intention of just putting up a typical Normandy-style house.” But
Neutra had died the year before and Niemeyer, who, remembers
Mr. Sayer, was living in exile in France and building the Communist
Party headquarters in Paris, never replied to Sayer’s enquiry. Breuer,
who, in addition to his New York office had maintained a branch in
Paris focusing primarily on major projects such as UNESCO and the
Flaine ski resort in the French Alps, responded immediately.
“He visited us and brought along a pile of books and folders,”
Mr. Sayer said. “He showed us a number of houses, trying to find
out what we wanted.” These included a spectacular design for
actor Peter Ustinov, who, in 1959, had asked Breuer to design a
residence for him on Lake Geneva: a four-section building that
fitted in with the surrounding topography. A concrete shell roof
in the shape of two hyperbolic parabolas was to span the living
space, a complex construction chosen to open the interior to the
landscape as much as possible. But the project was never real-
ized due to its high cost. Ten years later, the striking roof of the
Ustinov house reemerged in the design of the Soriano house in
Connecticut, although this, too, was never built. Instead, Breuer’s
American clients decided on a simpler butterfly roof.
In this striking design, however, the Sayers had found exactly
what they were looking for and they commissioned Breuer to design
Opposite View from the driveway towards the main entrance of the house shows the southwest roof-support pillar, top. The deeply
ribbed concrete wall arrives from the children’s house to penetrate the façade of the main building and mark its entrance, below left.
Inside, the end of the wall is visible at the far right, as well as the staircase that leads to the bedrooms below. From the entrance, an open
corridor leads towards the large living area, bypassing an informal workspace in a corner of the living area with furniture by Warren
Platner for Knoll from the mid ‘60s.
Above The dining area, with Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs for Knoll, is directly across the corridor from the workspace. Beyond a fabric
covered storage wall, used throughout to separate functional areas in the open plan space, is the vast living room containing an intimate
lounge section (below), with its four Eames Lounge chairs, at one end.
Below Myriad details, such as the wood slats that flow up from the floor to form the endpiece of the storage walls, speak to the care with
which the house was designed.
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