I have always been interested in architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture has always fascinated me. His architecture has always seemed ahead of its time and he has stood out as one of my favorite architects. In addition I like the look of very modern architecture and during the class which covered Mies van der Rohe’s very modern and minimalistic architecture I became very interested in his architecture as well. As a result, I thought I would enjoy researching a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture with Mies van der Rohe’s International Style.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture was first known as organic architecture by himself. Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939 wrote, “So here I stand before you preaching organic architecture: declaring organic architecture to be the modern ideal and the teaching so much needed if we are to see the whole of life, and to now serve the whole of life, holding no traditions essential to the great tradition. Nor cherishing any preconceived form fixing upon us either past, present or future, but instead exalting the simple laws of common sense or of super-sense if you prefer determining form by way of the nature of materials…” (Frank Lloyd Wright The Natural House, p 3).
Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world through design approaches so sympathetic and well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surrounding become part of a unified, interrelated composition. Organic architecture is also translated into the all inclusive nature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design process. Materials, motifs, and basic ordering principals continue to repeat themselves throughout the building as a whole. The idea of organic architecture refers not only to the buildings’ literal relationship to the natural surroundings, but how the buildings’ design is carefully thought about as if it were a unified organism. Geometries throughout Wright’s buildings build a central mood and theme. Essentially organic architecture is also the literal design of every element of a building: from the windows, to the floors, to the individual chairs intended to fill the space. Everything relates to one another, reflecting the symbiotic ordering systems of nature (Organic Architecture, Wikipedia).
The Term Paper on Frank Lloyd Wright 7
... Preservation Commission, Inc., Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, “Frank Lloyd Wright,” Life Time Line, Internet Resource, *http//www.taiesinpreservation.org/ *. Twombly, Robert C., Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture, New York, John ... thrived. He created the philosophy of “organic architecture,” the central principle of which maintains that the building should develop out of its natural ...
One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most known and famous examples of organic architecture is Fallingwater, the residence Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Kaufman family in rural Pennsylvania. Wright had many choices to locate a home on the large site, but chose to place the home directly over the waterfall and creek creating a close, yet noisy dialog with the rushing water and the steep site. The horizontal striations of stone masonry with daring cantilevers of colored beige concrete blend with native rock outcroppings and the wooded environment.
When Wright came to the site he appreciated the powerful sound of the falls, the vitality of the young forest, the dramatic rock ledges and boulders; these were the elements to be interwoven with the serenely soaring spaces of his structure. But Wright’s insight penetrated more deeply. He understood that people were creatures of nature; hence an architecture which conformed to nature would conform to what was basic in people. For example, although all of Fallingwater is opened by broad bands of windows, people inside are sheltered as in a deep cave, secure in the sense of hill behind them. Their attention is directed toward the outside by low ceilings; no lordly hall sets the tone but, instead, the luminous textures of the woodland, rhythmically en-framed. The materials of the structure blend with the colorings of the rocks and trees, while occasional accents are provided by bright furnishings, like the wildflowers of birds outside. The paths within the house – stairs and passages – meander without formality or urgency, and the house hardly has a main entrance; there are many ways in and out (Hoffmann, Donald p. 2).
The Term Paper on Haunted House
NOTE: phrases highlighted are being modified to the phrases shown in brackets. (I’ve always found something fascinating about seeing an old dilapidated house along a winding road, they spark my curiosity.) Something about the fascination of dilapidated houses along winding roads sparks my curiosity but most of all give me shivers. (I stare; captivated by the sight) looking at the sight of the ...
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe by contrast is known for his international style of architecture. The common characteristics of the international style include a radical simplification of form, a rejection of ornament, and adoption of glass, steel and concrete as preferred materials. Further, the transparency of buildings, construction, and acceptance of industrialized mass-production techniques contributed to the international style’s design philosophy. Finally, the machine aesthetic, and the logical decisions leading to support building function were used by the International architect to create buildings reaching beyond historicism (International Style Architecture, Wikipedia).
The basic structure of Ludwig Miers van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House consists of eight wide-flange steel stanchions, to which are welded two sets of fascia channels to form a perimeter frame at roof level, and a similar perimeter frame at floor level. Sets of steel cross-girders are welded to the longitudinal channels, and pre-cast concrete planks placed upon these to form the roof and floor slabs respectively. The loading imposed upon the perimeter frame by the floor construction is obviously greater than that imposed on the perimeter frame by the roof, but for the sake of visual consistency Mies has made them of equal depth – an example of the primacy of form over function to which he was in principle opposed, but which stubbornly emerges in almost all his mature work (Blaser, Werner p. 83).
The steel stanchions stop short of the channel cappings, making it clear that the roof plane does not rest on the columns but merely touched them in passing, thus helping to create the impression that the horizontal elements appear to be held to their vertical supports by magnetism. Above the roof slab is a low service module containing water tank, boiler, extract fans from the two bathrooms and a flue from the fireplace. Beneath the floor slab is a cylindrical drum housing all drainage pipes and incoming water and electrical services.
The Essay on Importance of Nature in a Childs Life
Nature is made by nature, not by man. Nature can be used for many different things. It can be used for a natural playground, a learning experience, a science experience, a meditation place. The list is endless on what nature can be used for. The best part about it is that there is no list that states what it can and can’t be. It is all in your imagination. This is important for children to learn ...
The essential characteristics of the house are immediately apparent. The extensive use of clear floor-to-ceiling glass opens the interior to its natural surroundings to an extreme degree. Two distinctly expressed horizontal slabs, which form the roof and the floor, sandwich an open space for living. The slab edges are defined by exposed steel structural members painted pure white. The house is elevated 5 feet 3 inches above a flood plain by eight wide flange steel columns which are attached to the sides of the floor and ceiling slabs. The slabs ends extend beyond the column supports, creating cantilevers. The house seems to float weightlessly above the ground it occupies. A third floating slab, an attached terrace, acts as a transition between the living area and the ground. The house is accessed by two sets of wide steps connecting ground to terrace and then to porch. Mies found the large open exhibit halls of the turn of the century to be very much in character with his sense of the industrial era. Here he applied the concept of an unobstructed space that is flexible for use by people. The interior appears to be a single open room, its space ebbing and flowing around two wood blocks; one a wardrobe cabinet and the other a kitchen, toilet, and fireplace block (the “core”).
The larger fireplace-kitchen core seems like a separate house nesting within the larger glass house. The building is essentially one large room filled with freestanding elements that provide subtle differentiations within an open space, implied but not dictated zones for sleeping, cooking, dressing, eating, and sitting. Very private areas such as toilets, and mechanical rooms are enclosed within the core (Blaser, Werner p. 83).
Although Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house are very different in their architectural style and design, they have one thing in common. Both Wright and Mies designed these houses for rural sites that emphasize the connection of the house with that of nature. The 60-acre rural site offered Mies an opportunity to bring man’s relationship to nature into the forefront. Here he highlights the individual’s connection to nature through the medium of a man-made shelter. Mies said: “We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and the human being to a higher unity” (Farnsworth House, Wikipedia).
The Essay on Hunting snake Judith Wright
The main subject of the poem is the sudden appearance of the snake and the surprised reactions of the poet and her companion. The snake does no harm to the walkers and they in turn do not harm the snake. As an environmentalist, Wright sought to preserve the natural surroundings in Australia. She cared intensely for the Aboriginal people who lived in close intimacy with nature which the settlers ...
Glass walls and open interior space are the features that create an intense connection with the outdoor environment, while the exposed structure provides a framework that reduces opaque exterior walls to a minimum. The careful site design and integration of the exterior environment represents a concerted effort to achieve an architecture wedded to its natural context.
Mies conceived the building as an indoor-outdoor architectural shelter simultaneously independent of and intertwined with the domain of nature. Mies did not build on the flood-free upland portions of the site, choosing instead to tempt the dangerous forces of nature by building directly on the flood plain near the river’s edge. Philip Johnson referred to this type of experience of nature as “safe danger”. The enclosed space and a screened porch are elevated five feet on a raised floor platform, just slightly above the 100 year flood level, with a large intermediate terrace level (Farnsworth House, HAARGIS Database p. 1).
The house has a distinctly independent personality, yet also evokes strong feelings of a connection to the land. The levels of the platforms restate the multiple levels of the site, in a kind of poetic architectural rhyme, not unlike the horizontal balconies and rocks do at Wright’s Fallingwater. The house is anchored to the site in the cooling shadow of a large and majestic black maple tree. As Mies often did, the entrance is located on the sunny side, facing the river instead of the street, moving visitors around corners and revealing views of the house and site from various angles as they approach the front door. The simple elongated cubic form of the house is parallel to the flow of the river, and the terrace platform is slipped downstream in relation to the elevated porch and living platform. Outdoor living spaces are extensions of the indoor space, with a screened porch (screens now gone) and open terrace. Yet the man made always remains clearly distinct from the natural by its geometric forms, highlighted by the choice of white as its primary color.
The Essay on Importance of Nature
The more technologically savvy our society becomes and as our cities become larger and more urbanized our connection with nature gets weaker and weaker. It is difficult to remember the natural beauty of a 100 year old oak tree while you dwell in the city where you are lucky to see a tree every three blocks. Our attitudes (especially people who live in very urbanized areas) tend to think that ...
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house blends into the surrounding nature, appears to be part of the natural surroundings and is constructed of many natural materials found at the site. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house very much stands out from its natural surroundings and is very industrial and clean in its appearance using steel construction but at the same time still has a connection with the land. And while both houses are so very different, they both succeed at connecting the people with nature in their own unique way. Both houses make the living space inside and the nature outside seem to connect in an important way. They both are carefully designed to maximize the natural and unique beauty of their locations. So despite the fact that both of these houses are so different architecturally, there are more similarities to these two houses than what is first expected. Both have their own unique but effective way of connecting with nature and the distinctive features of their surroundings. Both houses are designed emphasizing their locations. In conclusion, besides the obvious differences in architectural styles, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house strive for similar purposes in connecting with nature and are more alike than I would have first thought.
Bibliography
Twombly, Robert C. Frank Lloyd Wright, His Life and His Architecture. New York: Wiley, 1979. Print.
Hoffmann, Donald. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater: the House and Its History. New York: Dover Publications, 1993. Print.
Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Natural House. New York: New American Library, 1982. Print.
Blaser, Werner. Mies Van Der Rohe. Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, 1997. Print.
“Organic Architecture.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .
“Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois) – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Main Page – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. .
The Essay on The Romantic And Progressive Aspects Of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright's favorite occupation on a Sunday afternoon was to rearrange the furniture in his Oak Park house; photographs of these experiments still exist today. They show that during his first six years there, his living room, for instance, was filled with an eclectic assortment of furniture, ferns, oriental rugs, draped shawls and curtainsall of which demonstrated the influence of the ...
“International Style (architecture) – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Main Page – Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. .
“Farnsworth House”, (PDF), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database [1], Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.