Transcript Frank Lloyd Wright - Spring Brook Elementary School

“What is architecture anyway? Is it the vast
collection of the various buildings which have
been built to please the varying taste of the
various lords of mankind? I think not. No, I know
that 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. So architecture
I know to be a Great Spirit….Architecture is that
great living creative spirit which from generation
to generation, from age to age, proceeds,
persists, creates, according to the nature of man,
and his circumstances as they change. That is
really architecture.”
1867-1959
Frank Lloyd Wright
was an American architect,
interior designer, writer,
educator, and philosopher
who lived from 1867 to 1959.
Already well-known during
his lifetime, Wright was
recognized in 1991 by the
American Institute of Architects as
“the greatest American architect of all time”
Frank Lloyd Wright
was an American architect,
interior designer, writer,
educator, and philosopher
who lived from 1867 to 1959.
Architect: someone who creates plans to be used in making something
(usually a building)
Already well-known during
his lifetime, Wright was
recognized in 1991 by the
American Institute of Architects as
“the greatest American architect of all time”
Wright was born on June 8,
1867. He started his formal
education in 1885 at the
University of Wisconsin
School for Engineering.
In 1887 he stopped his
education without taking a
degree and moved to
Chicago, where he was
consecutively a part of two
architectural firms.
In 1893 he started his own
architectural practice.
Wright designed more than
1,000 projects, which
resulted in more than 500
completed works.
When Wright was nine, his mother gave him
a set of Froebel blocks, a children's learning
toy. Through the blocks, Wright learned to
use geometry to create flat designs on paper
and to build designs with blocks. As he got
older, he started to see geometric shapes in
everything around him.
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the
most influential American architect of
the 20th century.
His legacy is an architectural style that
departed from European influences to
create a purely American form, one
that included the idea that buildings
can be in harmony with the natural
environment.
He blended ancient architectural
elements, such as columns, with new
construction technologies, such as
reinforced concrete, to create his
buildings.
Over his long career Wright designed a
wide variety of structures, both public
and private, including the home
known as Fallingwater, the Johnson
Wax Building and New York's
Guggenheim Museum.
The Frank Lloyd Wright
Home and Studio at
951 Chicago Avenue
in Oak Park, Illinois,
served as Wright's
private residence and
workplace from
1889 to 1909—
the first 20 years
of his career.
Here he raised six
children with his first
wife, Catherine Tobin.
Wright used his home as an architectural laboratory, experimenting with design
concepts that contain the basis of his architectural philosophy.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972
and declared a National Historic Landmark four years later.
In 1898, Wright added a studio, described by a fellow architect as a workplace with
"inspiration everywhere." In the Studio, Wright and his associates developed a new
American architecture: the Prairie Style, and designed 125 structures, including such
famous buildings as the Robie House, the Larkin Building and Unity Temple.
Between 1901 and 1911
Wright worked on a series of
suburban houses called
"Prairie Houses".
These houses were low buildings
with shallow roofs and often with
an open interior plan. Many of the
design elements found in these
structures can be seen in modern
suburban houses.
The Robie House
5757 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago
Wright practiced what is known as
organic architecture,
an architecture that evolves
naturally out of the context,
most importantly for him
the relationship between the
site and the building. Wright’s
creations took his concern with
organic architecture down to
the smallest details.
Wright believed that design and art
should be an integral part of our lives.
What can be considered Wright's most famous building, Fallingwater,
was constructed from 1935 to 1939. In this house he took advantage of reinforced
concrete to create a flowing, cantilevered design. His goal with the design was to put the
inhabitants of the house in as close contact with nature as possible. A stream flows right
through the structure and is accessible from within the house. Other houses have been
built alongside nature, but this one is truly built into nature.
Video
“The visit to the waterfall in the woods stays with me and a domicile has taken
shape in my mind to the music of the stream”
Frank Lloyd Wright
(to Edgar J. Kaufmann)
Another prominent building of Wright's is the Johnson Wax
Headquarters. This building started construction in 1936 and was
designed at the same time as Fallingwater. Much like Fallingwater
the structure took heavy advantage of the strength and versatility of
reinforced concrete.
The interior columns were a unique reverse of what is typically seen
with a wide, lily-pad top that narrows as it approaches the base. In a
fairly radical move the building had very few exterior windows, instead
relying on plastic tubing to bring in and diffuse outside light. The overall
result was a style that had never before been seen.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City occupied Wright for
16 years (1943–1959) and is probably his most recognized masterpiece.
The building rises as a
warm beige spiral. Its
interior is similar to the
inside of a seashell.
Its unique central
geometry was meant to
allow visitors to easily
experience Guggenheim's
collection of nonobjective
geometric paintings by
taking an elevator to the
top level and then viewing
artworks by walking down
the slowly descending,
central spiral ramp.
Unfortunately, when the museum was completed, a number
of important details of Wright's design were ignored,
including his desire for the interior to be painted off-white.
Furthermore, the Museum currently designs exhibits to be
viewed by walking up the curved walkway rather than
walking down from the top level.
Wright conceived virtually every
detail of both the external design
and the internal fixtures,
including furniture, carpets,
windows, doors, tables and
chairs, light fittings and
decorative elements.
He evolved a new concept of
interior space in architecture.
Rejecting the existing view of
rooms as single-function boxes,
Wright created overlapping
and interpenetrating rooms
with shared spaces.
Wright fully
embraced glass in
his designs and
found that it fit
well into his
philosophy of
organic architecture.
Glass allowed for
interaction and
viewing of the
outdoors while still
protecting from
the elements.
The Meyer May House Grand Rapids, MI
Information compiled by Jean Blowers 2010