Organic architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright. house above the waterfall

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Organic architecture is a whole philosophy based on the ideas of harmonious coexistence between man and the environment. The founder of this style was the American architect F. L. Wright, who created his own school, where future architects study in the 21st century.

Organic architectural style

Any architecture is created according to certain physical and aesthetic natural laws, as well as according to the rules of geometric constructions in the Euclidean coordinate system. Unlike traditional objects built in rectangular shapes, organic ones are based on the concept of inscribing the building into a single living complex with the surrounding landscape and nature.

The goal of organic architecture (lat.) is that the shape of the building and its placement should be in harmony with the natural landscape. Only natural materials are allowed.

In thisarchitecture has 3 main aspects:

• eco-friendly materials, safe for humans;
• bionic form of the object;
• use of natural landscape.

The founder of this style is the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who developed and supplemented the theory of his mentor Louis Sullivan.

F. L. Wright and his objects

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) for 70 years of creativity created and translated into reality the theory of the composition of architecture as an organic integral space, which is completely inseparable from its environment. The idea of its continuity is based on the principle of free planning and is widely used by modern architects.

According to the projects of F. L. Wright, country mansions and residential buildings were built, as well as public buildings, during the creation of which he used the principle of overflowing spaces. In total, during his creative life, he managed to design 1141 buildings, including not only residential buildings, but also churches, schools, museums, offices, etc. Of these, 532 projects have been implemented, and 609 are at an unfinished stage.

In addition to architectural structures, F. L. Wright designed furniture, fabrics, art glass, tableware and silverware. He also became famous as a teacher, writer and philosopher, having written 20 books and numerous articles, and actively promoted his ideas by lecturing in various regions of the US and Europe.

One of Wright's projects dedicated to the development of decentralization of American cities using the example of Broadacre,continues to be discussed by scholars and writers of the 21st century.

The main building materials used are stone, bricks, wood and concrete. Their natural texture is an additional decorative technique that creates an impression of the integrity and naturalness of the object and nature. For example, a concrete wall fits in like a rock in the middle of a forest. The stone facade is often made of rough blocks, the floors are made of rough granite; if logs, then only rough and uncouth.

One of the main ideas of organic architecture - integrality, or wholeness, is designed to create the impression of a constructed object as a single whole, not divided into details. Minimalism and the desire for simplicity are welcome, the smooth flow of one room into another. It was Wright who came up with the idea to combine the dining room, kitchen and living room into a single whole using an open plan.

Instead of a large amount of decor and a variety of colors, a limited amount of materials is used with a large building area and the maximum degree of glazing.

Wright Architecture Principles

The new doctrine of the evolution of architecture was formulated by L. Sullivan, taking into account the provisions of biological science in the 1890s. It was later embodied and refined by his follower, F. L. Wright, in the 20th century.

Wright's basic principles of organic architecture:

• use as much as possible straight lines and streamlined shapes when designing a building, the proportions of which should beas close as possible to human for a comfortable life in it;
• develop the minimum required number of rooms in the house, which together should form a closed space permeated with air and freely visible;
• binding the structural parts of the building into a single whole, giving it a horizontal extension and emphasizing a plane parallel to the ground;
• leave the best part of the surrounding landscape outside the object and use it for auxiliary functions;
• you can not give the house and rooms the shape of a box, but use the flow of one space into another with a minimum number of internally divided rooms;
• instead of a foundation with utility rooms at the base of the building there should be a low plinth;
• entrance openings should correspond to the proportions of a person and be placed naturally according to the scheme of the building: instead of walls, you can use transparent enclosing screens;
• when building, strive to use only one material, do not use a combination of various natural textures;
• lighting, heating and water supply are designed as components of the building itself and its building structures;
• interior and furnishings should be simple in shape and aligned with building elements;
• do not use decoration in the interior.

Architectural style and human needs

The famous psychologist A. Maslow developed a general hierarchy of human needs,called a pyramid:

• physiological (proper nutrition, clean air and environment);
• feel safe;
• family;
• social recognition and self-respect;
• spiritual.

The goal of creating any object in an organic style in architecture is to realize all the levels of Maslow's pyramid, especially the most important of them - the self-development of the person for whom the house will be built.

According to the concept of F. L. Wright, great importance in the design and construction of a house is given to personal communication with the customer and the creation of such a living space for him that would satisfy all his spiritual, social, family, physiological needs and provide the necessary security.

Architectural career and Prairie Houses

F. L. Wright's career began at the Adler & Sullivan Architecture Company of Chicago, founded by the ideologue of the Chicago School. Then, in 1893, he founded his own firm, in which he began designing his first houses. Already in his initial works, a clear perception of spatiality can be traced, in which he “spreads” all the houses along the ground.

At the beginning of his career, Wright builds private mansions for clients. Great fame was brought to him by the "Prairie Houses", which were built in 1900-1917. and created using the principles of Wright's organic architecture. The architect created the objects, using the ideal of the unity of the building and nature.

All houses are openhorizontal plan, the slopes of the roofs are taken out of the building, finished with unprocessed natural materials, terraces are laid out on the site. Like Japanese temples, their facades are rhythmically divided by frames, many houses are built in the shape of a cross, where the center is a fireplace, and around is an open space.

The architect also designed the interiors on his own, including furniture and decor, pursuing the goal of fitting them organically into the space of the house. The most famous houses: Willits, Martin, Robie's house, etc.

At the beginning of the 20th century. F. L. Wright achieved great popularity in Europe, where he released in 1910-1911. two books about the new organic style in architecture, which marked the beginning of its spread among European architects.

Taliesin

F. L. Wright built his own dwelling, or Taliesin, in his style in 1911, and it became his longest project, which was repeatedly completed and altered. A house was being built from local limestone among the hills of northwestern Wisconsin, in a valley that had previously belonged to relatives of his family. The name comes from the name of an ancient Welsh druid and translates as "luminous peak".

Taliesin was designed according to all the principles of organic architecture on a hillside surrounded by trees. The building embodies the idea of a harmonious unity of man and nature. Horizontally located window openings alternate with creeping rows of roofs and wooden railings that serve as an interfloor fence. InteriorThe house was created by the owner himself and decorated with a collection of Chinese porcelain, antique Japanese screens and sculptures.

There were two fires in Taliesin, in 1914 and 1925, and each time the house was rebuilt. The second time, together with Wright, students who studied at his school participated in the revival of the house.

Wright School of Architecture

The official name of the educational institution established in 1932 is “Architectural School of F. L. Wright , but during the life of the organizer it was called the Taliesin partnership, which attracted young people who wanted to learn the principles of organic architecture of the 20th century. Workshops were also set up here, in which future specialists learned how to process limestone, cut trees and make the necessary parts for construction.

Another "Taliesin West" was founded in Arizona, where workshops, educational and residential buildings for students were built, and later - a library, a cinema hall and theaters, a canteen and other necessary buildings. The guests called this complex "an oasis in the middle of the desert". Many of Wright's students continued to work on various projects of the architect, others left and founded their own architectural firms.

The F. L. Wright Foundation was founded in 1940 and still runs his architecture school and prepares students for a Master of Architecture degree.

The personal life of an architect

The founder of the new architectural style, F. L. Wright, had a stormy personal life: in the past 92 years, he managed to marry 4 times and hada lot of children. His first chosen one in 1889 was Catherine Lee Tobin, who bore him 6 children.

In 1909, he left his family and went to Europe with his future wife Maymah Botwick Cheney. After returning to the United States, they settle in their own house, Taliesin, which they have built. In 1914, a mentally ill servant in the absence of the owner kills his wife and 2 children and burns down their house.

A few months after the tragedy, F. L. Wright met his admirer M. Noel and married her, but their marriage lasted only a year.

From 1924 until the end of his life, he was next to his 4th wife, Olga Ivanovna Lazovich-Gintsenberg, whom they signed in 1928. They had a daughter. After his death in 1959, Olgivanna managed his foundation for many years.

The house above the waterfall

F. L. Wright became world famous for his country house in Pennsylvania, built by him on the order of the Kaufman family, built over a waterfall. The project was implemented in 1935-1939, when the architect began to use reinforced concrete structures in construction and learned to combine them with the romance of the surrounding landscape.

Having learned about the architect's decision to build a building almost over a waterfall, the civil engineers unequivocally came to the conclusion that it would not stand for long, because according to the project, water flowed directly from under the foundation. To meet the requirements of the client, Wright additionally strengthened the house with steel supports. This building made a huge impression on contemporaries, which helped the architect to increasecustomer interest.

The building is a composition of reinforced concrete terraces, vertical surfaces made of limestone and placed on supports above the water. The house above the waterfall stands on a cliff, part of which remains inside and is used as an interior detail.

The attraction house, which still impresses with its building techniques, was renovated in 1994 and 2002 when steel supports were added for strength.

Public buildings designed by F. L. Wright

In 1916-1922. the architect is involved in the construction of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, in which he extensively used the ideas of the integrity of structural elements, which helped the building withstand the 1923 earthquake.

In the 1940s and 50s, Wright uses his style to build public buildings in the United States. The most famous examples of organic architecture are the Johnson Wax headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin and the S. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1943-1959).

The structural basis of the central hall of the company "Johnson Wax" - "tree-like" columns, expanding upwards. The same structure is repeated in the laboratory room, where all the rooms are grouped around the “trunk” with elevators, and the floor slabs are combined in the form of squares and circles. Lighting is provided through transparent glass tubes.

The apotheosis of Wright's architectural creativity was the building of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, which was designed and built onfor 16 years. The project is based on an inverted spiral, and inside the structure looks like a shell with a glass courtyard in the center. Inspection of the exposition, according to the architect's idea, should take place from top to bottom: having taken the elevator under the roof, visitors then gradually go down in a spiral. However, in the 21st century the museum management abandoned this idea, and the expositions are now viewed as standard, starting from the entrance.

The style of organic architecture in the 21st century

The revival of modern organic architecture in the design and construction of buildings is facilitated by architects from many European countries: Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Poland, etc. All of them adhere to the principles of organic unity of space and nature developed by F. L. Wright, enriching with their creativity modern architectural trends and embodying the philosophical and psychological ideas of building real structures as living objects designed for a comfortable and harmonious life of people.