frank lloyd wright

© Robyn Hawke - This material cannot be copied, reproduced, reprinted without the

written permission of the author

Frank Lloyd Wright and Design

Elements

by Robyn Hawke

of

www.inspiredspaces.com.au

QUALIFIED INTERIOR DESIGNER

Frank Lloyd Wright and Design Elements

2 © Robyn Hawke - This material cannot be copied, reproduced, reprinted without the


Frank Lloyd Wright: born Wisconsin 1867 died 1959

• Background stepped in strong Unitarian, transcendental principles surrounding pastoral, educational, agricultural aspects. Strongly Welsh - mother fostered literature, poetry, philosophy and music which developed a sense of human value and love of nature

• Worked for architects J Lyman Silsbee, Louis Sullivan & Dankmar Adler –

Sullivan only architect Wright has acknowledged as having influenced him – more attitudinal than style – concept of architectural honesty – form follows function – meaning honesty of expression essential pre-condition to creation of beautiful building

• Began own firm in 1893 and later trained many architects at his Taliesin

School

• Designed houses, offices, churches, schools, libraries, bridges, museum as well as furniture, fabric, art glass, lamps, dinnerware, silver, linen and graphic arts

• Attempted to create new architecture that reflected American democratic

experience, based solely on America’s democratic values

• Believed in native materials – insisted that buildings grow naturally from their surroundings eg branch of a tree a natural cantilever – this influence apparent in his work such as the earth-hugging “Prairie Houses” to cascading cantilevers of Fallingwater, from sky-lighted forest of concrete columns in Johnson Wax Administration Building, the rugged beauty of Taliesin West, to spiralling “snail like” Guggenheim museum (The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Web site) – believed that “the closer man associated himself with nature the greater his personal, spiritual and even physical well-being grew and expanded as a direct result of this association” Pfeiffer (1991;26)

• Described as having an intuitive understanding of social and human needs –

designed to human scale

• Career generally divided into 3 periods 1. 1893-WWI – Prairie House – new American style 2. between WWI and mid 1930’s , sometimes called the lost

years– relatively few commissions – most notable Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel – period of experimentation with different building technologies and new designs based on geometric forms other than square or rectangle – established Taliesin Fellowship

3. Usonian Era 1932-1959 Usonian house - designed for families

on modest income – generally single storey houses with simple floor plans, based on a grid system, with radiant heat, a small central kitchen space and usually flat roofs – also large projects such as Fallingwater




• Buildings demonstrated variety of form but all based on the same principles of “organic architecture” (Appendix)

• Traditionally house been enclosed space, an inside, refuge for individual and

family - he wanted openness without dominance – destroyed the ‘box’ and created new, general interaction between inside and out – concept of inside changed from that of a refuge to become a fixed point in space, from which man could experience a new sense of freedom and participation – this point in space often where Wright placed great fireplaces with vertical chimneys

Prairie Houses eg Robie House Chicago Illinios 1906-1909 Aim was to capture endless freedom of Western frontier – create an environment of freedom and repose

• Been described as subtle, complex, calm and horizontal • According to Tate & Smith (19 ;245) “his spatial geometry reflects his

structural invention; lighting reinforce space, furnishings reiterated his linear schemes, construction materials and his every ornamental detail is integrated with his larger concerns”

Space single flowing entity

Elongated plan emphasises horizontal

Sense of visual space




Extending roof highlights scale

Basement floor acts as pedestal for main floor above

Horizontal pitched roof & terraces

Repetition

Continuous band of windows under eaves further accentuates horizontal nature

Even though the horizontal plane is the dominant characteristic of Wright’s designs there is still a complex arrangement of space as demonstrated by the 3-dimensional quality of the façade.




Repetition elongates space Continuous headline alters scale

Cantilevered couch continues theme from outside - harmony

Ceiling, wall and floor planes all emphasise the horizontal

Pattern added through stained glass window & provide light & transparency

Vertical panes in contrast to the horizontal effect created by repetition of windows




Chimney unifying function of locking pieces of house together

Interior space opens freely to outdoors

Controlled straight lines contrast with rhythm of windows

Materials repeated on inside creates texture – harmonious use of materials &

Horizontal line further emphasised by contrast in colour




Kaufmann House (Fallingwater), Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1936 Wright described it as the principle of repose where forest, stream, rock and all elements of structure are combined quietly. Pfeiffer (1991; 120)

Cantilevers extend living areas and integrate with the surrounding landscape

Concrete slabs exaggerate horizontal floor and roof planes – cantilever from a central core

Attempts to integrate building with natural site

Pfeiffer quotes Wright as “I had an idea that the horizontal planes in buildings belong to the ground”

Clustered organization around central core




Planes differentiated and accentuated by changes in colour, texture and material – highlights scale

Vertical elements constructed in native stone – gives a sculptural quality though at the same still highlighting the horizontal

Horizontal elements - poured concrete




Windows frame view

Simple interior encourages the incorporation of the outdoors as part of the overall design

Detail draws eye to ceiling - emphasise the horizontal & change in form

Attempt to blur the distinction between the inside & exterior

Strong visual accent

Hearth symbolic -comfort

Open space emphasises scale of room

Repetition of form in furniture continues to accentuate the horizontal

Continuation of materials in interior harmonises both inside & out




Unity Temple Oak Park 1906 – 2 simple rooms linked together by entrance lobby, heavy, simple concrete walls and flat slab roof – described as having repose – quality of tranquillity

2 major spaces: Social area

Temple area

Axis provides direction

Symmetry organises form & space

Pfeiffer (1991; 24) quotes “space within became the reality of the building, not the walls or ceilings”

Repetition of vertical line creates horizontal linear movement –combination of scale & detail

Clerestory windows provide light to space & continue horizontal form

Compressed space – makes room appear larger when enter




Sense of scale – height

Earth tones - nature Line is dominant with both vertical and horizontal planes – though horizontal dominates through the use of repetition

Hanging lights tie roof to space below

Balconies decrease need for floor space –brings congregation closer to minister

Trim – leads eye from one element to another – organises overall space, adds definition, borders and edges each plane, frames colour, alters scale and changes perspective

Temple ceiling – alters light & ambience of space

Pierced waffle construction with line defining skylights

Strong use of geometric shape – repeated throughout the building




Appendix Organic architecture is an architecture from within outward, in which entity is an ideal…..Organic means intrinsic – in the philosophic sense, entity – wherever the whole is to the part as the part is to the whole and where the nature of the materials, the nature of the purpose, the nature of the entire performance, becomes clear as a necessity. Frank Lloyd Wright 1953




Bibliography Heinz T 2002 Frank Lloyd Wright’s Interiors Grange

Books England

Heinz T 2002 Frank Lloyd Wright’s Houses Grange Books England

Heinz T 2002 Frank Lloyd Wright’s Public Buildings Grange Books England

Norberg-Schulz C 1980 Meaning In Western Architecture International Publications NY

Pfeiffer B 1991 Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Risebero B 1979 The Story of Western Architecture The Herbert Press Ltd Gt Britain

Tate & Smith 1986 Interior Design in the 20th Century Harper & Row NY

www.all-wright .com




Frank Lloyd Quotes

Freedom is from within I believe in God, only I spell it Nature The mother art is architecture Classicism is a mask and does not reflect transition Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union Every great architect is—necessarily—a great poet The space within becomes the reality of the building Less in only more where more is no good The room within is the great fact about the building The architect must be a prophet…if he can’t seen at least ten years ahead don’t call him an architect A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines Think simple Get the habit of analysis o analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind The truth is more important than the facts Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you

frank lloyd wright

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