Toys often arouse the interest of architects. Many recognized authors have used them at different times in history to express in a synthetic way a certain architectural ideology, so its analysis from the present allows us to easily understand the context from which it emerged. Charles and Ray Eames top the list of architects fascinated by toys: they collected them, exhibited them, and also designed them to produce them in series. One of the most innovative and commercially successful toys they created was the House of Cards: a deck of playing cards, printed with graphic motifs or photographs, that fit together with six slots to form several three- dimensional structures. The small object condenses concepts present in all their work: the game, as object and as methodology, the change of scale and the process of concatenated work, the particular in the mass produced, the importance of the everyday, of the collection and photography, the use of the multiple image, the origin of the work as a gift, the permanent celebration, and the connection of life with art. The article aims to develop the most characteristic features of the Eames' work through this attractive object, showing its influence on other authors and works, and rescuing it from their extensive legacy as a creative method and experimentation laboratory for future architecture.
