Transcript Frank lloyd wright - Texas Tech College of Architecture

Frank lloyd wright
The Latter years (1932-1959)
After the Prairie House
Timeline
1909 Due to the scandal of leaving his wife and children for
the wife of one of his clients, Frank Lloyd Wright has
Difficulties in securing new clients and closes his
Firm in Oak Park.
1910 - 1912 Wright travels Europe with Mrs. Cheney while
working on having his portfolio and writings published.
1916 - 1921 After the murder of Mrs. Cheney and her
children by a Farmhand at his house, Taliesin, in Spring
Green, Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright moves to Japan.
while there he has several commissions. The most
notable is The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
1922 Returns to the USA. Designs four houses in California,
and several apartment complexes and resorts. The
latter are never built because of the 1929 Crash.
1932 With his second wife, Oliganna Hinzenberg, Wright
starts the Taliesin Fellowship with 23 apprentices.
Publishing
Ausgefuhrte Bauten und Enturfe (1910) His portfolio and
writings on architecture.
Ausgefuhrte Bauten (1911) A more extensive photograph
collection of his work.
In 1925 his portfolio, ausgefuhrte Bauten, was republished in
Holland, including an English translation.
An Autobiography (1932)
The Disappearing City (1932)
Taliesin School of Architecture
In 1932, Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife started the Taliesin Fellowship, which then became the Frank Lloyd
Wright School of Architecture. Twenty-three apprentices came to live and work on wrights farm in Spring
Green.
The farm was a self-sustaining entity, with the apprentices growing and harvesting their own food, building
their own living quarters and other buildings needed on the farm. They also learned drafting, construction
methods, and other crafts, as well as overseeing the construction of Wright’s projects.
"The fine arts, so called," they asserted, "should stand at the center as inspiration grouped about architecture . . . . (of
which landscape and the decorative arts would be a division)." Education at Taliesin would emphasize painting,
sculpture, music, drama, and dance "in their places as divisions of architecture." Frank Lloyd Wright (1931).
Each Fall after harvest ,the apprentices would then load up trucks and station wagons with food, drawings,
and other necessities and caravan across the plains to scottsdale arizona, the site of Taliesin West. The
school continued Throughout his life, having upward to 100 students at a time. Apprentices worked on their
own designs as well as projects assigned to them by Frank lloyd Wright.
TALIESIN, FARM AND OUTBUILDINGS
RENDERED BY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1933)
TALIESIN WEST - LIVING ROOM
SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA
Organic Architecture
After his return from Japan, Frank lloyd Wright gave many lectures and
interviews on architecture. In these discussion he began describing what
he called, “Organic Architecture.” This became the theme for the rest of
his career. How he defined Organic Architecture changed often, as he
refined it, and also as the situation demanded.
“one that is integral to site; integral to environment;
integral to the life of the inhabitants. A house integral
with the nature of materials --- wherein glass is used as
glass, stone as stone, wood as wood --- and all the
elements of environment go into and throughout the house.
Into this new integrity, once there, those who live in it
will take root and grow. And most of all belonging to the
nature of its being.” Frank Lloyd Wright
Integral to Site - houses designed to rise up out of the site as it belonging.
Integral to environment - built appropriately to climate.
Integral to Individual - Each building built to accommodate the lifestyle
of the inhabitants way of life and needs.
Integral to Materials - details of the building were the materials
themselves
HOUSE SITS ON ROCK “CLIFF” RISING FROM THE SEA
AND COVERED WITH GREEN CANOPY ROOF
WALKER HOUSE (1948)
HOUSE RISING OUT OF THE HILL NATURALLY
OLFELFT HOUSE (1958)
ROUGH ROCK AND CONCRETE BLEND WITH HARSH DESERT
ENVIRONMENTS, SLATTED WINDOWS PROTECT FROM HARSH SUN.
TALIESIN WEST
Usonian houses
With the stock-market crash of 1929, Frank Lloyd Wright turned his
interest to low cost housing for the masses. He called these houses,
Usonian, being of the USA. The first of these was the Jacob’s house (1936).
The entire project cost $5,500, this included Wrights fee of $450. In the
next 30 years over 50 houses were built, and a hundred more designed, on
the precepts of the Jacob’s home. These homes were innovated and ahead
of their time, as Wright created homes to fulfill the needs of a changing
American society. Following the demands of Organic Architecture, each of
the houses were individual and unique. However, they did have common
elements that united them.
*Designed on a Module system - Originally a 2’ x 4’ grid and a vertical
grid of 1’-1”. these were the size of 1/2 sheet plywood, and the
dimintions of the slat and battens that made up the wall. Later other
modules would be used based on the site and the materials used.
* Deep Eaves - Cantilevered roofs that overhung and sheltered the
walls, shading the house and Clearstory windows from the
afternoon sun
*Open Plan - Pioneered the connecting of the kitchen, dining room, and
Living room. This Reflected the need for the Lady of the house to be
connected to the activity of the house, not hidden away.
* Connection to Nature - Shielded house from Public, but opened up
the private side to the gardens and Light, blending indoors and
outdoors, continuing the design of the house to the exterior.
* Efficient design of Bedrooms and Bathrooms - Bedrooms were
modest in size, but contained spacious closets. Bathroom plumbing
was stacked and located adjacent to kitchen to economize on
material cost.
* Passive Heating - Use of concrete floors as thermal mass and large
windows help regulate heating and cooling. In-bedded Plumbing pipes
under foundations to provide radiant heating.
* Economical Materials - Used materials that were inexpensive. Early
models with concrete, brick, and plywood, later with local stones
and CMU blocks. Avoided ornamentation, instead let the natural
properties of the materials provide the details of the house
STANDARD USONIAN WALL SECTION
BATTEN BOARD WALLS, CLEARSTORY WINDOWS AND
OVERHANGING, FLAT EAVES DEFINED THE USONIAN HOUSES
SCHWARTZ HOUSE (1939)
Usonian Housing Plans
As time passed, Frank Lloyd Wright adapted the usonian concepts from the original 2’x’4’ design to six general
styles.
DIAGONAL DESIGN
SIMILAR TO POLLIWOG LAYOUT
BUT BASED ON A PARALLELOGRAM
AND WALLS ANGLES RATHER THAN
90 DEGREES.
Right: Snowflake House (1941)
POLLIWOG DESIGN
2’X 4’ LAYOUT WITH 90 DEGREE “TAIL” EXTENDING
INTO GARDEN SEPARATING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
AREAS OF THE HOUSE
ABOVE AND TOP: JACOB’S HOUSE (1936)
In-Line Design
house designed for narrower lots, square layout
without tail.
ABOVE : GOETSCH-WINKLER HOUSE (1939)
Usonian Housing Plans
RAISED DESIGN
TWO-STORY DESIGN MADE TO ACCOMMODATE
SLOPED PROPERTY LOTS
Above: Lloyd Lewis house (1940)
SOLAR HEMI-CIRCLE DESIGN
FIRST BUILT FOR JACOB’S
FAMILY WHEN THEY OUTGREW
THE ORIGINAL USONIAN
DESIGN, BUILT AROUND A
CIRCLE COURTYARD.
Above right: Jacob’s House II
(1940)
Lower Right: David Wright
House (1950)
HEXAGONAL DESIGN
Above: Hanna house (1936)
Broadacre City
In 1935, Frank Lloyd Wright took his concepts of organic design and Usonian Architecture and applied them
to the design of the new american city, one that abandoned the crowded, unhealthy conditions of the
metropolitan life. The plan centralized itself on the idea of habitants living with nature. each residence
was located on a one acre lot, giving them lots of space to have a personal garden and privacy. The lots
were accessed by arterial roads that connected to a main highway, which had a monorail for public
transportation and freight traffic. Public venues such as government, entertainment, and recreation were
located in one central location. Wright imagined these cities expanding across the whole nation and, as
current cities were abandoned for this preferred lifestyle, replacing existing cities. Though these designs
never came to complete fruition, however, various townships were designed and built based on his ideas.
Above: Broadacre City Plot Design (1935)
Frank LLoyd Wright
ONE-ACRE PLOT PER HOUSE
Above: Broadacre City Rendering(1935)
Frank LLoyd Wright
Popular Successes
During these latter years of Frank Lloyd
Wright life he had become a household
name. His plans were published in home and
garden magazines, he was interviewed on
radio and television, gave lectures, built
hundreds of homes and buildings, and
preached constantly the values of Usonian
design and Organic Architecture. Two
buildings however Stood above the rest in
the minds of the general public that made
him the great American architect.
Falling Waters (1935) - Designed and under
construction the same time the Jacob's
house was built there is a remarkable
contrast and similarities to Wrights
Usonian Plan. It was ornate, opulent and
costly rather than simple and inexpensive.
Both did have open plans and Falling Water
was integral to its site as a building could
be, truly organic. (Seen on Left)
The Guggenheim Museum of Modern Arts - At
first glance appears very different in
style, but examination shows a very
Organic Architecture and commonalities to
Usonian houses. It was based on the Module
of the circle similar the the Hemi-circle
House. This can be seen in plan, fencing,
dome ceiling, flooring pattern, and with
curving ramps for circulation around
Central,rather than exterior courtyard
exterior.
(seen on right)
Bibliography
Alan and Alan Hess. Frank Lloyd Wright - MidCentury Modern. New York: Rizzoli International
Publications, 2007.
Drexler, Arthur. The Drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright. New
York: Horizon Press for the Museum of Modern Art,
1962.
Meehan, Patrick J. The Master Architect: Conversations
With Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 1984.
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Selected
houses, vol. 6. Tokyo: A.D.A. edita, 1991.
Above: Tracy House (1954)
Weintraub,Sergeant, John. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian
Houses. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications,
1976.
Wright, Frank Lloyd. Modern Architecture: Being the Kahn
Lectures for 1930. Southern Illinois University
Press, 1931.
Wright, John Lloyd. My Father Who Is on Earth. Southern
illinios University Press, 1994.
Above: Pearce House (1950)