Difference between revisions of "Frank Lloyd Wright"

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Frank Lloyd Wright (1887 - 1959) was an American architect. His career was varied, as he did not always please those who hired designers of buildings. While his early career was studded with commercial projects, he fell upon hard times and was reduced to designing houses for wealthy people in the greater Chicago area. In the third phase of his career, he was once again welcomed as the genius he was, and added greatly to the vocabulary of modern American architecture.

One cannot help but be amazed at the subtle beauty of almost any building he designed, whether it was a corporate headquarters, or a house in Illinois.

Wright's style involved several elements, not the least of which was his strong personality. He emphasized working with the land and the locality, preferring to use building materials which were locally available, and setting his projects "in to" their surroundings, rather than "against them". He was a perfectionist and a philosopher of sorts. He would not only design a "building", but also the furniture to be used in it, if it was a dwelling, or where the desks and filing cabinets would go - and how they were to be built - if it was commercial project.

He would design every detail of a building, incorporating highly detailed Art Deco elements, for instance in windows and furniture.

Although his structures and ideas were a brilliant revolution, his work also had a tendency toward serious flaws - he is fanously quoted as saying to a client how complained that the roof leaked over his desk, "move your desk".

The "Prairie House"

Wright espoused a philosophy of making buidings to fit their environment, and his greatest legacy in this area is the Praire House. They were designed with overhanging eaves, to block the sun in summer, but to allow the winter sun in through the windows. They had broad horizontal lines, intended to make them blend in with the plains where they were located. While adapted to the American prairie (hence the name), the basic outline became what we know now as the "ranch house" - perhap renamed to spare him the tragedy of being blamed for so many modern cookie-cutter developments.

Private Homes

For a time, Wright was confined to designing dwellings for the prosperous. His houses are beautiful to look at, and almost immediately identifiable by his characteristic signature lines.

Taliesin

Mr. Wright built his own "dream house" in Wisconsin, called "Taliesin". Here he ran his operations, using many apprectices, perhaps unfairly - although one can say, that working unaccredited for a "master" is reward in itself. tragedy befell him here, as the first buildig burned down.

Corporate projects

At the headquarters for the Larkin Company Administration Building in Bufflao, New York, we see Wright at his prime, not only blueprinting the building, but also designing the workspaces. Another famous project was the S.C. Johnson headquarters.

Famous projects

• The Guggenheim Museum in upper Manhattan is one of his best-known "late career" accomplishments
• Fallingwater, a house built over a waterfall in rural Pennsylvania is almost a museum now. Wouldn't we all want a house like this?

Trivia

His career, and difficulties with it, were loosely adapted in the novel "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.