Prototropic 0.1: Honolulu and Rio

include sites beyond southern California to
Arizona before finally ending in 1964.
The project, whether built or not, was to be
documented and published with full plans and
details with the purpose of being built later
or to be used as a model towards the design of
other houses. The program also included the
requirement for the housing to be affordable and
the construction of the houses to be relatively
easy and duplicable. At the end of the program, 36
prototype houses were designed, with astounding
26 of them being built. 1
Whether it was the spirit of its time or perhaps
it was mostly about collective expression of
modernity, The CSH program did not include
any specific consideration for climate as a
requirement. At the time (or perhaps still is),
the consensus among modernists’ and their
proponent’s attitude toward climate and natural
environment was primarily indifferent and if not,
cold.
However, did climate have any influence in the
design of the case study houses? Was the moderate
climate of Southern California a factor in the
success (or ease) of the design? >
1. Number of Houses in the series, including CSH No.17, 18, 20, 21 were followed
by second variation of the previous house; the last 2 CSH houses were Apts.