The Contributions of Frank Lloyd Wright in Architecture - Term Paper Example

The Contributions of Frank Lloyd Wright in Architecture Name Class Professor Institution City and State Date The Contributions of Frank Lloyd Wright in Architecture Introduction The works by Frank Lloyd Wright remain relevant to the modern field of architecture even after his death. Primarily, his contributions to the field of architecture proved pivotal as this is the building block of the modern engineering. Indeed, his principles ushered a new era of architecture and the foundation on which his work revealed its effects took a span of seven decades. Some of the notable structures that are associated with Wright’s philosophy entail the famous Fallingwater, Prairie Houses and the Guggenheim Museum. In essence, these structures and entirely different but they obey the same principles of the organic architecture. Features adopted from his organic architecture shed lots of light to the modern field of engineering and particularly architecture (Ahlfeldt & Mastro, 2012, P. 1089). In this case, modern technology has really been used with the recognition of the natural setting of the scenario. According to the analysis made by the experts in the field, Wright has had his organic architecture principles highly applied by the modern architects. As he postulated, people will not have to ignore the nature even with the availability of the modern technology because this is the platform upon which this technology is predicated. In the view of this, his emphasis regarding the principles that are the bedrocks of the organic architecture is that the site and time of the construct have to dictate the nature of the structure that is being erected. Biography Wright was born in the year 1867 in the United States by a prominent preacher in the country. In the course of his early days, since he was yet to grow up, he used to follow his father all through his missionary activities. It was in the course of all these moves that they settled at Wisconsin, a place that Wright would now start his schooling (Ahlfeldt & Mastro, 2012, P. 1081). He was a hardworking student as this was manifested by his results and this gave him a chance to study in the school of engineering at the Wisconsin university. Later on, they had to move to Chicago whereby he was able to further his studies in the field of architecture. After he was through with his studies, he sought mentorship from Louis Sullivan in which his skills were polished. After he proved his potential to the owner, he was employed for a 6 years in the Sullivan’s firm (Weinthal, 2011, P. 56). It was after being employed that he build on his potential to work independently. From this perspective, he went ahead to develop and become an architecture working on his own which proved successful. In the course of his career, he was able to publish many books that reflected his input in the field of architecture. His contributions in the field and the organic architecture principles that he established have been instrumental in the modern world of technology. He died in the year 1959 after suffering a serious illness. Organic Architecture The contributions of Wright in the field of architecture dates back in the period between the later parts of the 19th century and the half part of the 20th century till his death in 1959. Seemingly, his principles of organic architecture have been ingrained in the social climate as evident in the 20th century social order (Weinthal, 2011, P. 82). In the later parts of the 19th century, there were lots of transformation of the American Architecture which were considered to bring desirable changes. In essence, this is thought to have been driven by the technological changes, but one thing that Wright ingrained in his organic architecture philosophies was that people were supposed to consider the environment. He envisioned a future world in which people might forget about the nature due to the increased use of technology resulting from the human inventions. Ideally, Wright’s input came at a time when the United States was undergoing some transformations in technological advancement. Industries that made efficient productions were being invented and their outcome was showed by the peoples’ advancement in the society. People got employed to work in these industries and the lifestyle for the Americans was doing well. However, a time came in the late 1890s when the economy was hit by depression and there was massive job losses for the civilians (Jencks & Kropf, 1997, P. 29). Due to this depression and the hard economic moments, people started questioning the nature of social values and this compelled all the Americans to reconsider their values to create a new American dream. It was a nationwide move that was aimed at leading to a better society guided by the right values. Some of the cornerstones in which the Americans’ dream was built focused on the Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles on environment. One of the underlying principles from Wright was that architecture was life and it could live in the previous era, the present and the future one. Intuitively, this therefore was a call for building a conducive environment which would consequently lead to a better society. The fresh dream for the Americans was promoted through various strategies including the media and more so the popular magazines. In the meantime, houses were constructed to reflect the modern styles indoctrinated in the Wright’s philosophies of organic architecture. The sole reason was to satisfy the needs of the current people with no much emphasis on the past generations. Essentially, the move was to seek all the can make the present generation feel satisfied other than what used to impress the past generation (Jencks & Kropf, 1997, P. 74). Notably, their motive was to drive way the old culture and bring in new designs that embrace the needs at hand. People were pretty aware of the growing technology needs and all that deemed difficult to construe is the platform from which the technology had been obtained. It would therefore necessitate the inputs of people such as Wright to help people in growing the society in the older founded on site and time. Since his propositions were aired by the use of popular articles in the country such as the Ladies Home Journal and Better Homes, buildings started being constructed based on his principles (Ahlfeldt & Mastro, 2012, P. 1087). In the meantime, designs such as picturesque were neglected as this era marked the true transition by terming the latter as destructive and unhealthy. Undoubtedly, Wright’s input regarding the organic architecture seemed applicable as many of the skyscrapers were erected in the major cities such as New York and Chicago. As described in the Wright’s biography, he was mentored in Chicago by Sullivan. While at Chicago, most of the designs that he was engaged in dealing with are the skyscrapers along with the public buildings (Levine, 2015, P. 48). Before he called on Sullivan to be mentored, he had previously majored in the domestic housing. Once was brought into the experience of dealing with skyscrapers and public buildings, he left Sullivan’s place and went ahead to start independent operations. It was from this time that he ushered the spirit of the American modern architecture outlook. Innately, his philosophies were crucial in marking his endeavors as an independent architecture (Levine, 2015, P. 69). Vitally, to comprehend the organic architecture, this needed a person to view it from a different perspective other than regarding it as a style. Since the revival to the eruption of the Wright’s career, people used to rely on the imitations and revivals of the historic reforms as the only prevalent architecture styles (Anderson, 2015, P. 84). In these old days, people would just erect a structure without the consideration of the environment under which it served. It is the incorporation of the Wright’s organic architecture that helped to shed light on this issue. In essence, Wright’s organic architecture ideals helped in offering inputs to the architectural reforms that were adopted in entirety. Spatial Analysis of His Work One critical element to the organic architecture was the comprehension and interpretation of the nature. All that Wright did is the abstraction of the natural forms since this idea was not much new in the field of architecture. Outstandingly, Wright wanted to develop a new architectural language by the use of organic principles. For instance, the subsequent (figure 1) is an illustration of a natural form visual in which Wright took part to offer his translation to the environment in which it is built. Figure 1. The Guggenheim Museum (Geva, 2012, P. 193) Site and time were two characteristic elements of the Wright’s ideology and this was one of his contributions in architecture. Ideally, this evidence is reflected back in the ancient eras of the Wright’s Prairie School as this engrossed the entirety of these principles. In this structure, Wright referred the visions of the Midwest, which was a home that was highly known for its emphasis of environment (Klinkowitz, 2014, P. 94). As he sought for his message to be known across the country, the focus was on making the architects design buildings that reflect on the environment stressing highly in the importance of this. Primarily, he wanted the dwelling place to be closely related to the environment in which it is erected. Three decades since the construction of the Prairie School, Wright went ahead to design Fallingwater whose image is shown in (Figure 2). As depicted in the illustration, this structure appears more complex than the Prairie School which was reflected as the difference in eras of construction. Visibly, the structure in Figure 2 appears to be rooted on the landscape, terraced down the slope and adjacent to the tumbling falls. (Geva, 2012, P. 184) Figure 2. Fallingwater Figure 3: The interior structure As seen with the internal structure of this building, the design strongly mirrors on the significance of interpenetrating interior and exterior spaces and mostly the stress is on the relationship between nature and man. Figure 3 shows the inside of the structure of the building that seems to have been made for private residence. Ideally, the structure is famous for its connection with the site even though erected on top of an active waterfall. Perceptibly, the fireplace household in the resident room integrates rocks from the site from which the room is constructed. As seen in the Fallingwater illustration, the element of balancing between the nature and technology is brought into effect. Ideally, this was an element that was embodied in the organic architecture instituted by Wright. In this case, he made the use of concrete, steel and other modern materials though this might have been observed as unnatural by a considerable proportion of his critics. Nevertheless, the setting has much to portray regarding the nature. As observed in the social and environmental realms, technology is not viewed positively and this was a mission that Wright was determined to accomplish by bringing harmony between technology and the nature (Geva, 2012, P. 87). He recognized that advancement in technology were the realities of the modern world and it was the role of the man to incorporate it with the nature. Following some complaints from a broad spectrum of the people who claimed not to understand the concept of nature in the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater structure, he urged them to have a view of the nature in an abstract form. People were claiming that concrete and steel used in the construction of the Fallingwater could not bring the natural view of the scenario, something that Wright goes into disagreement with his audience. By urging people to have a perspective of the scenario from the abstract point of view, he was been involved in solving the mystery. Conclusion To conclude, Frank Lloyd Wright’s stint in the field of architecture contributed greatly to the revolutions made in the American engineering areas. According to him, any architectural design ought to reflect the site and the time of construction. In the view of this, he came up with the organic architecture philosophy that was highly stressing of a change in the field of architecture to mirror that natural setting and the time of designing the structure. His contributions were pretty important as they helped to bring an ideal transformation evident in the United States’ field of engineering. His ability to envision for the future was also an important integral in his career. Evidently, his contributions are seen important in the United States as they are mirrored in the socio-cultural structures ranging from 1890-1960. After his death, he left his organic architecture ideals to be embraced by the people and this is overtly embodied in the modern engineering designs. Some people especially the modern engineers might at certain points have criticized his work and personality but, however, Wright’s contribution in the field of architecture by the use of his principles remains the bedrock of the current architecture. Fundamentally, his desire to encourage people to adapt the organic architecture is prevalent and remain crucial even in the modern architecture. Seemingly, the will continue being relevant even to the future generation. Reference List Ahlfeldt, G. and Mastro, A., 2012. Valuing iconic design: Frank Lloyd wright architecture in Oak Park, Illinois. Housing studies, 27(8), pp.1079-1099. Anderson, A.M., 2015. The analysis of a secondary space: Bathrooms at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater (Doctoral dissertation, CLEMSON UNIVERSITY). Geva, A., 2012. Frank Lloyd Wright's Sacred Architecture: Faith, Form and Building Technology. Routledge. Jencks, C & Kropf, 1997. Theories and manifestoes of contemporary architecture, Academy Editions, Great Britain. Klinkowitz, J., 2014. Frank Lloyd Wright and His Manner of Thought. University of Wisconsin Pres. Levine, N., 2015. The Urbanism of Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton University Press. Weinthal, L, 2011. Towards a new interior: an anthology of interior design theory, Princeton architectural press, New York. Read More