Gesner worked with difficult sites, often steeply sloping, on beaches, or in narrow canyons, using primarily natural materials.
His houses usually featured strong, dominant roof lines and large expanses of glass oriented to specific views.
During his senior year he dated future actress June Lockhart, whom he met while water-skiing at Lake Arrowhead Reservoir.
[6][7] Gesner enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17, and because he was an accomplished skier, he was assigned to Camp Hale in Colorado as a ski instructor for the 10th Mountain Division.
From Aachen the unit moved north to the Herken Forest in the Ardennes, where they were caught in the Battle of the Bulge.
Gesner was detailed as a scout, and was hit at the outskirts of Cologne by close German tank fire.
He lay injured in freezing weather overnight,[4] later developing gangrene, and narrowly escaping the amputation of both legs.
Wright offered him a place at his Taliesin West school, but Gesner did not pursue it, going instead to Ecuador to look for pre-Columbian artifacts.
There he reunited with his girlfriend from New York, Audrey Hawthorne, who was by then nine months pregnant and staying with Gesner's parents in California.
[19] In 1957 Gesner was introduced to recently-divorced swimwear manufacturer Fred Cole, who had bought a difficult site overlooking Hollywood and the Los Angeles basin.
Cole wanted an exotic house that could serve as a set for photo shoots featuring his swimwear products.
The same year, Danish architect Jørn Utzon submitted his concept for the Sydney Opera House design competition, with sail or wave-like forms.
[24][25][26] Wave House was later owned in the 1970s by Rod Stewart, who commissioned Gesner to design railings for the initially rail-less balconies.
The central component of the W is similar to an A-frame, with wings supported on splayed frames rising from the base of the A.
Following the pattern of the Boathouses, the houses are entered via an uphill street entrance, and the living spaces are oriented for views of the valley on the downhill side.
[34] Gesner's practice was primarily in custom single-family residences, typically for clients who wanted a striking design that did not conform with prevailing styles.
Gesner's designs often used naturally-stained wood and stone, with large glue-laminated support frames on concrete piers.
The houses responded to their sites, but were often detached from the ground, sitting on piers or attached at one end to a steep hillside.