Excerpt from the documentary William Krisel, Architect.
William Krisel, Architect, directed by Jake Gorst, explores his life and work, including his roots in 1930s China, his ground-breaking designs for modern living, and interviews with scholars, his contemporaries and family. “I’m a firm believer that good modern design can make your life happier, more productive and more enjoyable,” says Krisel.
During the 1950s, Krisel built thousands of mass-produced tract homes in Palm Springs—and throughout Southern California—and thus played a key role in establishing the desert modernism of the area. His major achievement was to elevate the expectations of the average buyer of prefabricated housing in the 1950s. By devising airy dwellings with massive windows opening onto the bright expanse of the surrounding landscape, Krisel proved that modest midcentury homes did not have to be “cracker boxes” of unimaginative and claustrophobic design.