The Modern Interior and the Excitation Response: Richard Neutra’s Ocular-centric Phenomenology

While typically characterised as a canonical Modernist, Richard Neutra’s design theory repeatedly refers to the central role played in his architecture by the works of experimental psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. In the late Nineteenth Century Wundt used laboratory experiments to demonstrate that human responses to sensory stimuli were both immediate and predictable. Despite Wundt’s importance in many fields, architectural scholars have tended to disregard Neutra’s fascination with Wundt’s complex physiological and biological theories. However, this paper revisits Neutra’s design theory, accepting, prima facie, his belief in the causal relationship between physiology and psychology to suggest an alternative reading of his architecture. By tracing the influence of Wundt’s ideas on Neutra’s design theory, the paper identifies a singular ocular-centric, phenomenological tendency in the resultant architecture. The implications of this approach are then considered in the context of three facets of Neutra’s domestic architecture in general and the Kaufmann Desert House in particular. Computer models and diagrammatic analysis are used to support this reading of Wundt’s influence on Neutra’s design.