Institute E-zine Issue No. 01-3 Monday,September 10, 2001

A publication of the Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design. © 2001.

Welcome to Issue No. 3 of the current E-Zine online magazine of the Institute. [See July 15 for the last one of the series]. Please print this one out! You'll see why later.

Inspired by Neutra at 75 and the upcoming gala event of October 6, Dion Neutra's 75th birthday,

The showing of the 'Traveling Exhibition' The architecture of Richard and Dion Neutra - The view from Inside' in Santa Ana concluded its succesful run on August 15, I was very impressed. The show is safely back in our custody awaiting its next booking.

We welcome new members! Affiliates, in order to continue receiving these, please join?

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2001 6:00-10:00 PM Eagle Rock Recreation Center: 1100 Eagle Vista Drive, Eagle Rock, CA

The final big event of Neutra-75 will be the celebration of Dion Neutra at his own 75th birthday! The venue is the Eagle Rock Recreation Center designed by the office for the City of L.A. at, Eagle Rock Park, CA. This affair will feature a reunion and communion of Neutra admirer's. Enjoy a fabulous catered dinner and hear selected speakers familiar with the life of Dion, who have signed up in advance to contribute their remarks. If you think you qualify and would like to participate, please let us know.

We WILL feature a catered dinner by Fred Eric, chef of Fred 62 and Vida; famed restaurants here in L.A. Donation $25/person. We'll now have a Paypal button on the birthday page of the website for you to order your tix. For new members, we'll throw in membership for the rest of fiscal 2001 as part of your donation. If you opt for more than one entrée; drop us an E and tell us the names of the people for whom you are ordering, so that we can create a guest list, enroll new members as applicable.

Early orderers have had difficulty operating a paypal button from some platforms; it is called 'continue shopping' or something like this. If this is inoperative for you and you wish to order additional entrees, just navigate back to our website and click on the subsequent entrée; this will move you forward to where when you're ready to check out, you'll see your entire order at once with a total to approve.

If for some reason you can't operate the credit card feature, mail us your check; we'll accept this form of payment up to checks mailed 9/28. After that, if credit cards fail, contact us by E-mail and explain your situation. We must take a final entrée count no later than Wednesday, Oct. 3.

PLEASE PLACE YOUR ORDERS NOW FOR OCTOBER 6; WE HAVE LOTS OF ROOM!

Letters you are invited to write in and express your opinions; some may be published. Again, address these to CrosonC@aol.com, OR dion@neutra.org.

Status of Neutra Projects Report on the latest on the several projects which are being preserved or addressed by Institute action.

The executive consultant, Dion, is planning a quick trip to Painted Desert, AZ at the end of September to survey the western version of the Gettysburg center. We did these two project at roughly the same time. At PD, the administration appreciates our work and wants to preserve it, but erratic soil conditions have caused such heaving and cracking of foundations that may make it unfeasible to save some of the structures. Ironic that where there is sympathy, we may lose, and where the structure is sound, we may lose anyway.

Visit our 'Demolition Derby' page on the website. This is in development, so stay tuned. We have added rare footage of the demolition of the von Sternberg house which came to us through a fluke and the good offices of Andy Moore, who was a neighbor and grabbed his super 8 camera in the 70s when he noticed the dozers at work upon returning home for school that fateful afternoon.

I still mourne the loss of our 8-story La Veta Medical building in Orange [Taschen P. 441], which I just learned two months ago was torn down without fanfare, opposition or concern. A photo of its vacant site was part of the show in Santa Ana. Can anyone tell us what the reason for this was? Why was no one given a chance to see if it could be saved?

The demolition of the last reflection pool at the Orange County Courthouse was the subject of a Sat. July 7 cover story in the LA Times Orange County edition, to which I wrote a letter to Editor asking why I wasn't consulted before making this kind of decision. Again, this one is not lost yet; write your Orange County supervisor!

The Von Huene Cabin in Mammoth, which is capable of moving, is threatened with demolition. If any one knows of a vacant site in Mammoth, that would be the easiest, but I believe this structure, which is about the size of a trailer module, could be moved down the highway as well. Contact us here if you have ideas. Wouldn't it be great NOT to have to repeat what happened with the von Sternberg house?

Neutra in the News A link to the Institute site where the latest in news stories about the Institute and the firm are highlighted. We struggle to keep up with this fast moving segment.

Latest on Dion Link to website to review articles, lectures, or other activities of our Executive Consultant.

Institute Projects on which we are now working We invite your participation; let us know if any of the following tweak your interest!

84-1 00-2 Publishing Program 'Neutra-Then and Now'; republish the German 'Pflanzen, Wasser, Steine, Licht' in English; maybe even 'Survival Through Design' [some interest being shown by two publishers] 97-5 Neutra Website-Design, Maintenance, Funding [See our new page 'Demolition Derby'; could use help from imaginative and creative web-design people] 89-1 The View from Inside Exhibition -Distribution 00-1a 75th Anniversary Reunion/Commemoration Main event completed very successfully in April. Additional projects may emerge because of a lunch I had with the editor of LA Architect, such as:. A new page on the website devoted to documenting the impact the Neutra Practice has had on contemporary architects through training or influence on their work. We will start by listing what we know of this lineage. As soon as we get something up, we invite your participation, fleshing out and ideas for how this should progress further. 01-1 Documentary Film [Demo reel in final stages; other events of N-75 being recorded]
01-2 Preservation Strategies
01-3 Membership Roster; E and Snail mailing lists
01-4 Institute E-Zine project [Can always use help here and elsewhere; drop us a line!]
01-5 The Ultimate CAD program - Article by DN; about 2000 words. In commemoration of Kubrick's '2001-A space Odyssey' . Can we NOW invoke the services of the computer to fulfill the promise of RJN s book 'Survival through Design'? Looking for a publisher. Just submitted to Architectural Record; first choice. Still waiting.
01-6 A REAL patients Bill of Rights. Start by ordering Dan Haley's red book 'The Politics in Healing'. Mention you heard about it here, and call 800 898 0639. Join with us to urge passage of relevant bills in congress which would pave the way for alternative means of treatment to become available here, which have been driven off-shore, or which are unknown to your family doctor.
[See our bookstore page for more details].


We would welcome your suggestions of other departments or issues to consider.

Meanwhile, this will further test our data-base. Please let us know if you get more than one copy of this [if so, please excuse]. Spread the word to your friends who may have signed up with you, to let us have their E addresses if they did not receive this. Encourage new prospects to sign up with us [see home page]

We hope to publish every few months depending on need, available material, and time. Stay tuned to the website for relevant details of the birthday program in October! If you can order now, it will help us plan.

Dion Neutra, Architect, Executive Consultant
Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design
2440 Neutra Place Los Angeles, CA 90039
Phone/Fax:323 666 1806 www.neutra.org dion@neutra.org