A Natural House

Juliana Arenas Research paper The College of Saint Rose Au Pair Course July 10, 2011

Juliana Arenas juliana.ac@hotmail.es The College of Saint Rose Au Pair Course

Frank Lloyd Wright

AND THE FALLINGWATER HOUSE

Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the masters of architecture in the 20th century, was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867. He studied 2 semesters of civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin and then he moved to Chicago to work for architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee. In 1893 Wright opened his own firm in Chicago which he operated for five years before transferring the practice to his home in Oak Park. His signature was the organic architecture, which is based on the natural environment of the construction. Wrights houses style tried to simplified everything in a horizontal plane, with no basements or attics, building with natural materials without

painting and uninterrupted walls of windows to merge the horizontal homes into their environments. But one of the most important things in his signature was that he always thought about the function of the building to make them practical and harmony at the same time. Changing the original perception of the 19 century in the European style. Martin House in Buffalo, NY (1904), Coonley House in Riverside, IL (1908) and the Robie House in Chicago (1909), are some of the dwelling with the Wrights signature. But here, I am going to talk about something beyond that; something almost magical where there is no beginning or ending between construction and nature and the word art is the only one who can explain this house. I am going to talk about the Fallingwater House.

The Style Get rid of the attic, therefore the dormer. Get rid of the useless false heights and the basement. What about flat roofs and one chimney only? The walls was beginning to go as an impediment to outside light and air and off course, beauty. Therefore, house

walls needed to be more than protection against storm or heat when required, it was also to bring the outside world into the house and let the inside of the house go outside. The interior usually consisted of boxes beside boxes or inside boxes, called rooms. All boxes were inside a complicated outside boxing. It was like each domestic function was properly box to box. So, Wright thought about the whole lower floor as one big room, cutting the kitchen as a laboratory, and letting the dinning room and living room work with the kitchen as a one functional room. The unnecessary doors disappeared giving a feeling of new freedom. The house became more free as space and more livable too as we now see in a lot of modern houses.

The house Located in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, was designed between 1934 and 1935 and was built between 1936 and 1937 for the Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann.

Considered by some as the most famous private house ever built surround it by 5000 acres of natural wilderness. It juts out over a waterfall on Bear Run, appearing as naturally formed as the rocks and trees mixing all together as a masterpiece.

It is constructed of local sandstone, reinforced concrete, steel and glass, being truth with his style. The interior include cantilevered desks, earth-toned built-in sofas, polished stone floors, and large casement windows which allow the outdoors to pour in.

The house is also surrounded by deciduous trees which are almost virgin, because there is only one walking leading path to the house. And the waterfall, well...Wright said one day to Kaufmann: It is build for the waterfall sound...for who wants to hear it and literally, you can hear the waterfall sound from every point of the house.

The interior of the house is very similar to the exterior. It involves the same kind of rocks the exterior house, giving the house a very natural sense. The ceilings is also a Frank Lloyds creation, designed specially for this house, the lamps are incorporated to it, highlighting the chestnut color of the floor and the also specially designed furniture. The house also counts with its own

pool in the outside, combining that way the comfort of a relaxing pool with the peacefulness of the nature.

If we have to explain this house in a few words, we should use Simplicity, Plasticity, Glass, Continuity, Integrity, Natural and Beauty. Having a real relation with the environment it was makes this house very interesting and original and really, makes you think about how closer you are with the nature and how closer you should be with it.

This house was the cottageof the Kaufmann family for about 26 years until the Kaufmann marriage ended. The house was sold due to the high maintenance and taxes to the Franks Lloyd Wright Foundation in 1964.

A few years ago, the Foundation invested over 11 million dollars on reinforcements for the house, because its nowadays a very famous museum with over 4 million visits and counting.

Frank Lloyd Wright died at his home in Phoenix, Arizona on April 9, 1959 at age ninety-two. But his organic, oriental and functional style reminded alive becoming internationally recognized for his innovative buildings and contemporary designs.

Now, we have the opportunity to visit the fallingwater house as an example not just what to live in but more importantly how we should do it, remembering that the nature is going to be always surround us; if it is not in the exterior, it is going to be in our hearts.