Oct 29, 20213 min
(Image of Falling Water House. Image courtesy of http://www.wright-house.com/frank-lloyd-wright/fallingwater-pictures/falling-water-fall-house.html )
(Image of Frank Lloyd Wright. Image Courtesy of New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Al Ravenna. Image is found at http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/wright/aa_wright_subj_e.html)
There are many ways you could answer this, but here are two answers . The first one is that it was designed and executed by Frank Lloyd Wright. If you took a Frank Lloyd Wright design that never got built, and tried to make them today, 60 years after his death, it wouldn't be a "Wright design" because he was always involved in the building process and changed things through the execution. The key is that Frank Lloyd Wright needed to be directly involved in the project from inception to completion. The second answer is that his buildings are site-specific. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is based at his winter homes & studio, Taliesin West in Arizona. The building was designed and inspired by the landscape it occupies. If you moved Taliesin West to Wisconsin or Florida, it will not work. Taliesin West Cana only exists precisely where it is.
Wright has signature elements, including cantilevers and floor-to-ceiling windows. He was constantly looking ahead. He would say," I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." His concepts, today celebrated, were radical when initially proposed in 1938. His idea of the open floor plan was not only innovative but also served a purpose of keeping the family connected to each other while occupying different spaces
(Image courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith. Image can found on http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/highsm.15376/ )
He never wanted to do the same thing twice. If you asked him, you know, what's your favorite of your designs? His answer was always, the next one.
(Image courtesy of Jean-Christophe Benoist. Image can be found on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_-_Guggenheim_Museum.jpg )
Wright's relationship with Ayn Rand is exaggerated. He designed a house for her that was never built. When Warner Brothers created the movie version of The Fountainhead, people would ask Wright how he felt about the film, and he would tell them that he denied the paternity and did not know the mother. The Fountainhead immortalized him in pop culture. Since the Fountainhead, his work has inspired the scenery of television shows such as Game of Thrones and Westworld.
(Image courtesy of https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Fountainhead-movie-POSTER-Style-A-11-x-17-1949/187426688 )
If you ask a person to name a famous architect, 99% of the people will answer Frank Lloyd Wright. If you tried to dig down a little deeper and ask, "Can you name one of his buildings?" many people would say Falling Water.
(Image of Laurent House. Image courtesy of Nels Akerlund. Image can be found at https://www.laurenthouse.com/gallery )
Frank Lloyd Wright was more than an architect of buildings. He was an architect of ideas- Jeff
The mission tof the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation is to inspire people to discover and embrace an architecture, for better living through meaningful connections to nature, the arts, and each other. So it's not just about the buildings; instead, it's about the ideas. These ideas are embodied in his writings, how architecture can promote a better lifestyle and a better way of living in general, you know, within the community within the world.
(Video courtesy of Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)