Wright, Frank Lloyd - the famous architect, Детальна інформація

Wright, Frank Lloyd - the famous architect
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Wright achieved his goal of low-cost, democratic American architecture with his Usonian houses of the 1930s. Usonia was Wright's term for the United States of North America, with an i added for a pleasing sound. The Usonian house had a simple design, usually with an L-shaped floor plan. This plan separated the noisier living space on one leg of the L from the quieter bedroom space on the other leg. The floor was made of concrete slabs, typically in a square grid of 4 by 4 ft (1.2 by 1.2 m) for easy construction. Pipes carrying heated water ran beneath the floor and provided radiant heat. The kitchen, which Wright called the workspace, and two supporting walls at each end of the house were of masonry (brick or stone). Long wood panels, emphasizing the structure's horizontality, were used for both interior and exterior walls. Glass window walls on the inside of the L opened onto the yard, while the wooden outside of the L closed the house off from the street.

The first Usonian house to be built was the Herbert Jacobs house (1936) in Madison, Wisconsin. Wright created more than 50 such houses, sometimes varying the L plan or using equilateral triangles, diamonds, or circular segments as the module for the grid. In the 1950s Wright substituted masonry for wood on the exterior, at first using blocks and then reintroducing the textile block system he pioneered in California. The masonry blocks for the system were 16 in (41 cm) wide and could be made by the client to reduce the cost.

D. Fallingwater and Other Late Works



Ironically, the work for which Wright is best known is one of his largest and least democratic works: Fallingwater, built in 1936 for Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann. Cantilevered dramatically over a waterfall in southwest Pennsylvania, Fallingwater is notable for its relationship with the environment-it appears to emerge from the rocks above the waterfall-and for bringing the outdoors inside. Not only does the waterfall become part of the house-a staircase in the living room leads down to it-but the wooded glen that surrounds the house is visible from every room. Concrete balconies cantilever at right angles from the house's vertical stone core, and a balcony off the main living space extends over the waterfall.

Another major commission of the 1930s came from Herbert F. Johnson, president of the Johnson Wax Company in Racine, Wisconsin. It included the company's Administration Building (1936) and Wingspread (1937), an elegant house for Johnson that has four wings arranged in a pinwheel pattern around a central core. The roof of the Administration Building's main workroom appears to float above a forest of tall, tapered columns with broad, flat tops. Light enters through skylights and long bands of glass tubing.

Aside from Fallingwater, the building for which Wright is most remembered is the Guggenheim Museum (1957-1959) in New York City. Its spiraling ramp provides a dramatic setting for art, although critics have questioned the ramp's suitability as an exhibition space.

Wright's innovative designs and use of materials often drew controversy. Builders doubted whether his cantilevers-especially at Fallingwater-would support their weight. Others questioned the practicality of his designs, such as that for the Guggenheim. Wright's legacy consists of more than 1,000 designs, nearly half of which were built. He continued working until his death, two months before his 92nd birthday. Architects worldwide now employ grid systems as well as the open type of floor plan he pioneered. The originality of Wright's designs, his sensitivity to a building's surroundings, and his creative use of materials-especially concrete and cement blocks-have been widely recognized. A number of his buildings are considered national landmarks.



Materials: Donald Hoffman, Frank Wright’s Falling Water;Donald Hoffman Robie House.



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