Papercutter

Andrew Neff Shell House, Pasadena, California,

Built in 1947,

Designed for his brother, the Shell House is believed to be the last surviving example of the architect’s Airform construction system in the United States.

Better known for designing homes for Hollywood figures including Judy Garland, Groucho Marx and Douglas Fairbanks, Neff developed the experimental building method in the years following the Second World War as a potential answer to housing shortages.

The process was simple in principle: a giant inflatable form was erected, covered with steel reinforcement and sprayed with concrete to create a continuous structural shell. The result was a series of dome-shaped houses that looked unlike anything else being built in postwar America.