Most individuals consider Ray and Charles Eames as seminal furnishings designers who additionally produced experimental movies once in a while. They constructed their very own residence – the emblematic Eames Home in Pacific Palisades, California – however the normal notion is that it was a one-and-done. Few know that the influential duo designed a slew of properties and had a bigger purpose of growing a common architectural system that may very well be accessible to virtually anybody and launched virtually anyplace.
The Eames Pavilion System by Kettal: have your personal Eames Home
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
Debuting as a part of a particular Triennale di Milano exhibition – ‘The Eames Homes’ – opening throughout Milan Design Week 2026 in April, the Eames Pavilion System is a totally useful prefab residence answer fulfilling that beforehand unrealised ambition. Developed by the Eames Workplace in partnership with Spanish outside furnishings model Kettal, the excellent kit-of-parts product stems from intensive analysis into the Eameses’ general imaginative and prescient. The mission – one which’s each business and cultural – is especially related in view of the worsening international housing disaster.
‘I’ve all the time been a bit uncomfortable with the thought of the home being a singularity,’ says Eames Demetrios, Ray and Charles’ grandson and director of the Eames Workplace, a continuation of their studio and a platform mandated with the preservation of their multifaceted legacy. ‘It was such an integral extension of every little thing else they did. There’s all the time been this query on the market: might the Eames Home be copied, and the reply is sure, however the very first thing one would want to do is construct a hill so they may put it subsequent to it. Is that actually the place they’d wish to put their power, and is making a facsimile actually the purpose?’ This recent providing is rather more of a reinterpretation of the Eames Home, embracing the massive concepts it represents.
It was initially developed as a part of the Case Research Homes mission – 30 or so distinct residence ideas constructed all through Los Angeles within the late Forties utilizing cheap supplies. ‘The proposition was that one might go to totally different properties and have their builders collage components from the totally different designs that labored greatest for them,’ says Demetrios. He notes that, between 1945 and 1948, greater than 350,000 folks walked by the primary six prototype properties to be accomplished – a substantial proportion of the less than two million residing within the metropolis on the time. There was one thing inherently democratic and but self-deterministic concerning the programme. The brand new Eames Pavilion System embodies that versatility and ethos.
Dissecting the rules of the Eameses’ structure
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
Central to the preliminary analysis mission – led by product strategist Eckart Maise – was the distilling of the elemental methods and parts that not solely outline the unique Eames Home but in addition the surprisingly totally different in look Case Research Home No. 9 (the Entenza), Shelter Home, and De Pree Home.
‘We did a typological research of all of the properties the Eameses designed, even ones constructed utilizing publish and beam timber, and uncovered commonalities in modularity and segmentation,’ says Maise. ‘This allowed us to show these prototypes right into a product and system that’s really extra strict than the unique Eames Home. What we did is make it extra common and aligned with what Charles Eames is quoted as having stated: that the rigidity of a system is answerable for opening up all the chances of working with that system afterwards.’
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
Harnessing Kettal’s experience in steel fabrication – one it hones by its lesser-known outside pavilion enterprise – all elements have been introduced as much as present-day requirements. Metal was changed by way more weather-resistant aluminium, and single-pane home windows have been changed by triple glazing.
The simplified but extra agile kit-of-parts product contains aluminium ‘I’ and ‘H’ beams infilled by glass, polycarbonate, and wooden insert panels. When totally out there to the market in early 2027 – as a single unit, a double module, and a multi-bay configuration – the Eames Pavilion System can be totally insulated and conducive to numerous weather conditions. A 2mx2m-grid room-with-in-a-room inside utility will hit the market on the finish of 2026.
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
(Picture credit score: Eames Basis)
As Demetrios notes, most prefab merchandise out there immediately are sometimes despatched to website and require bespoke alterations, which really defeats the aim. Factored into the Eames Pavilion System service is the eye of a well-trained Kettal professional, who can be despatched out to evaluate situations earlier than the construction is configured and parts manufactured.
To have the worldwide design business make the crucial hyperlink between the Eameses’ architectural and furnishings follow – one that truly transcended these restricted disciplinary definitions – Eames Workplace and Kettal selected to launch the system throughout Milan Design Week 2026. The Triennale di Milano exhibition will function a totally realised two-story construction and one other ‘exploded elements’ model, demonstrating how the parts may be assembled.
The previous can be outfitted simply as Ray and Charles Eames would have carried out it. Fastidiously chosen archival supplies –introduced as reproductions – and a carefully curated timeline will assist contextualise every little thing. A soon-to-be launched inside design e book, The Eames Homes from Phaidon (out there to pre-order), will do the identical.
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
‘Structure was foundational to Charles and Ray’s follow,’ says Maise. ‘Their systemic architectural considering formed every little thing they did. By way of rigorous, in-depth archival investigation, we uncovered a wealth of fabric – drawings, research, and proposals – that had remained largely unseen. Introducing ‘The Eames Homes’ – each the exhibition and the e book – and partnering with Kettal permit their concepts to maneuver from the archive into modern residing, situating their considering firmly within the current.’
‘The Eames Homes’, 20 April – 10 Could 2026, Triennale Milano, Viale Emilio Alemagna, 6
Supply: Wallpaper
