The Eames Houses | Charles & Ray Eames

During Milan Design Week 2026, the Eames Office – the design practice established by Charles and Ray Eames in 1941 and now led by the Eames family – presents a multi-faceted architectural initiative at the Triennale Milano. Centered on the 800 square meter exhibition The Eames Houses and the debut of the Eames Pavilion System, the project manifests Charles and Ray Eames’ enduring vision for prefabricated, modular, and human-scale residential architecture.

Developed in partnership with Barcelona-based manufacturer Kettal, the Eames Pavilion System translates the Eameses’ pioneering architectural concepts and residential buildings into a fully engineered construction system available on a global scale. Anchored in the architectural principles explored across their residential projects of the 1940s and 1950s – including their own home, Case Study House No. 8 (the Eames House), and a series of experimental steel-frame and timber-frame residences – the system represents a tangible continuation and authentic manifestation of Charles and Ray’s intent: prefabricated architecture as an adaptable framework for contemporary living.

The exhibition The Eames Houses is grounded in extensive archival research into the Eameses’ built and unbuilt residential projects and presents a substantial amount of unseen projects and materials from the Eames Office Archive. It will be on view from April 21 – May 10, 2026 and is accompanied by the release of a namesake publication by Phaidon, which constitutes the first sourcebook dedicated to Charles and Ray’s residential architecture.

Legacy & Continuity: Architecture as a Living System

To Charles and Ray Eames, their residential architectures were as much designed for a specific client as they were prototypes for a new way of building. Never intended as a singular object, their own home, the Eames House, was a demonstration of how industrial processes, modular systems, and deeply personal living could coexist. Architecture, in Charles and Ray’s view, was not static, but a flexible background for life and work.

The Eames Pavilion System carries this philosophy forward, originating not only from the Eames House but from a broader constellation of residential projects and studies, including Case Study House No. 9 (the Entenza House), and two designs for Billy Wilder – all steel-frame houses – and a series of timber-frame designs such as their experimental Shelter House or the De Pree House. Together, these projects articulate an architectural logic that the Eames Pavilion System condenses into a modular construction kit: a rational grid, a small footprint with maximum volume, and a structure capable of interior flexibility and long-term adaptability. The system is a living expression of the Eameses’ belief that design should respond gracefully and intelligently to the way people live and work. Grounded in nearly three years of research and development under the stewardship of longtime Eames Office collaborator and design consultant Eckart Maise, in close collaboration with Kettal, the project reflects the Eames Office’s long-standing mandate: to protect the integrity of Charles and Ray’s work in all its expressions while allowing it to expand meaningfully for contemporary life. This intergenerational approach – one of caretaking rather than canonization – ensures continuity not just of form, but of values: respect for materials, clarity of structure, and design in service of human experience. “Architecture was foundational to Charles and Ray’s practice. While the public often associates their work primarily with furniture, their systemic architectural thinking shaped everything they did. Through rigorous, in-depth archival investigation, we uncovered a wealth of material – drawings, studies, and proposals – that had remained largely unseen. Introducing The Eames Houses – both the exhibition and the book – and partnering with Kettal allow their ideas to move from the archive into contemporary living, situating their thinking firmly in the present. ” –Eckart Maise, Exhibition Curator and Author of The Eames Houses

Partnership with Kettal: from Concept to Product

Central to the project is a new partnership between the Eames Office and Kettal, the family-owned Spanish design and innovation-led manufacturing company headquartered in Barcelona.

Since Ray’s passing in 1988, the Eames Office had been exploring ways to bring the founders' prefab dwelling vision to life. The main challenges? A) substantial design and technical development were required to adapt the prototypes to today’s technical, regulatory and consumer framework, B) an authentic Eames experience of space, quality, and detail needed to be guaranteed, and C) prefabrication has always been a local business bound by geography and logistics, while the Eames ideas had worldwide appeal.

Kettal presented itself as the ideal partner for multiple reasons: known for its expertise in modular architecture and outdoor systems, the company is uniquely equipped to industrialize prefabricated architectural design at a global scale, without compromising material honesty or spatial quality. Kettal proved to have the engineering depth, pavilion expertise, and systems thinking required to build on an architectural vision rather than replicate it. Kettal brings decades of experience in aluminum structures, climate-responsive systems, surface treatments, and modular construction – providing the technical backbone needed to translate Eames-era prototypes into a robust, contemporary product.

Behind the System: Research & Development
Through an in-depth study of the archives of the Eames Office, the Eames Office and Kettal teams examined published and unpublished residential projects dating from 1945 to 1954. The research uncovered a surprisingly expansive, and in some cases previously unseen, body of architectural work, reinforcing the idea that architecture was not peripheral but central to Charles and Ray’s practice.

Translating these ideas into a contemporary system required intensive typological studies and substantial design development: adapting proportions, joints, and materials to meet today’s regulatory standards; engineering components for outdoor and hybrid use; addressing challenges around sealing, tolerances, UV resistance, and durability, all the while preserving the spatial lightness and clarity that defined the designers’ original vision.

“Going from prototype to product means standardization and industrialization. For a system, it also means reducing the number of elements and simplifying the rules of configuration. It is through this discipline that a system becomes more usable and the possibilities actually increase. The new system balances Charles and Ray’s original intent with contemporary innovation. High-precision aluminum profiles, engineered decking, bioclimatic roofs, integrated lighting and HVAC, and digital configurators are modern layers added to their grammar. The goal is evolution, not stylistic reproduction. ” –Antonio Navarro, Creative Director, Kettal.

What emerged is a disciplined system: more precise than the original prototypes, technologically updated, and fully industrialized, yet unmistakably Eames in spirit, making possible what Charles and Ray had imagined over 75 years ago.

The Eames Pavilion System The Eames Pavilion System is grounded in the fundamental principles of Charles and Ray Eames’ architectural philosophy: a small footprint paired with maximum volume, a rational grid that enables flexibility, and an understanding of architecture as an adaptable system rather than a fixed object.

“In the almost 40 years I have been Director of the Eames Office, I have been asked time and again whether it is possible to purchase a reproduction of the Eames House. One-to-one replicas can be interesting, yet we were always holding out for something else – a true systems approach that was also international in its solution. The new system advances prefabricated Eames buildings from prototype to product. Not a facsimile or collector’s edition, but a fully engineered architectural ecosystem. The Eames houses – many of them unbuilt – were always milestones and prototypes for such evolution. Our grandparents’ writings clearly show that even when designed for a specific site, the intent was series production of human habitation. ” –Eames Demetrios, Director, Eames Office, and grandson of Charles and Ray Eames.

The system is composed of repeatable structural modules combined with interchangeable roof types, facade infills, glazing, textiles, and accessory offerings. Conceived as an integrated kit of parts, the Pavilion System allows for multiple configurations from one-story, 16 square-meter pavilions to fully equipped, two-story houses. Components are produced through factory-controlled processes and finished on site at Kettal’s facilities in Barcelona, reflecting the Eameses’ long-held belief in the balance between industrial production and human touch.

Key Features
● Modular, customizable, and reconfigurable system
● Structural materials: aluminum, glass, polycarbonate, and wood
● Single units, double modules, and multi-bay configurations 
● Designed for repairability, longevity, and long-term adaptability 
● Designed for worldwide availability

Use Cases
● Residential: studios and ADUs, vacation homes, gardens, terraces, poolside living
● Hospitality & HoReCa: hotels, restaurants, resort environments
● Workplace & Events: meeting pods, flexible office zoning
● Retail & Exhibitions: temporary or reconfigurable installations

This system-based approach also embeds flexibility and sustainability at its core. Recyclable aluminum structures, durable surface treatments, and low-maintenance components are paired with a design logic that prioritizes repair, reconfiguration, and reuse over replacement. This emphasis on durability and material honesty, central to Kettal’s philosophy, resonated deeply with the Eames Office, echoing Charles and Ray’s conviction that good design should endure, evolve, and remain relevant over time.

The Eames Houses - Publication and Exhibition Coinciding with the launch of the Eames Pavilion System, the Eames Office will present the exhibition The Eames Houses at the Triennale Milano. The exhibition places full-scale, walk-in installations of Eames Pavilions alongside archival drawings, films, photographs, and newly commissioned scale models of eight Eames houses – several of which have never been published or exhibited. Together, they reveal architecture as a continuous thread throughout Charles and Ray’s practice, alongside their furniture, exhibitions, toys, photography and films.

Based on the same research, Phaidon will publish The Eames Houses, the first comprehensive sourcebook devoted to Charles and Ray Eames’ residential architecture. Authored by Eckart Maise, with text contributions from Catherine Ince, Research Fellow of the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation, and forewords by Norman Foster and Eames Demetrios, the book firmly establishes architecture as a central pillar of the Eames legacy.

The Eames Houses
Phaidon Publishers
Format 21 x 3,5 cm 288 pages, ca. 1000 images
Availability: From May 2026
Price: UK: £39.95 / EU: 49.95€ / US $59.95
ISBN: 9781837293124

Milan Design Week Practical Information
Exhibition dates: April 21 – May 10, 2026
Location: Triennale Milano