Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered by many knowledgeable critics and scholars as the not only the most famous architect in the world, but the most creative -- and even revolutionary -- architect in the world. Wright's Fallingwater building, which "…perches so dramatically on the cliff overhanging the eponymous waterfall near Pittsburgh" (Steffensen, 2009), is thought of today as one of the most remarkable private homes ever built by anyone.

The Fallingwater building, designed in 1936, juts out over a thundering waterfall on the 5,000 acre property formerly owned by department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann. Albrecht Powell writes that Fallingwater "…epitomizes man living in harmony with nature" and it was constructed "…of local sandstone, reinforced concrete, steel and glass" (Kaufmann, 2009). The interior features cantilevered desks, "earth-toned built-in sofas, polished stone floors," and with the thought of allowing the outside light to shine in, Wright designed "large casement windows," Kaufmann writes.

The house is listed among the 28 places everyone should "…visit before you die," according to the Smithsonian's Life List. It was designated as a "National Historic Landmark" in 1996 and ion 1991 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) named the Fallingwater house "the best all-time work of American architecture"; it also ranks 29th on the list of America's Favorite Architecture, the AIA's list.

In 1999 it was determined that the main cantilever in the Fallingwater house needed reinforcing, according to Civil Engineering News. The steel-reinforced concrete beams had "deflected" (bent) as much as 7 inches, which was enough to warrant shoring up the main beams. One of the main reasons for the sagging of the beams is "temperature changes" from hot summers to very cold winters, the Civil Engineering News article explained.

Frank Lloyd Wright -- Taliesin West

Wright designed his Taliesin West home far from the Pennsylvania location of his masterpiece (Fallingwater), in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. It was a place he loved to spend the winters, in fact he had been spending winters with his Taliesin Fellowship group in 1933, but by 1937 he was ready to build a residence so he bought desert property for $3.50 an acre in 1937. The land he bought was on the southern slope of the McDowell Range that looks over Paradise Valley just outside of Scottsdale, Arizona.

It may have cost Wright $10,000 to dig a well deep enough to secure water for the learning center (and home) that Taliesin West was to be, but he didn't mind because he was thoroughly inspired by the "…long, low sweeping lines, uptilting planes" and the colors in the desert. The walls of Taliesin West are made of rocks from the desert and the rocks are secured with wood forms and then filled with concrete. Typical of Wright, he likes to use natural materials from the environment around his homes.

The drafting room of Taliesin West a lot of natural light is let in thanks to the translucent materials, and the furniture and other decorations were of course designed by Wright. He also designed an acoustically perfect cabaret theatre; built from solid rock and concrete, it is said that the acoustics are so terrific a whisper from someone on the stage can be heard in the back row.

Critic Judy Hedding writes that Frank Lloyd Wright (born in 1867) had been taught by his parents the "virtue of hard work" and through his years growing up in Wisconsin he acquired a "love of the landscape," which is reflected in the way the Taliesin West building (built on 600 acres) blends into the landscape in the desert. "Organic architecture," Wright explained, should be sited so that "form and function were one" (Hedding, 2009).

Frank Lloyd Wright -- Hanna-Honeycomb House

Another of Wright's stunningly original designs that has been designated as a National Historic Landmark is his building on the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California. The Hanna-Honeycomb House (also called the Hanna House) was first started in 1937 but Wright continuing adding to it over the next 25 years. It is called "Honeycomb" for good reasons; it is patterned after the honeycomb a bee builds; there are six-sided figures and 120-degree angles designed into its many terraces of tile.

The design shows how Wright loved to use "Polygonal modules" to great the "openness" he wanted in all his buildings (www.nps.gov). The structure was organic, which was what Wright always insisted on doing. The Hanna House is one-story high with an "outside wall of a room or building that rises above an adjoining roof and contains windows," according to an article in www.nps.gov. That outside wall is called a "central clerestory" and it is made of native redwood (which grows in the Bay Area), San Jose brick, cement and plate glass.