WRIGHT

T HE L I F E A ND WORK S
CONTENT
P1-2
Biography
P3-4
Johnson Wax Tower
P5-6
Quote
P7-8
Falling Water
P9-10
Quote
P11-12
The Guggenheim
INTRODUCTION
Frank Lloyd Wright is widely considered as
one of the greatest American architects of all
time. He introduced the concept of Organic
architecture and designed such landmarks
as the Fallingwater and the Guggenheim
Museum of Art. After a turbulent personal life
his work is all that remains, with an extensive
number of his architecture still standing and
many more plans that were never realised his
ideologies and believes live on through his
work. This book takes a look in to some of
his most famous works, including some of his
most famous quotes ad teachings.
1
FRANK LLOYD
WRI GHT
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln
Wright, June 8, 1867 April 9, 1959) was an
American architect, interior designer, writer
and educator, who designed more than
1000 structures and completed 532 works.
Wright believed in designing structures
which were in harmony with humanity and its
environment, a philosophy he called organic
architecture. This philosophy was best
exemplifed by his design for Fallingwater
(1935), which has been called the best all-
time work of American architecture. Wright
was a leader of the Prairie School movement
of architecture and developed the concept
of the Usonian home, his unique vision for
urban planning in the United States. His work
includes original and innovative examples
of many different building types, including
offces, churches, schools, skyscrapers,
hotels, and museums. Wright also designed
many of the interior elements of his
buildings, such as the furniture and stained
glass. Wright authored 20 books and many
articles and was a popular lecturer in the
United States and in Europe. His colorful
personal life often made headlines, most
notably for the 1914 fre and murders at his
Taliesin studio. Already well known during his
lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by
the American Institute of Architects as the
greatest American architect of all time.
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3
JOHNSON
WAX TOWER
The Johnson Wax Headquarters were set
in an industrial zone and Wright decided to
create a sealed environment lit from above,
The building features Wrights interpretation
of the streamlined Art Moderne style popular
in the 1930s. In a break with Wrights earlier
Prairie School structures, the building features
many curvilinear forms and subsequently
required over 200 different curved Cherokee
red bricks to create the sweeping curves of
the interior and exterior. The mortar between
the bricks is raked in traditional Wright-style
to accentuate the horizontality of the building.
The warm, reddish hue of the bricks was used
in the polished concrete foor slab as well; the
white stone trim and white dendriform columns
create a subtle yet striking contrast. All of the
furniture, manufactured by Steelcase, was
designed for the building by Wright and it
mirrored many of the buildings unique design
features.
Racine, Wisconsin US
1944-1950
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5
6
7
Of all Wrights constructions, Fallingwater
House is the most famous. An elevated
building situated on a water fall, the home
sits between the Pennsylvania hills and is
adapted perfectly to ft the form of the
rocks. With this house, Wright sought to join
the elements of nature- forest, river, and
rocks- with the construction materials as
much as possible. The goal was to create a
building in harmony with setting and provide
a space for rest and relaxation. Once Wright
had decided the location of the house, he
had the obvious problem of building it there.
The location of the north bank of Bear Run
was not large enough to provide a foundation
for a typically built Wright house.
FALLING
WATER
Bear Run, Pennsylvania, US
1935-1939
8
LESS IS ONLY
MORE WHEN
MORE IS
NO GOOD.
9
LESS IS ONLY
MORE WHEN
MORE IS
NO GOOD.
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GUGGENHEIM
MUSEUM
New York City, New York, US
1955-1959
The Guggenheim museums proximity to
Central Park was key; as close to nature
as one gets in New York, the park afforded
relief from the noise and congestion of the
city. Nature not only provided the museum
with a respite from New Yorks distractions
but also lent it inspiration. The Guggenheim
Museum is an embodiment of Wrights
attempts to render the inherent plasticity of
organic forms in architecture. His inverted
ziggurat (a stepped or winding pyramidal
temple of Babylonian origin) dispensed
with the conventional approach to museum
design, which led visitors through a series
of interconnected rooms and forced them
to retrace their steps when exiting. Instead,
Wright whisked people to the top of the
building via elevator, and led them downward
at a leisurely pace on the gentle slope of a
continuous ramp. The galleries were divided
like the membranes in citrus fruit, with self-
contained yet interdependent sections.
The open rotunda afforded viewers the
unique possibility of seeing several bays of
work on different levels simultaneously. The
spiral design recalled a nautilus shell, with
continuous spaces fowing freely one into
another.
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