The Eames Houses
The exhibition The Eames Houses at the Triennale Milano, running from 21 April to 10 May 2026, showcases architectural works by Charles and Ray Eames that have remained largely unknown until now. Life-size, walk-through installations of the Eames Pavilion System are presented alongside archive drawings, films, photographs and newly created models of eight residential buildings. Spanning 800 square metres, the exhibition highlights architecture as a continuous thread running through the Eameses’ work, on a par with furniture, exhibition design and film.
From Prototype to System
The Eames Pavilion System, which is being launched at the same time, was developed in collaboration with the Barcelona-based manufacturer Kettal and is the result of almost three years of research and development. The starting point was an in-depth examination of the Eames Office Archives, which revealed a surprisingly extensive collection of previously little-known residential projects from 1945 to 1954, including Case Study House No. 8, the Entenza House and several designs for Billy Wilder. The system developed from this translates the Eameses’ architectural principles – small footprint, maximum volume, rational grid – into a fully industrialised modular system. Structural materials such as aluminium, glass and timber, combined with bioclimatic roofs, integrated lighting and digital configurators, enable configurations ranging from a single-storey 16-square-metre pavilion to a two-storey residential house.
Archive and Publication
The scholarly basis for both projects is the publication The Eames Houses, curated by Eckart Maise and published by Phaidon, the first comprehensive reference work on the residential architecture of Charles and Ray Eames. Featuring texts by Catherine Ince and forewords by Norman Foster and Eames Demetrios, it is due to be published in May 2026.
