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A redesign of Frank Lloyd Wright A Force of Nature and Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography.
Citation preview
1
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Content by Arnt Cobbers Frank Lloyd Wright
A F
OR
CE
OF
NA
TU
RE
2
3
Fallingwater is considered one of the most
important residences of the 20th century. It was
erected between 1936 and 1937 as the weekend
retreat for the wealthy department store owner
Edgar Kaufmann from Pittsburgh. The story of
the design, which has been documented by
several Taliesin fellows, has become famous.
FALLING WATER HOUSE
SE
CO
ND
BLO
OM
193
5-19
43
4
Kaufmann met Wright in 1934 in Taliesin when he was
visiting his son Edgar Junior, who was a Taliesin fellow. He
commissioned Wright soon after the visit. A few weeks later
he called Wright to inquire about the design. Wright replied
that the house was finished, even though not one drawing
had been completed. Kaufmann got into his car to drive
the 140 miles from Milwaukee to Taliesin. Wright hurried
to his studio, laid down three sheets of drawing paper and
started to draw the floor plans of three floors with quiet and
concentrated strokes explaining his concept to the group of
fellows who watched spellbound. After two house he was
done and told two apprentices to draw views from differ-
ent directions while he himself welcomed the builder-owner,
who had just arrived.
Fallingwater should originally have cost 20,000 to 30,000; in
the end, the total costs including the guest house built in
1938 amounted to 145,ooo dollars. Fallingwater is built in
a low mountain range in south Pennsylvania above a small
waterfall. Legend has it that Kaufmann originally wanted to
build his house further up but Wright asked him: “You love
this waterfall don’t you? Then why build your house miles
away, so you will have to walk to it?”
Fall
ingw
ater
pre
sen
ts a
myr
iad
of
moo
ds,
dep
end
ing
on v
anta
ge
poi
nt,
sea
son
, an
d t
ime
of d
ay.
Th
e h
ouse
is a
tri
um
ph
ant
un
ity
of o
pp
osit
es—
the
cool
, ab
stra
ct
pla
nes
of
con
cret
e co
ntr
aste
d
wit
h t
he
war
m in
teri
or li
ghts
.
“�Early� in� life� I�had� to�choose�between�honest�arrogance�and�hypocritical�humility.� I�chose�honest�arrogance.
A solid high rock-ledge rising beside a waterfall...The
natural thing seemed to be to cantilever the house from
that rock-bank over the falling water. The first house in my
experience built of reinforced concrete—the from took the
grammar of that construction.
5
6
The�op
en�living�room
,�which�m
ea-
sures�thirty-five�feet�with�views�on
�all�sides,�is�an
�elega
nt�synthesis�
of�the�dialectic�between�nature�
and�civilization.�
Architecture now becomes integral, the
expression of ever new-old reality: it
lies in the livable interior space of the
room itself. In integral architecture the
room-space itself must come through.
The room must be seen as architecture,
or we have no twentieth-century archi-
tecture. We have no longer an outside
merely as outside. No longer an outside
and an inside as two separate things.
Now the outside may come inside, and
the inside may, and does, go outside.
They are of each other. Form and func-
tion become one in design and execu-
tion if the nature of materials and meth-
od and purpose are all in unison.
7
The�hea
rth�was�built�directly�on
�living�rock
,�which�extrudes�in
to�
the�floo
r.�The�quarried
�stone�floo
r�lead
s�uninterruptedly�outside�
past�the�glass�doo
rs,�a
nd�the�low�
ceiling�provides�a�sen
se�of�shelter�
even
�thou
gh�the�glass�walls�are�
open
�to�ou
tside.��
Fallingwater, a word that happens to contain
Frank Lloyd Wright’s initials, is perhaps the
best-known private residence in the world. In
a sense, Wright was playing a game of one-up-
manship with his Internationalist rivals, by in-
corporating Meis’s floating abstract planes into
a building so site-specific that is could only be a
part of the American Transcendentalist vocab-
ulary. Fallingwater is a culmination of Wright’s
use of abstract, geometric forms and a mature
expression of his philosophy of man’s place in
nature. The house is a dialectic between natu-
ral and sculptural forms: between the anchored
and the free-floating; between variety of materials and repetition of forms; between stasis and
movement ; between shelter and precariousness; between unity and separateness. The great
themes can be seen in the smallest detail of the construction. For example, the dialextic nature
of the man-made and the natural is visible in the way that glass and steel directly abut the field-
stone walls. The duality of interior and exterior from the rooms to the terraces is resolved with
continuous planes of concrete walls and flagstone floors without thresholds. The hearth is situ-
ated on living rock that extrudes more than a foot though the floor. The effect is primitive —a
romantic refuge in the heart of a truly modern exterior. The house seems ready to fly in different
directions yet rests in a dynamic repose. The genius of the house is that space becomes plastic,
continuous, and visible, almost like the stream of water itself.
8
9
UN
ITY
TE
MP
LE—
SK
YLI
GH
TS
Wright used lighting of all kinds —built-in fix-
tures, lamps, stained glass windows and ceiling
panels—to guide and define the viewer’s experi-
ence of space. Warmly tinted skylights add to
the sense of a serene and sheltered space. Set
within deep coffers, the skylights are a marvel-
ous interweaving of space and solids.
10
11
Strangely enough, Wright’s most famous build-
ing is a museum for modern art of all things. For
he did not tolerate any pictures in his buildings
except Japanese prints. He did not like modern
paintings, and the effect of his architecture was
more important to him than any art collection. In
fact, the architecture does dominate the exhibits
in the Guggenheim Museum.
GUGGENHEIMMUSEUM
MA
JOR
BU
ILD
ING
S 1
956-
1959
12
Solomon R. Guggenheim, then one of the richest men in
America, wanted to exhibit his significant collection of non-
objective modern art permanently. The contact between him
and Wright was established in 1943. Wright presented the
first designs in 1944 and in 1945, the model was presented
to the public. But eleven years should pass before the start
of the construction. In-between, there were changes of loca-
tion, trouble with the construction supervision, and several
changes in the management of the museum - Guggenheim
himself dies in 1949. When Wright died in 1959, the muse-
um was essentially finished. It was opened in October 1959.
Matching the “revolutionary” art of his collection, his mu-
seum was to be a new type of building, which would invite
the visitors to experience the pictures in a new way. “I’m try-
ing to make a building where seeing works of art would be
so natural,” Wright explained.
�“�Character� is� criterion� in� the� form� of � any� and�every�building�or�industrial�product�we�can�call�Architecture�in�the�light�of �this�new�ideal�of �the�new�ideal�of �the�new�order�we�call�Organic”�
In order to get Organic Architecture born, intelligent
architects will be forced to turn their backs on the antique
rubbish heaps with which Classic eclecticism has encum-
bered our practice of Architecture. So far as architecture
has gone in my own thought it is first of all a character
and quality of mind that may enter also into human con-
duct with social implications that might, at first, confound
or astound you. But the basis for any fear of them lies in
the fact that they are all sanely and thoroughly construc-
tive. Truth is a double-edged sword and can cut both
ways, but why cowardice? Th
e G
ugg
enh
eim
vio
late
s m
any
of W
righ
t’s
pre
cep
ts—
it h
as
not
hin
g to
do
wit
h it
s si
te a
mon
g th
e gr
anit
e m
atro
ns
of F
ifth
A
venu
e, a
nd
is in
man
y re
spec
ts
woe
full
y in
adeq
uat
e as
a m
use
-u
m s
pac
e fo
r d
isp
layi
ng
art,
yet
it
end
ure
s as
an
icon
of
the
crea
tive
p
ower
of
mod
ern
art
.
13
14
The�inverted
�ziggu
rat�of�the�Gug-
genheim�M
useum,�w
hich�lo
oks�
as�if�it�had
�been�cast�on
�som
e�ce-
lestial�p
otter’s�wheel,�is�W
righ
t’s�
boldest�statem
ent�of�the�form
�of�
a�building�as�a�con
tainer�of�sp
ace.
The�vortex�quality�of�space�is�
amplified
�in�such
�details�as�the�
whip-like�exterior�service�ram
p�
that�seems�to�throw�off�lines�of�
force.�Porthole-like
�window
s�at�
street�level�p
ick�up�the�circular�
plan�of�the�building’s�footprint.
15
“�Space.�The�continual�becoming:�invisible�foun-tain�from�which�all�rhythms�flow�and�to�which�they�must�pass.�Beyond�time�or�infinity.”
The Guggenheim Museum consists of two spirals cast in concrete, a
large one for the exhibition and a smaller one in front for the offices of
the museum management. The entrance is situated between them. In-
side the museum, the visitor takes an elevator upstairs and then walks
down a narrowing spiral ramp of five full revolutions. The ramp opens
to an atrium. It is not a substitute for a staircase bit it is the exhibition
space itself. This makes it possible to display the collection of the muse-
um or the artistic development of the work of an artist without having
to divide the works thematically or chronologically into separate rooms.
The room is lit by a large skylight dome in the atrium and by glass slits
between the spiral walls. The walls are slightly inclined to the outside
to make possible a more “natural” placement of the pictures, like on
an easel. Wright’s goal was to “make the building and the painting an
uninterrupted, beautiful symphony such as never existed in the World
of Art before.” But the museum management and some prominent art-
ists protested vehemently, and just after Wright’s death, changes were
made in the concept of hanging the pictures. There was also a heavy
dispute about the color of the walls, because Wright rejected white as
the “loudest” color. However, Wright died before the issue could be re-
solved unanimously, and the walls were painted white.
16
17
FRA
NK
LLO
YD
WR
IGH
T F
UR
NIT
UR
E
Wright claimed to build “organic” architecture
that seemed to grow naturally out of the sur-
roundings landscape. He believed the internal
space, furnishings and decorative details of a
house to be intrinsic to its architecture. Many
of his projects incorporated site specific furni-
ture and fittings. These unified projects were
intended to possess a natural “organic” beauty
that would promote the life of the human spirit.
Instead of walls, furnishings were often used
as spacial dividers, thereby creating more open
interior and a sense of flowing space.
18
19
Frank Lloyd Wright’s work cannot be subsumed
under one heading. At most, there are certain
characteristics, which are valid for individual peri-
ods of his work. His overall work, which spreads
out over 70 years and which comprises more than
450 executed buildings and uncountable projects,
designs, and theoretical writings, is more verse
and ambiguous than the works of any architect of
the 20th century.
FOUNDATIONOF DESIGN
MA
JOR
BU
ILD
ING
S 1
956-
1959
20
This new architectural Ideal is, as well, an adequate ideal
for general culture. There can be no separation between our
architecture and our culture. Architecture is still as always
basic to Culture we lack. Nor any separation of either from
our happiness. Nor any separation from our work. Thus in this
rise or organic-integration you see the means to end the petty
agglomerations miscalled civilization. By way of this old yet
new and deeper sense of reality we may really have organic
civilization. In this sense we now recognize and may declare
by way of plan and building—the natural. But instead of “or-
ganic” we might well say “natural” building. Or we might say
integral building: intrinsic building.
Froebel’s wooden toy kits
were designed to guide the
creative play of children
and further their abilities
for geometric abstraction.
Frank’s mother wanted him
to be an architect: She put
up architectural engravings
in the whole apartment and
gave him Froebel blocks to
play with. They were forma-
tive for Wright’s concept of
architecture.
21
DESIGNPHILOSOPHY
In his essays and speeches, Wright did not cease to emphasize the
fundamental principles of “organic architecture:” moral truth
and inspiration won by nature. Consequently, it could not have
been Wright’s intention to portray visible nature. He wanted to
capture its essence, its divine beauty in his buildings. In his artis-
tic work, Wright sought the unity of truth and beauty,
of moral and aesthetic. All of his buildings, as varied
as they may be, are an expression of this search. And
this is why Wright used moral concepts so often when
speaking about architecture: “because beauty is in itself
the highest and finest kind of morality so in its essence
it must be true.” Wright used geometry as the key to
beauty and truth. The fact that geometry is underlying
the divine principle of nature is something that Wright
had learned as a child from the educational blocks of
the pedagogue Froebel. Wright associated the various
geometrical shapes with definite ideas in his essay The
Japanese Print: The circle stands for infinity, the triangle
for structural unity, the spire for aspiration, the square
for integrity and the spiral for organic process. In his
attempts to express the divine, geometry was Wright’s
grammar, an organic integrity that was “the elemen-
tal law and order inherent in great architecture,” as he
defined it. This clarifies why Wright, who often described
his art as organic, strongly abstracted natural form and
why he explicitly rejected the depiction as a faithful copy.
“�Faith�in�the�natural�is�the�faith�we�now�need�to�grow�up�on� in� this� coming�age�of �our��confused,�backward�twentieth�century.”
22
In order to understand Wright’s work, it is necessary to understand the
foundations of his art philosophy. It is rooted in the ideas of the American
philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s works were read frequently
by Wright’s family in his childhood. Their influence can be seen down to
the missionary language of Wright’s own writings. Emerson praises indi-
viduality and democracy, and the integrity of the creative persons. Wright
realized this romantic ideal of a genius, transcending the mediocre masses
to the point at which it al-
most became a caricature.
Visible nature is for Emerson
only the manifestation of an
inner and eternal beauty —
and this of the divine spirit.
Winters know
Easily to shed the snow,
And the untaught Spring is wise
In cowslips and anemones.
Nature, hating art and pains,
Baulks and baffles plotting brains;
Casualty and Surprise
Are the apples of her eyes;
But she dearly loves the poor,
And, by marvel of her own,
Strikes the loud pretender down.
For Nature listens in the rose,
And hearkens in the berry’s bell,
To help her friends, to plague her foes,
And like wise God she judges well.
Yet doth much her love excel
To the souls that never fell,
To swains that live in happiness,
And do well because they please,
Who walk in ways that are unfamed,
And feats achieve before they’re named.
NA
TU
RE
, BY
RA
LPH
W. E
ME
RS
ON
TWO WISE MEN
23
Wright quit his job at Silsbee in the end of 1887 and started working for
Adler & Sullivan, one of the most progressive architectural practices of the
city. Sullivan, whom Wright affectionately gave the German title, “Leiber
Meister,” beloved Master, was the rising star in Chicago’s architecture.
Soon, Wright was chief designing assistant, responsible for 30 other drafts-
men. When the practice moved to new rooms two years later, the 21 year-
old was placed in an office next to his “Leiber Meister.” In his autobiogra-
phy, however, Wright does not mention that he had to share the room with
a colleague. Adler & Sullivan hardly ever built residential houses because
large projects were more profitable. Such projects that Sullivan could not
reject without loosing a client were given to his young employee. Wright
started to work on his own account under the name of his friend Cecil Cor-
win. This so-called moonlighting was widely spread in Chicago at the time.
However, when he built three houses in the vicinity on Sullivan’s home, the
“Leiber Meister” recognized the handwriting of his employee: There was
a big quarrel and Wright was dismissed. Wright and Sullivan did not have
contact in a long time. Only ten years later did they resume their friendship
and stayed close friends until Sullivan’s death in 1924.
24
“�I� knew� I�was� the� beginning� of � something�great,� a� great� truth� of � architecture.� Now��architecture�could�be�free”
25
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is the avatar of Amer-
ican architecture. His highly original aesthetic and
singular philosophy placed him, during his lifetime, in
the forefront of modern architecture and resulted in a
doctrine for American building design that continues
to this day. Despite personal tragedies and chang-
ing tastes in the world of architecture, Wright con-
tinued to produce major works even as he entered
the waning years of a long and distinguished career.
Today, over thirty years after his death, not only is
Wright’s international reputation intact and growing,
but buildings are yet being constructed based on his
original designs. As has been said again and again,
Frank Lloyd Wright continues to be, both in the leg-
acy of his philosophy and the spirit of his buildings,
and extraordinary force of nature.
A WRIGHTTIMELINE
FRO
M 1
867
TO
195
1
26
1885
1887
ADLER�&�SULLIVAN
Wright now works for Adler
& Sullivan, one of the most
important Chicago architec-
tural practices. One year later,
Wright builds his own house
in Oak Park, Illinois and mar-
ries Catherine Lee Tobin.
1900
PRAIRIE�HOUSE�PROTOTYPES
Wright build Bradley House and
Hickox House in Kankakee, Illi-
nois, creating the two prototypes
for his later Prairie houses.
1867
WRIGHT�IS�BORN
Frank Lloyd Wright is born
June 8 in Richland Center,
Wisconsin. Wright learned to
play the viola and the piano
as a child, and liked doing art
and crafts. The young Wright
was a loner. His only close
friend was a boy in Madison,
who had lost both legs to
Polio. He even shared his
book prizes — his sole prizes
— with him.
INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
ALFRED NOBEL DONATES THE NOBEL PRIZE
1893DISMISSAL�&�REBIRTH
After his dismissal from Adler
& Sullivan, Wright started
to work free-lance, first in
partnership with his friend
Cecil Corwin and other young
architects, then from his own
office. Two years later Wright
adds a studio complex to his
Oak Park house.
EXPERIMENTAL FLIGHT FOR ORVILLE W
RIGHT
BROOKLYN BRIDGE IS OPENED TO THE PUBLICUNIVERSITY
Wright enrolls at the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, Madison.
27
1903
COMMISSIONS�OF�THE�DECADE
The two large commissions
of the 1900s were important:
The administration building for
the Larkin Company is a brick
building hermetically sealed
from the outside world with
numerous technical innovation.
For the first time Wright moves
the roof supports from the
corners of the building to the
center, thus freeing the walls
from their support function. He
perfects this system with the
Unity Temple in Oak Park.
1910
BREAKTHROUGH
Wright lives in Florence and
Fiesole, Italy. The mono-
graph Studies and Executive
Buildings is published in
Berlin. It initiates Wright’s
international breakthrough.
1920
TOKYO�&�LOS�ANGELES
He spent 1917-1922 predomi-
nantly in Tokyo building the
large Imperial Hotel. At the
same time he designed the
spacious Hollyhock House in
Los Angeles.
1905 1914
LINDBERGH IS FIRST TO FLY OVER THE ATLANTIC NON-STOP
1909ROBIE�HOUSE
Robie House in Chicago, unde-
niably the masterpiece of the
Prairie house era. Wright goes
to Europe with his new partner
Mamah Borthwick Cheneh.
VOYAGE�TO�JAPAN
FIRST CINEMA OF THE USA OPENS IN PITTS-
CATASTROPHE
In 1914, an employee ran amok
killing Mamah Cheney and set-
ting fire to the house. Never-
theless, Wright rebuilt Taliesin.
USA DECLARES WAR ON GERM
ANY
28
1924
Wright’s mentor Louis Sul-
livan dies One year later
Taliesin burns down again,
Wright is forced to sell his
Oak Park home.
JAPANESE BOMBING OF PEARL HARBOR
1936SECOND�BLOOM
Wright had returned to public
attention with publication,
lectures, and participation in
exhibitions. Finally, he was
again commissioned to build
houses and some of his most
important buildings were
erected within a few years. He
designed Fallingwater, which
appeared on the front page
of important magazines and
later advanced to be the most
famous residence of the 20th
century.
1932
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Wright’s An Autobiography
and his utopia The Disappear-
ing City are published. Wright
is also represented at the New
York exhibition “International
Style” opens in the Museum
of Modern Art in New York
THE STOCK MARKET CRASHES/THE FIRST OSCARS
FROZEN FOOD IS OFFERED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE USA
1932THE�FELLOWSHIP
Also in 1932, he founded
the Taliesin Fellowship as a
school for architects. The ap-
prentices were to be educated
by an active life in nature. The
central idea was: “Learning by
doing.” With the fellowship,
Wright had created a reliable
group of diligent and in some
cases very talented collabora-
tors. Without them, he would
never have been able to deal
with his enormous work load.
1939
WRIGHT�FOUNDATION
Establishment of the Frank
Lloyd Wright Foundation, to
which Wright transfers all of
his personal assets.
A�MENTORS�DEATH
29
1949
UNITARIAN�CHURCH
The construction of the
Unitarian Church in Madi-
son us the first of a series of
churches that Wright builds
for different denominations.
1959
THE�END
The year Wright dies, he
designs the Marin County
Civic Center. He dies April 6,
in Scottsdale, Arizona. Half a
year later, the Guggenheim
Museum opens
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. W
INS THE NOBEL
1948GIFT�SHOP�SPIRAL�RAMP
Wright build the first large
spiral ramp for V.C. Morris
Gift Shop in San Fransisco.
MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLDS HIS “I HAVE A DREAM
” SPEECH
1943
GUGGENHEIM
Wright is commissioned to
build the Guggenheim Mu-
seum in New York.
ELVIS PRESLEY STARTS HIS FIRST US-TOUR
THE USA EXPLODE FIRST HYDROGEN BOMB IN THE PACIFIC
1956PRICE�TOWER
The only one of Wright’s high-
rise buildings that was realized
— the Price Tower — is built in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma.