In the later years of his career, Frey has returned to simpler forms of structure and enclosure that further integrate the house into the landscape. Although these later houses are mostly pure structure wrapped in glass, Frey uses the unique characteristics of each site to create spacial conditions that are contextual in a way his earlier East Coast work was not. The Frey House Il(83, 84, 1963-64, pp. 140—143) is his only built example of this adaptation of the modern idiom to the mountain terrain.

“After looking up at the mountains for almost twenty five years,”’ Frey has said, ‘‘it might be nice to live up there.”’ The Frey House IIsoars 220 feet above Palm Springs and, at the time itwas built, was at the highest elevation of any house in Palm Springs. (In 1973 the Hope House, designed by the Los Angeles architect John Lautner, was built across the valley and usurped this posi- tion.)” The Frey House IIislocated on a steep hillwith natural rock outcroppings. A platform, which is parallel to the road, projects beyond the house and acts as a deck for the pool and as a roof for the carport below. The house, which is three steps higher than the deck, ison an east-west axis in relation to the rectilinear, man- made grid imposed on the desert below. The platform is placed in relationship to the natural contours of the mountain, and the teardrop shape of the pool is the result of the interaction of these two different orders.

The platform is constructed of poured concrete and colored concrete block to allow itto blend in with the mountain, and the house which stands in contrast to it,is apure rectangle, with living, dining, and sleeping areas in one common space. Although the houseseems atfirsttohavenorelationshiptothesite,itisactually firmly rooted in the mountain and interacts literally with the land- scape. The elevation of the floor changes with the natural grade, and a large boulder penetrates the plane of the glass wall an- choring the house fo the site in a way similar to that of the fireplace in the Cree House Il. Also, the ceiling plane is angled to accom- modate the boulder, which acts as a focal point in plan, with each of the built-in cabinet units radiating out from it.'®The house isof all steel-frame construction, with large spans of glass and colored corrugated aluminum on the exterior walls. The roof isenameled ribbed metal that blends in with the color of the rock.

Rosa, Joseph, Albert Frey, Architect, Rizzoli International, 1990