Frank Lloyd Wright (06/08/1867 – 04/09/1959) is one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, the founder of “organic architecture” and the principle of free planning.
The creator of the famous “House Over the Falls” (1939) and the New York Guggenheim Museum (1959), the author of more than 20 books (including “The Future of Architecture” and “The Vanishing City”), Wright radically changed the image of a residential building, abandoning eclecticism in favor of geometric simplicity. The career of the architect, who scandalized American society with the ups and downs of his personal life (high-profile divorces, financial litigation and even arrest in the mid-1920s), is full of ups and downs.
Guggenheim Museum, (1959).
A pioneer of the modern movement, who had a huge influence on the development of functionalism in Europe, he remained a lone architect in the New World. People first started talking about Wright in 1910, when a series of his articles were published in Germany. It turned out that a young talent on the other side of the Atlantic was creating advanced architecture and solving planning problems that leading European architects were then struggling with.
“House of Kunley”, (1908).
Most of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings from 1893 to 1910 were residential buildings built for private clients in Illinois (Wright opened his own office here in 1894). They are called “prairie houses”: low volumes stretched along the horizon line, echoing the flat landscape of the Midwest. It was in these buildings (Willits House, 1902; Coonley House, 1908; Robie House, 1908) that Wright first formulated the principles of “organic architecture,” which became his creative credo: the unity of the building and the natural environment, architecture and interior.
He sets out to free up the interior space of the house: instead of “box-like rooms”, he designs a single room with a central fireplace, develops built-in furniture for each order, integrates heating, water supply and lighting systems into the building’s design, achieving absolute unity of all elements. The integrity of the design must be evident in everything: “the carpets on the floor and the curtains are as much parts of the building as the plaster of the walls and the tiles of the roof,” wrote the architect. Wright compared the abundance of things cluttering up space to an upset stomach. The architect’s ideal was a traditional Japanese house, practically devoid of furniture (Wright began to become interested in Japanese culture back in the 1890s, and in 1905 he made his first trip to this country).
“The House of Willits”, (1902).
A true masterpiece among “prairie houses” is the Teilizin estate in southern Wisconsin, built by Wright in 1911 for his mistress Martha Borthwick. Architectural volumes made of local limestone are inscribed into the hillside and complemented by a landscaped park with swimming pools. Teilizin suffered three fires; the worst happened in 1914: six people died in a fire, including Martha Borthwick and her children…
In the 1920s, Wright worked in Tokyo, where he built the Imperial Hotel (1915-1923). In America, with the renewed fashion for eclecticism, his name is not popular and is even considered “indecent.” A new career rise begins in the 1930s. As part of his “Broad Horizon City” concept, which involves expanding the city and merging with leafy suburbs, Wright is creating a series of typical “USONA” (United States of North America) projects—low-rise residential buildings for the middle class.
Teilizin Manor (1911).
The quintessence of “organic architecture” and the culmination of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work is the house in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, built for entrepreneur Edgar Kaufmann (1936-39). The ingenious project, which Wright put off working on for several months, was created a couple of hours before the customer arrived. Despite the lack of time, the architect provided every little detail in the sketch: he didn’t even forget the bench, where you can sit on to admire the landscape! The house is designed in the form of multi-level terraces hanging over a natural rock with a waterfall. Their horizontally elongated volumes follow the contours of a block of stone and create the impression that the house is part of the natural landscape.
“The House Over the Waterfall” (1939).
At the age of 70, the tireless architect, with his wife and a group of students, went to Arizona, where he began construction of a new house, called West Teilizin. Spread out in the middle of a deserted desert, the residential complex became not only the Wrights’ winter residence, but also a large architectural school and workshop. The training program was aimed at diversified development: students were engaged in landscape design, studied art, literature, music, and organized receptions for clients. It is now home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, dedicated to preserving his legacy.
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