How Frank Lloyd Wright Invented Green Building
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen numerous attempts –notably from GEand the Siebel Foundation– to create a “zero energy house” that could be used as a template forothers. Most acknowledge or draw from traditionsof “organic architecture”,a term coined by Frank Lloyd Wright to describe homes which united seamlesslywith the nature of the site on which they’re built.
Fallingwater
For someone with such hippy ideals, Lloyd Wright was foreverhustling for larger and more prestigious projects, and the best known – Fallingwater – was no exception. Created as a vacation home for one ofPittsburgh’s wealthiest families – the Kaufmanns, whose wealth came from theirdepartment store – Fallingwater is now owned by a conservation trust and isgenerally lauded as the greatest of Lloyd Wright’s many achievements. It’s way out in western Pennsylvania andsufficiently popular that you’ll likely be allocated a visiting time at anungodly hour. Thankfully, you can spendthe night at one of the more modest FrankLloyd Wright houses in the surrounding countryside, complete with tinybathrooms and old school kitchens. Theone that I stayed in was approached by a road that turned to dirt a few milesbefore the house emerged in a clearing. There’snot much out there beyond deer – which amble close to the house – and trees, andthis is probably how Frank Lloyd Wright intended it.
Fallingwater is a whole other kettle of fish. Clinging impossibly to the edge of a 30’ waterfall,it is instantly recognizable and the cantilevered concrete design is stillconsidered revolutionary. The stone forthe house came from a local quarry, albeit for reasons of expediency ratherthan sustainability, and it’s very much a study of its time in other ways. Walking through it, you realize how much oursociety has changed. It is relatableneither to the rich of today (no trophy art, nor frivolous accoutrement, bothof which Lloyd Wright frowned upon) nor to regular folk (“why’s the kitchen sosmall?” was one common question).
Taliesin West
The plans were presented to the long-suffering Kaufmann at Taliesin; Lloyd Wright loved toput on a good show for clients, and his summer home and studio in Wisconsin wasthe perfect backdrop. In his lateryears, Lloyd Wright migrated west in winter to TaliesinWest in Arizona, his entire school traversing the country with him in afleet of black cars that Lloyd Wright could ill afford. He so prized the spectacular view from hiswinter home that he threatened to move once the lights of a growing Scottsdale beganto appear in the valley below at night.
It’s still one heck of a view, and still a school functioning inmuch the same way that it did in Lloyd Wright’s day. Students rotate through duties, such as,cleaning and decorating the communal dining room. Recently, a group of students reinstitutedthe tradition of gathering weekly in the home’s modest living room, dressed inblack tie for an evening of discussion.
The tradition of organic architecture also continues, in part inthe green buildings that Taliesin West students can build for themselves in theexpansive grounds, some of which are being used as templates for otherdevelopments. Fallingwater is also setto host eco-cottages,carved into hills in the grounds.
As to the GE and Siebel Foundation experiments, both appear tohave gone the way of many a grand architectural vision and disappeared, for the moment at least.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen numerous attempts –notably from GEand the Siebel Foundation– to create a “zero energy house” that could be used as a template forothers. Most acknowledge or draw from traditionsof “organic architecture”,a term coined by Frank Lloyd Wright to describe homes which united seamlesslywith the nature of the site on which they’re built.
Fallingwater
For someone with such hippy ideals, Lloyd Wright was foreverhustling for larger and more prestigious projects, and the best known – Fallingwater – was no exception. Created as a vacation home for one ofPittsburgh’s wealthiest families – the Kaufmanns, whose wealth came from theirdepartment store – Fallingwater is now owned by a conservation trust and isgenerally lauded as the greatest of Lloyd Wright’s many achievements. It’s way out in western Pennsylvania andsufficiently popular that you’ll likely be allocated a visiting time at anungodly hour. Thankfully, you can spendthe night at one of the more modest FrankLloyd Wright houses in the surrounding countryside, complete with tinybathrooms and old school kitchens. Theone that I stayed in was approached by a road that turned to dirt a few milesbefore the house emerged in a clearing. There’snot much out there beyond deer – which amble close to the house – and trees, andthis is probably how Frank Lloyd Wright intended it.
Fallingwater is a whole other kettle of fish. Clinging impossibly to the edge of a 30’ waterfall,it is instantly recognizable and the cantilevered concrete design is stillconsidered revolutionary. The stone forthe house came from a local quarry, albeit for reasons of expediency ratherthan sustainability, and it’s very much a study of its time in other ways. Walking through it, you realize how much oursociety has changed. It is relatableneither to the rich of today (no trophy art, nor frivolous accoutrement, bothof which Lloyd Wright frowned upon) nor to regular folk (“why’s the kitchen sosmall?” was one common question).
Taliesin West
The plans were presented to the long-suffering Kaufmann at Taliesin; Lloyd Wright loved toput on a good show for clients, and his summer home and studio in Wisconsin wasthe perfect backdrop. In his lateryears, Lloyd Wright migrated west in winter to TaliesinWest in Arizona, his entire school traversing the country with him in afleet of black cars that Lloyd Wright could ill afford. He so prized the spectacular view from hiswinter home that he threatened to move once the lights of a growing Scottsdale beganto appear in the valley below at night.
It’s still one heck of a view, and still a school functioning inmuch the same way that it did in Lloyd Wright’s day. Students rotate through duties, such as,cleaning and decorating the communal dining room. Recently, a group of students reinstitutedthe tradition of gathering weekly in the home’s modest living room, dressed inblack tie for an evening of discussion.
The tradition of organic architecture also continues, in part inthe green buildings that Taliesin West students can build for themselves in theexpansive grounds, some of which are being used as templates for otherdevelopments. Fallingwater is also setto host eco-cottages,carved into hills in the grounds.
As to the GE and Siebel Foundation experiments, both appear tohave gone the way of many a grand architectural vision and disappeared, for the moment at least.
Fallingwater from the base of the 30' waterfall that it straddles; the Kaufmanns were initially dismayed that their new home wouldn't have views of the falls.
A small, algae ridden swimming pool near the modest guest quarters
Windows run down the length of the exterior, beveled into the stone work
As with many of his homes, Lloyd Wright selected & placed all of the furniture at Fallingwater. The conservancy switched out the originals for identical replicas as the soft furnishings aged.
The Blum House at Polymath Park, a more modest Frank Lloyd Wright house that can be rented by the night
A walkway at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ
View across the school to the fountain & pond
Taliesin West also houses a collection of art work from local artists
The communal dining hall, complete with Lloyd Wright designed furniture
Lloyd Wright's study, with a sofa that doubled as an afternoon nap spot
