FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT“BROADACRE CITY: A NEW COMMUNITY PLAN”

Architectural Record 1935

Filofteia – Cristina RăbăgelMSP I

26 May 2010

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT(1867-1959)

• “the architecture of American democracy”• A social revolutionary• His belief: a system of personal freedom and

dignity through land ownership guaranteed social harmony and avoid the class struggle

• Broadacre City (a social structure)presented at Rockefeller Center in 1935

BROADACRE CITY

• A model of four square miles of a typical countryside developed on the acre as unit according to conditions in the temperate zone and accommodating around 1,400 families

THE PRINCIPLES OF BROADACRE CITY

• Decentralization and redistribution• Symmetry with rhythm, no standardization• Architectural reintegration • Free use of the ground• Public utilities and government itself owned

by the people of Broadacre City (the architect is the agent of the state)

• Economic independence

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BROADACRE CITY

• Quality of the buildings is the same• Coordination wherein all are employed• All public utilities are concentrated in the

hands of the county government• Materials used at constructions: fireproof

materials, glass, copper• Every citizen has his own car

THE COMPONENTS OF BROADACRE CITY

• houses – 4 types; farms; factories; markets;• General park – a flowered meadow • Traffic – multiple-lane highways; no grade

crossing; no signals or lamp-posts• Trains only for long-distance; aerator• Schools placed in the interior of the city;

include art galleries, concert hall, gardens, zoo, pools and green playground.