Stucco Smooths Modern Home Exteriors
Put your home exterior on an even keel with this versatile, sculptural material that comes in a range of modern hues
The Museum of Modern Art's 1932 exhibition "The International Style: Architecture Since 1922," curated by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, set aside social ideals and promoted modern architecture as a style. Now-familiar elements like horizontal ribbon windows, flat roofs and planar, unadorned walls prevailed in the primarily European examples collected for the exhibition and companion book.
Planar walls were often accomplished with a bit deception: Walls of brick or some other material were often whitewashed or covered with stucco and painted white. This gave the buildings the appearance of machinelike precision, but they were closer to traditional methods of production than the industrial, assembly-line products (cars, ships) that many of the architects appreciated and emulated.
Architects have many more materials at their disposal today to achieve the clean lines of modern architecture, but stucco still finds a place, especially in climates conducive to it, such as California or the desert Southwest. Yet the homogeneity of last century's International style is eschewed in favor of modern forms balanced with vernacular considerations, such as climate, views and color. Stucco is often also used alongside other materials on the exterior surface.
Planar walls were often accomplished with a bit deception: Walls of brick or some other material were often whitewashed or covered with stucco and painted white. This gave the buildings the appearance of machinelike precision, but they were closer to traditional methods of production than the industrial, assembly-line products (cars, ships) that many of the architects appreciated and emulated.
Architects have many more materials at their disposal today to achieve the clean lines of modern architecture, but stucco still finds a place, especially in climates conducive to it, such as California or the desert Southwest. Yet the homogeneity of last century's International style is eschewed in favor of modern forms balanced with vernacular considerations, such as climate, views and color. Stucco is often also used alongside other materials on the exterior surface.
First, a house that follows the International style. This one-story residence in Malibu, California, by Kanner Architects is almost exclusively covered in stucco painted white. An entrance canopy juts into the right side of the photo, but the sun otherwise hits the exterior walls directly to illuminate a series of exterior spaces. Further, the wood window frames in a trim-free opening stand out in the white composition.
This house in Colorado uses stucco for most of the exterior walls, as well as a solid wall that defines the front of the property. But note the stone wall that bisects the house; this wall continues inside to become an "art wall." It takes on further significance by being of a different material and color than the white stucco walls.
A similar sort of idea can be found in this award-winning, ecofriendly house: Two stucco volumes are separated by a space that is further contrasted from the former by a wood cladding. The same wood is apparent in the distance on both sides of the stucco.
Given that stucco is basically plaster for exterior uses, it is therefore the perfect canvas for color. White may be common, based on historical precedents in modern architecture, but houses that respond to local concerns — especially climate and the effects of the sun — may benefit from some sort of color. This house in San Francisco has gray walls with variation that exhibits the way the plasterer troweled the surface.
Here is another house where the variation on the surface gives the design a certain character. It seems to work well with wood, a material that his its own natural variations.
The dark gray of this stucco exterior creates an imposing presence on the street.
Depending on a number of variables — climate, back-up construction, form — stucco can be applied without control joints. This house is covered in various materials, including Ipe wood (bottom left) and HardiePanel siding (center), but note how the stucco at the top left and at the right uses vertical and horizontal control joints to break up the expansive walls, bringing the scale closer to the other surfaces. The lines relate to the windows, a way of anchoring them to the stucco, rather than having them appear to float.
More control joints can be found in this Pacific Northwest house. Even though each opening is unique, the horizontal and vertical lines reveal that an underlying grid is at work.
The control joints on the front elevation of this house reinforce the difference between the small windows and the larger ones to the right. The joints create a sort of abstract composition on the wall.
Look closely at the stucco expanse to the left of the bluestone box: Vertical and horizontal control joints are centered on the square window, a different tactic than the previous examples.
This traditionally styled single-family residence near San Francisco uses stucco to provide clean lines and surfaces, instilling some modernism into the traditional form.
This huge residence overlooking the Potomac River is articulated in five interlocking pavilions. Stucco is a means to tame the composition, which could be unwieldy with the various roofs, chimneys and openings.
Up close it's apparent that the stucco walls are not alone; poured-in-place concrete walls are interspersed among the pavilions.
This last example shows the potential of color, harking back to Mexican architect Luis Barragån, rather than the European architects that Hitchcock and Johnson promoted. A stucco wall defines a boundary of this property, also acting as a backdrop for some sculptures. It is carefully composed to be viewed from this terrace.
Up close, it's clear how well the earthy orange-brown wall works in it context. It hovers between blues and greens: between the green grass and blue sky, and alternatively the leaves above and reflecting pool below.
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More:
Metal Works Wonders With Home Exteriors
Wood Home Exteriors Branch Out
Glass Home Exteriors Reflect Modern Taste