This book presents an occasion to sample again mid-century modern architecture and consider its influence on contemporary architecture on the West Coast of the USA and Canada. Five invited guests have selected and introduced a pair of modern and contemporary houses by architects in five West Coast cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. With the intent to ground a better understanding of the development of West Coast residential architecture, reveal connections between cities on the coast and juxtapose modern and contemporary production, it looks to situate rather than isolate the modern within the contemporary moment. The architects include: Christopher Macdonald, Susan Boyle, John Cava, Mark Treib and Kurt Helfrich. In what way are the lessons and traditions of modernism being integrated into contemporary houses? What defined a West Coast vernacular in the mid-twentieth century and does it still exists at the turn of the twenty first century? This beautiful book tackles these questions with insightful answers.

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Greg Bellerby is the curator of the Charles H. Scott Gallery at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.