Most individuals consider Ray and Charles Eames as seminal furnishings designers who additionally produced experimental movies every now and then. 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 houses and had a bigger objective of growing a common architectural system that may very well be accessible to nearly anybody and launched nearly 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 completely purposeful prefab residence answer fulfilling that beforehand unrealised ambition. Developed by the Eames Workplace in partnership with Spanish out of doors furnishings model Kettal, the excellent kit-of-parts product stems from intensive analysis into the Eameses’ general imaginative and prescient. The undertaking – one which’s each industrial and cultural – is especially related in view of the worsening world 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 the whole lot else they did. There’s all the time been this query on the market: may 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 way 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 undertaking – 30 or so distinct residence ideas constructed all through Los Angeles within the late Forties utilizing cheap supplies. ‘The proposition was that one may go to completely different properties and have their builders collage parts from the completely different designs that labored greatest for them,’ says Demetrios. He notes that, between 1945 and 1948, greater than 350,000 folks walked by means of 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 in regards to 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 undertaking – led by product strategist Eckart Maise – was the distilling of the basic methods and elements that not solely outline the unique Eames Home but additionally the surprisingly completely different in look Case Research Home No. 9 (the Entenza), Shelter Home, and De Pree Home.
‘We did a typological examine of all of the houses 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 mentioned: that the rigidity of a system is liable for opening up all the probabilities 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 means of its lesser-known out of doors pavilion enterprise – all components have been introduced as much as present-day requirements. Metal was changed by much 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 accessible to the market in early 2027 – as a single unit, a double module, and a multi-bay configuration – the Eames Pavilion System shall be totally insulated and conducive to varied 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 accessible at the moment 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 shall be despatched out to evaluate circumstances earlier than the construction is configured and elements manufactured.
To have the worldwide design trade make the essential hyperlink between the Eameses’ architectural and furnishings observe – 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 characteristic a completely realised two-story construction and one other ‘exploded components’ model, demonstrating how the elements will be assembled.
The previous shall be outfitted simply as Ray and Charles Eames would have accomplished it. Fastidiously chosen archival supplies –offered as reproductions – and a carefully curated timeline will assist contextualise the whole lot. A soon-to-be launched inside design ebook, The Eames Homes from Phaidon (accessible to pre-order), will do the identical.
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
(Picture credit score: Kettal)
‘Structure was foundational to Charles and Ray’s observe,’ says Maise. ‘Their systemic architectural considering formed the whole lot 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 ebook – and partnering with Kettal enable 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
