ARCHITECTURE OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Mary Ellen Page

2004

FRANK * LLOYD ** WRIGHT

When someone mentions Frank Lloyd Wright, most people think immediately about Falling Water, otherwise known as the Edgar Kaufman House built in 1936 in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. This house, without a doubt, is the architects masterpiece with its cascading waterfall, cantilevered balconies, sandstone walls, and mitered glass, all this natural beauty in a wooded setting. Wright built it over Bear Run Stream which runs directly below the living room floor! He said to Kaufman, I want you to live with the waterfall, not just look at it! Edgar Kaufman, the original owner, was also an apprentice of the architect. He was so impressed by this masterpiece that he said, Architecture is poetry architecture speaks as poetry to the soul. A good building is the greatest of poems when it is organic architecture. If this is true, Frank Lloyd Wright is the greatest poet of the XIX and XX centuries. He was way ahead of his time in the great variety that he offered in his designs. Every house he built enjoyed the concept of bringing the outside in and the inside out. He loved earth tones (soft autumn colors), and selected these materials for their texture and colors. He wanted lots of light to filter in, in a variety of ways. There was never any wasted space in any of his buildings. He designed religious buildings both Jewish and Christian. Temple Beth Shalom (1954) in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania resembles another Noahs Ark rather than a synagogue. Wright wanted it to be a mountain of light, a moving Sinai. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church built just two years later in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, resembles a huge flying saucer laid out in the form of a Greek Cross with clerestory windows resembling those found in Byzantine architecture. Florida Southern College (1938) in Lakeland, Florida was an unusual project since students played a major role in the construction of the campus, mixing concrete and making blocks. Here Wright used textured concrete and multicolored glass to play with the filtered sunlight. The S.C. Johnson & Son Administration Building (1936) in Racine, Wisconsin, a seven-story architectural marvel has skylights and covered walkways, and a wide open interior with supports that resemble huge round patio tables on very long slender columns. The architect also designed all the wood and meal furniture. Another architectural masterpiece is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Art Museum in New York City. Often called the Ziggurat, it resembles an ancient Sumerian temple with its spiral connected levels. The project with numerous revisions and multiple delays took a full sixteen years to complete. A domed ceiling with skylights, spiral tiers graduating from small at the bottom to much larger on top, and an open interior court area are integral design features of this highly controversial museum which opened in 1959.

He designed a wide variety of houses for people with very exclusive taste and open pocketbook budgets, those that accommodated any last-minute costly changes. The Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, built in 1917, is a massive structure resembling a Mayan temple with its circling hollyhocks made of poured concrete, texture block construction, and other pre-Columbian designs. The vast gardens, almost ceiling to floor windows, and open courtyard all brought nature into the design. He said, Architecture needs to be free, and that it was in this house. While the majority of these buildings were designed for very wealthy clients, someone had approached him to design something far more affordable, yet designed in the same great quality of his other projects. These Prairie Houses (1906-1907) found across the Midwest enjoyed some innovative architectural features that have been handed down to the XXI century, over 100 years later. Large fireplace in a spacious living room Window placement for cross ventilation Lots of windows Space under the floor for better ventilation Lower ceilings providing for greater heating efficiency Overhanging eaves to keep rain off exterior walls and provide shade in the summer Bedrooms grouped together Ceiling fans In his 75-year career, Frank Lloyd Wright had ample opportunity to share his gift for unique and practical commercial, residential, religious, and educational design. The flow of his designs, the harmony with nature, the blending of a variety of materials, and his manipulation of colors and textures create a form of visual poetry. Frank Lloyd Wright truly was the greatest architect of the XIX and XX century.