Learn more about the Fallingwater Fireside series

Dr. Raymond Neutra is the youngest son of Richard Neutra, the pioneering Austrian-American architect and designer of the Kaufmann family’s famous house in Palm Springs. Born in his father’s seminal VDL House in Silver Lake, California, Raymond Neutra was surrounded by great architects and architecture throughout his childhood. As a young man in high school he read his father’s book Survival Through Design, which explored how the nervous system’s response to natural and built environments could inform better designs that enhanced well-being and health.

As a result, he resolved to follow a research career in medicine and environmental public health and consulted with his father in the 1960s when the Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design was launched. Today, Raymond Neutra heads up the Institute, which seeks to use the Neutra legacy to solve modern-day design challenges and promote creative research and design that benefits people and the planet. Raymond Neutra will talk about new innovations at the Institute and reveal recollections of his famous father and the fascinating people who surrounded him.

Raymond Richard Neutra

Architect and Designer

After a public health career in environmental medicine and epidemiology at several universities and the California Department of Public Health, Dr. Raymond Neutra now focuses on preserving and promoting the legacy of his father, Richard, and his brother, Dion. He has been active in the preservation of the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences and several other Neutra projects. He is an “ambassador” for the Iconic House Network and has written scholarly articles on his father’s career. In addition to preservation, he endorses the Neutra commitment to socially and ecologically responsible design inspired by evidence.