the landscape; to rest and move in, slowly embracing Lautner’s dissolving horizons to grasp the fundamental idea of architecture as he saw it: a plastic and revelatory art that can extend the senses into a new and heightened awareness of the ever changing universe about us.

Nicholas Olsberg was chief curator and director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. He has written about the architecture of Los Angeles, the cultural roles of architecture, design and urbanism in modern society, and the architectural work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Carlo Scarpa, Arthur Erickson and others.


The Hammer Museum (www.hammer.ucla.edu) in Los Angeles presents “Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner,” the first major exhibition on the architect, from July 13 through October 12, curated by Nicholas Olsberg and Frank Escher. This article developed out of an essay in the accompanying catalogue, published by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., which also includes pieces by Escher and Jean-Louis Cohen.