Innovative Houses

White had a keen interest in construction, perhaps inspired by his father, and often worked alongside his construction crew, something that R. M. Schindler, his former employer, did as well. Although not formally trained, White had the outlook of an engineer when solving architectural problems. His decision to live and work in the unique landscapes of the Coachella Valley desert cities in California and in the high plateau of Colorado Springs, Colorado, introduced him to particularly challenging problems.

As did many young designers in this period, White experimented with plans that “opened the box,” influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and other forms of modernism. White’s experiments in the early 1950s led to his most exciting structural designs. He freed the roof from the plan, creating complex shapes that captured light and cross ventilation, and maximized views while providing shelter. His expressive roofs became a signature of his work. The Alexander, Bates (Santa Rosa Way), and Willcockson houses are among his most significant buildings because of their innovative roof structures.

He received a patent in 1959 for the construction system he used in the Bates house. The 1958 Willcockson roof marks the beginning of his series of hyperbolic paraboloid structures, designed for domestic, commercial, and civic purposes. The roof is anchored to the ground by steel buttresses at the two lowest points, and soars up to 14 feet at the two peaks. 

The oil crisis of the 1970s propelled architects to explore energy-saving options. During this period White invented a solar updraft tower, a mammoth structure that, if it could have been built, he believed, wrongly as it turned out, would solve humanity’s energy problems.