The Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright
The Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright, born on June 8, 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin, began his career as a civil engineer, but in 1887, he got a job as a draftsman for the architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Not more than one year later, he began working directly under Louis Sullivan, which became a major figure in Wright’s architectural influence. To construct Wright’s first house at Oak Park, Illinois, he borrowed $5000 from Sullivan, and from here he constructed a work in progress, from which we can see many of his future concepts and design signatures, such as integration of nature (his east wing was built around a tree), the advent of the Prairie School Style (of which he was a founder), and his regard for wasted space (small bedrooms, no attic or basement). From here, he designed and built Taliesin, placed around the brow of the hill, rather than the top, on a tract of ancestral land given to him by his mother. After a tragic fire, Taliesin was rebuilt. In 1937, he constructed Taliesin West in Arizona, which epitomized the refinement of his concepts in every aspect of its construction.
When looking at Wright’s work, one cannot help but notice the abundance of low, flat buildings. Why did he insist on designing his buildings so close to the land? Wright once said, “Architecture is life, or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived.” Wright truly believed that architecture reflected the world at any building’s conception; to be quite specific, Wright wanted to capture the essence of the American culture, as opposed to the European influences of the Victorian houses everywhere else. “It was Sullivan's belief that American Architecture should be based on American function, not European traditions, a theory which Wright later developed further.” The use of architecture to reflect society is not such a new application; for example, it is generally accepted the abundance of Greek features in early 19th century architecture, which led to the development of the Greek Revival [aka. National Style], was a direct result of reflecting Greek democratic ideals in early American buildings.
From this, Wright felt free to develop his personal mantra, which he best describes in his own words: “Form follows function- that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” So of what American influence did he draw the rationalization for his uncommon sizing of spaces, his open and free spaces, and his use of the horizontal? With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, America entered into an era of unprecedented economical development, where people could travel to the opposite end of the continent in just a few days. This marked the beginning of a sort of “American Speed”, the unfortunate condition we all place ourselves in. Everyone suddenly became in a rush, and one needed to work as much as one could in order to flourish. Free time became a luxury, to such a point that any time spent not working was simply a waste. Wright saw this, and captured it in the relative sizes of his rooms. He designed his bedrooms to be small and claustrophobic, possibly seeing sleep as a minor feature of one’s life (one cannot do much work while sleeping). In addition to large bedrooms, he also considered attics and basement as wastes of space. After all, what good is it to spend time in storage spaces, where no work could be done? It is best not to design a form when the function itself is moot. Inversely, his work-spaces, studios, offices, libraries, etc. are all of a large nature, open and free relative to his other spaces. In doing this, he allowed for an atmosphere of work, emphasizing its importance in our society at the time.
It is a known fact Wright abhorred the “Victorian boxes” in which people lived at the time. Constrained in a closed space, he most likely felt living in one of those houses was similar to living in a jail. As he said himself, "whether people are fully conscious of this or not, they actually derive countenance and sustenance from the 'atmosphere' of the things they live in or with. They are rooted in them just as a plant is in the soil in which it is planted." We already know Wright was a strong proponent of democratic freedom; it is not too difficult to believe the open plans and intermingling of interior and exterior spaces is an attempt at expressing one’s freedom. One has the power of choice; does he or she consider the space in which he or she is in exterior or interior? Should it be considered one room if there is no division between two defined spaces? The sense of freedom is clearly emphasized in his free flowing, open plan designs.
Finally, his preference for horizontal, flat buildings. In today’s modern cities, we strive for incredibly high (sometimes unnecessarily so) buildings. We try to compact as much space as possible in as small of a footprint as we can. In ways, it does make sense to do this, especially in denser cities such as New York. However, in the Midwest, where Wright was born and raised, and from which he attributes much of his influence, there are vast expanses of space available to him. In the early 19th century, America was in a constant state of physical growth; we were acquiring land at amazing rates, and it was cheap and readily developable. Wright, accustomed to the lesser dense areas of the Midwest, designs his buildings with large footprints, not only because the land is available to him, but also because it helps give a sense of a greater “root” into the “soil in which it is planted”. With such large footprints, he no longer needs to have vertically tall buildings, and realizing he would have strong horizontal features, decides to make design decisions to help emphasize them, ranging from material selections (limestone at Taliesin to produce a horizontal stratification effect) to feature placement (such as large overhanging roofs, like at the Robie Residence, or cantilevered spaces, such as the walkway at Taliesin, or the exterior spaces at Falling Water).
Wright’s work is a perfect reflection of American society in the early 19th century. It was a time of economic expansion, unparalleled freedom, and growth of America’s physical size. Wright effectively distils and encapsulates all of these aspects of the time into his works, and from them, we can truly get much insight into early American life.
Frank Lloyd Wright, born on June 8, 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin, began his career as a civil engineer, but in 1887, he got a job as a draftsman for the architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Not more than one year later, he began working directly under Louis Sullivan, which became a major figure in Wright’s architectural influence. To construct Wright’s first house at Oak Park, Illinois, he borrowed $5000 from Sullivan, and from here he constructed a work in progress, from which we can see many of his future concepts and design signatures, such as integration of nature (his east wing was built around a tree), the advent of the Prairie School Style (of which he was a founder), and his regard for wasted space (small bedrooms, no attic or basement). From here, he designed and built Taliesin, placed around the brow of the hill, rather than the top, on a tract of ancestral land given to him by his mother. After a tragic fire, Taliesin was rebuilt. In 1937, he constructed Taliesin West in Arizona, which epitomized the refinement of his concepts in every aspect of its construction.
When looking at Wright’s work, one cannot help but notice the abundance of low, flat buildings. Why did he insist on designing his buildings so close to the land? Wright once said, “Architecture is life, or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived.” Wright truly believed that architecture reflected the world at any building’s conception; to be quite specific, Wright wanted to capture the essence of the American culture, as opposed to the European influences of the Victorian houses everywhere else. “It was Sullivan's belief that American Architecture should be based on American function, not European traditions, a theory which Wright later developed further.” The use of architecture to reflect society is not such a new application; for example, it is generally accepted the abundance of Greek features in early 19th century architecture, which led to the development of the Greek Revival [aka. National Style], was a direct result of reflecting Greek democratic ideals in early American buildings.
From this, Wright felt free to develop his personal mantra, which he best describes in his own words: “Form follows function- that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” So of what American influence did he draw the rationalization for his uncommon sizing of spaces, his open and free spaces, and his use of the horizontal? With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, America entered into an era of unprecedented economical development, where people could travel to the opposite end of the continent in just a few days. This marked the beginning of a sort of “American Speed”, the unfortunate condition we all place ourselves in. Everyone suddenly became in a rush, and one needed to work as much as one could in order to flourish. Free time became a luxury, to such a point that any time spent not working was simply a waste. Wright saw this, and captured it in the relative sizes of his rooms. He designed his bedrooms to be small and claustrophobic, possibly seeing sleep as a minor feature of one’s life (one cannot do much work while sleeping). In addition to large bedrooms, he also considered attics and basement as wastes of space. After all, what good is it to spend time in storage spaces, where no work could be done? It is best not to design a form when the function itself is moot. Inversely, his work-spaces, studios, offices, libraries, etc. are all of a large nature, open and free relative to his other spaces. In doing this, he allowed for an atmosphere of work, emphasizing its importance in our society at the time.
It is a known fact Wright abhorred the “Victorian boxes” in which people lived at the time. Constrained in a closed space, he most likely felt living in one of those houses was similar to living in a jail. As he said himself, "whether people are fully conscious of this or not, they actually derive countenance and sustenance from the 'atmosphere' of the things they live in or with. They are rooted in them just as a plant is in the soil in which it is planted." We already know Wright was a strong proponent of democratic freedom; it is not too difficult to believe the open plans and intermingling of interior and exterior spaces is an attempt at expressing one’s freedom. One has the power of choice; does he or she consider the space in which he or she is in exterior or interior? Should it be considered one room if there is no division between two defined spaces? The sense of freedom is clearly emphasized in his free flowing, open plan designs.
Finally, his preference for horizontal, flat buildings. In today’s modern cities, we strive for incredibly high (sometimes unnecessarily so) buildings. We try to compact as much space as possible in as small of a footprint as we can. In ways, it does make sense to do this, especially in denser cities such as New York. However, in the Midwest, where Wright was born and raised, and from which he attributes much of his influence, there are vast expanses of space available to him. In the early 19th century, America was in a constant state of physical growth; we were acquiring land at amazing rates, and it was cheap and readily developable. Wright, accustomed to the lesser dense areas of the Midwest, designs his buildings with large footprints, not only because the land is available to him, but also because it helps give a sense of a greater “root” into the “soil in which it is planted”. With such large footprints, he no longer needs to have vertically tall buildings, and realizing he would have strong horizontal features, decides to make design decisions to help emphasize them, ranging from material selections (limestone at Taliesin to produce a horizontal stratification effect) to feature placement (such as large overhanging roofs, like at the Robie Residence, or cantilevered spaces, such as the walkway at Taliesin, or the exterior spaces at Falling Water).
Wright’s work is a perfect reflection of American society in the early 19th century. It was a time of economic expansion, unparalleled freedom, and growth of America’s physical size. Wright effectively distils and encapsulates all of these aspects of the time into his works, and from them, we can truly get much insight into early American life.
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