Tod Preethi Hannah

8/3/2019 Tod Preethi Hannah

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THEORY OFDESIGNDESIGN PRINCIPLESAND PHILOSOPHIES OFF.L.WRIGHT

A great architect is not made by wayof a brain nearly so much as he is madeby way of a cultivated, enrichedheart


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- Born on June 8, 1867 in RichlandCentre, Wiscosin- studied civil engineering brieflyat the University of Wisconsin- At 20 years of age, he joined aChicago architectural firm as adraftsman- Became chief draftsman and

supervised the firms residentialdesigns

- Wright started his own firm in1893, and began developing ideasfor his Prairie House Concept


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In 1932,Wright published hisautobiography and along withhis wife,Olgivanna Lasovich,co-founded The TaliesinFellowship

In 1936, Wrights most famous work,Falling Water was designed andTaliesin West was built inArizona as a winter location for theschool.

The years afterWorld War II to theend of Wrightslife were his mostproductive years.Received 270residentialcommissions.Commercial Designs- The GuggenheimMuseum-The Marin CountryCivic Centre

- The Price tower.Wright died inArizona at the ageof ninety-two. Hehad never retiredfrom his profession FallingWaterand SolomonGuggenheimMuseum arehis worldrenowned

ProjectsABOUT...


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THEME AND PHILOSOPHY...

THE PRAIRIE HOUSE

The first project heexecuted was WinslowHouse in Illinois in1984. This was the firstexample of a Prairie House

Work with space and constructionpossibilities - an effect on thedesign of his subsequentbuildings.The typical characteristics ofthese free-standing houses* A broad, overhanging roof andhorizontal window bands.* A free plan - developed arounda central chimney.* The building had lowproportions (not very high),which was related to the ground.* Had a gently sloping roof.FORMED THE CHARACTERISTICFEATURES OF DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE The prairiehas a beauty of its own and we shouldrecognise and accentuate this natural beauty, its quietlevel. Hence, gently sloping roofs, low proportions, quietsky lines, suppressed heavy-set chimneys. FLW (1908)


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The prairie houses seized -imagination of the Americanpublic, evident by the largenumber of houses built.He designed hundreds ofhouses based on this concept- over 120 were built.The Prairie Houses marked amajor shift in residentialdesign

Elevated - living spaces- offered a sense ofenclosure and protectionfrom the elements, alsooffering themunobstructed views tothe horizon.The interiors remarkable - no rigiddemarcated rooms.Had an open plan withspaces flowing into eachother.

Formal rooms - dissolved into free-flowing living spacesWright was committed to destroying the box inarchitecture.The major spaces were centered around the massivefireplace, which Wright believed was the centre of anyfamily


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ORGANIC ARCHITECTUREWright defined organicarchitecture as that inwhich all the parts arerelated to the wholeand the whole isrelated to the parts To explain theconcept of unity innature, thearchitect used aliving organism asan exampleHarmony of the part inrelation to the whole.- The parts are madeaccording to the function ofthe organism.- The form of the organismdecides the character of theorganism

Applying these concepts ,his building designsemphasize the followingprinciples:Integration of parts tothe whole.Design of parts controlsthe design of the whole


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Wright had a deep knowledge ofand a lot of respect fornatural materials such as woodand stone

These materials had hithertobeen used in different ways covered, painted, plastered,and altered to suit anyparticular fashion or taste

But in his works, these materials were alwaysused in the natural form, by allowing forinstance, the use of masses of stone as thenatural feature of the building

Responsible for a series of concepts ofsuburban development - Broadacre City.He proposed - idea in his bookTheDisappearing Cityin 1932,- unveiled a 12-square-foot (1.1m2) model of this communityof the future, showing it in several venuesin the following years. He continueddeveloping the idea until his death.


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USONIAN HOUSES

Sandwich walls that consisted oflayers of wood siding, plywood coresand building paper, a significantchange from typically framed walls.Usonian houses most commonly featuredflat roofs and were mostly constructedwithout basements, completing theexcision of attics and basements fromhouses, a feat Wright had beenattempting since the early 20thcentury


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ntended - highlypractical houses formiddle-class clients, anddesigned to be run withoutservants, Usonian housesoften featuredSmall kitchens called"workspaces" by Wright that adjoined the diningspaces.These spaces in turnflowed into the mainliving areas, which alsowere characteristicallyoutfitted with built-inseating and tables

As in the Prairie Houses,Usonian living areas focused -fireplace. Bedrooms - typicallyisolated and relatively small.The conception of spaces insteadof rooms was a development of thePrairie ideal; as the built-infurnishings related - Arts andCrafts principles.Spatially and in terms of theirconstruction, the Usonian housesrepresented a new model forindependent living, and alloweddozens of clients to live in aWright-designed house atrelatively low cost


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JAPANESE ART Wright was an active dealer inJapanese art, primarilyukiyo-ewoodblock prints.Served as both architect and artdealer to the same clients; "hedesigned a home, then provided theart to fill it".For a time, Wrightmade more from selling art thanfrom his work as an architect

The extent of his dealings inJapanese art went largely unknown, orunderestimated, among art historiansfor decades until, in 1980,JuliaMeech, then associate curator ofJapanese art at the MetropolitanMuseum, began researching the historyof the museum's collection ofJapanese prints.


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Wright continued to collect, and dealin, prints until his death in 1959,frequently using prints as collateralfor loans, frequently relying uponhis art business to remainfinancially solvent

These discoveries, andsubsequent research, ledto a renewedunderstanding ofWright's career as anart dealer


12/18PERSONAL STYLE AND CONCEPTS...

Wright - concern with organic architecturedown to the smallest details. From hislargest commercial commissions to therelatively modest Usonian houses, Wrightconceived virtually every detail of boththe external design and the internalfixtures, including furniture,carpets,windows, doors, tables and chairs, lightfittings and decorative elements

He was one of the first architects to designand supply custom-made, purpose-built furnitureand fittings that functioned as integrated partsof the whole design, and he often returned toearlier commissions to redesign internalfittings. Some of the built-in furnitureremains, while other restorations have includedreplacement pieces created using his plans


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His Prairie houses use themed,coordinated design elements(often based on plant forms) thatare repeated in windows, carpetsand other fittings. He madeinnovative use of new buildingmaterials such as precastconcreteblocks, glass bricks andzinccames(instead of thetraditional lead) for hisleadlight windows, and hefamously usedPyrexglass tubingas a major element in theJohnsonWax Headquarters. Wright was alsoone of the first architects todesign and install custom-madeelectric light fittings,including some of the very firstelectric floor lamps, and hisvery early use of the then-novelspherical glass lampshade (adesign previously not possibledue to the physical restrictionsof gas lighting).


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As Wright's career progressed - mechanization ofthe glass industry.Wright fully embraced glass in his designs - fitwell into his philosophy of organic architecture.Glass allowed - interaction & viewing of theoutdoors while still protecting from the elements.Earliest uses of glass in his works - to stringpanes of glass along whole walls in an attempt tocreate light screens to join together solid walls- sought to achieve a balance between thelightness and airiness of the glass and the solid,hard walls.Best-known art glass is that of the Prairie style.Simple geometric shapes - yield to very ornate andintricate windows represent - most integralornamentation of his career


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Transformation of domestic lifethat occurred at the turn of the20th century - Servants became aless prominent or completelyabsent - developing homes - moreopen plans.-Allowed - woman of the house -work in her 'workspace(kitchen) yet keep track of andbe available for the childrenand/or guests in the diningroom.Modern architecture, includingthe early work ofMies van derRohe

Designed - own clothing.Fashion sense unique - usually -expensive suits, flowing neckties, andcapes.Drove a custom yellow 'raceabout' in thePrairie years, a redCordconvertible inthe 1930s, and a famously customized 1940Lincoln for many years.He earned many speeding tickets in each ofhis vehicles


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COLLEAGUES AND INFLUENCES

Wright rarely credited anyinfluences on his designs, but mostarchitects, historians and scholarsagree he had five major influences:* Louis Sullivan, whom he consideredto be his 'Lieber Meister' (dearmaster),* Nature, particularly shapes/formsand colors/patterns of plant life,* Music (his favorite composerwasLudwig van Beethoven),* Japanese art, prints andbuildings,Froebel Gifts


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Received much honorary recognition for his lifetimeachievements.Received Gold Medal awards from TheRoyal Institute ofBritish Architects(RIBA) in 1941 and theAmericanInstitute of Architects(AIA) in 1949.Awarded theFranklin Institute'sFrank P. Brown Medalin1953.Received honorary degrees from several universities(including his "alma mater", the University of Wisconsin)and several nations named him as an honorary board memberto their national academies of art and/or architecture

theUnitedStates PostalServicehonoredWright withaProminentAmericans series2 postagestamp.


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THANK YOUAR. PREETHI HANNAH09 AR 28

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Tod Preethi Hannah