Drager House: Franklin D.Israel by Aaron Betsky
square 4to. pp. 60. colour & b/w illustrations. paperback (fine condition). [London]: Phaidon, [1996].
from the Phaidon Architecture in Detail series.
ISBN-10: 0714833827 / ISBN-13: 9780714833828
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The Drager House is a single-family house built into a tight hillside site, which steps down in section to conform to the changing site condition. Specific elements such as staircases, terraces and loggias are used to join house and site, as are large corner windows, which the architect has employed to frame selected views of trees and sky, perpetuating what Israel describes as the tradition started in Los Angeles by Wright and Schindler of the mitred glass corner and the 'exposed box'. The Drager House represents the idiosyncrasy of architect and client, both of whom were free from the need to follow typological conventions; furthermore, it marks the culmination of three decades of architectural investigation concerned with the transformation of known types into more liberating ways of inhabiting our physical and cultural landscapes.