener is a practising architect with offices in Los Angeles and Munich. He has worked in the offices of Richard Rogers and Helmut Jahn, and his writings on twentieth-century modern architecture have been published in books and international architecture journals, including Architectural Record, ARCH+, and a+u. Since 1997 he has been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where, as part of his research, he is producing digital reconstructions of non-extant Soriano buildings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (September 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714840637
• ISBN-13: 978-0714840635
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 8.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Raphael Soriano, March 13, 2003

By 

Michael Webb (London, England > Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raphael Soriano (Hardcover)

Of all the important pioneers of modern architecture in southern California, Soriano was one of the most inventive and idealistic, but least successful. If he hadn't won the attention of Julius Shulman--as a photographer and client--he would probably be forgotten, so few are the surviving traces of his modest mid-century output. When he died, in 1988, poor and embittered, few took note. This self-inflicted failure (Soriano alienated Entenza, Eichler and several other key clients) challenged Wolfgang Wagener, an architect who practices here and in Germany, to reevaluate his achievement and develop a complete list of buildings and projects. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mid-Century Must Have, December 6, 2002

By 

Edward J. Shannon, AIA (Elgin, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Raphael Soriano (Hardcover)

This is a thorough, comprehensive monograph on a talented, yet often forgotten modernist. The book competently chronicles Soriano's career and major projects. However it achieves much more: There is an excellent introductory essay (The Postwar Dream Takes Hold) on the post WWII housing boom and specifically on the typology of the modern California House. This background introduces the reader to the spirit of the era in which Soriano established his practice.

The second essay, entitle Pioneering Steel Houses 1935-1970 focuses on Soriano's career and his strong convictions of the steel frame used as a vehicle to meet the demand of the housing boom. The photos, mostly by noted photographer Julius Shulman are crisp and clear. While it would be nice to see recent photos of Sauriano's structures, the author is clear to point out that most of Soriano's buildings have sadly been demolished or altered beyond recognition.

The two essays are followed by a very thorough catalogue with commentary of all Soriano's projects. The book also contains a map of Soriano's projects in Los Angeles, a Chronology of the Architect's life, and finally the typescript of Soriano's unfinished autobiography (all of about 5 typewritten pages).

I highly recommend this book for the student of mid-century modernism.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn about LA's Modernist "B-List" Architect, Rafael Soriano, March 7, 2009

By 

Steven Dornbusch "art's reader" (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raphael Soriano (Hardcover)

"Rafael Soriano" is a well-researched long-overdue contribution for students of mid-century modernism, especially in and around Los Angeles, California.

Beyond the innovative work of the twin Viennese transplants, Richard Neutra, and Rudolf Schindler. a score of additional talents, mostly younger, made up a "B-List" led by Gregory Ain and Rafael Soriano. Until now, there has been no single, reiiable source on the latter. Author Wolfgang Wagener dissects the myths and fills in the gaps surrounding this lesser-known trailblazer.

Physically handsome, with a vast array of carefully reproduced (black and white) contemporaneous photos, "Rafael Soriano" makes design ideas come to life. Included are 125 vintage pictures by acclaimed architectural photographer Julius Schulman (friend and client). Schulman's photographic PR has achieved a kind of global romantic myth, a promotion of LA's modernist "Good Life" following World War ll. Reference sections, including the "Complete Works," are indispensable. "Rafael Soriano" is a remarkable monograph, scholarly, insightful, and entirely readable.