Fallingwater, 1939, Mill Run United States, Frank Lloyd Wright Organic Architecture

The Last house in the woods

In the wilderness of Mill Run, Pennsylvania located in the Bear Run Nature Reserve sits a house camouflaged by nature. Design by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Falling Water house redefined the idea between man, architecture and Nature. Built as a weakened home for owners Mr. Edgar Kaufmann, his wife, and their son who worked under wright himself, the house in many ways was the product of, to simply put it, a last-minute scramble for ideas [3]. But, as it turned out this last-minute scramble turned to be one of the most architectural successful houses of the early 20th century.

Inspired by Japanese architecture, Wright incorporated the house on to nature and vice versa. He wanted to create harmony between man and nature, and in doing so he integrated the house with the water fall (built on top of it) to do so [5].  Wright Revolved the house through two methods, on the outside and the inside. On the outside he used the presence of the falls, as it can always be felt, maybe not by site by sound. In this way he meant to compliment the site with the drama of the water falls and their never-ending sounds of crashing water [5]. From the inside he revolves the house around the fireplace by jutting a rock through the living room and forming the heart of the fireplace at its center while boulders from the site incorporate into the walls [4]. He also strengthens this concept by dramatically extending the height of the chimney to make it the highest point on the exterior of the house, as if the cut stone where been extended and that was the chimney [5].

The house features an open living room with steps that lead directly to the water fall and a rather compact kitchen on the first floor. On the second floor are three small bedrooms, and the third is a study room and another bedroom. The halls are dark and narrow, and the rooms have low ceilings, to create the feeling of compression and make the pronounce the larger more natural spaces and to create large spaces for the family to socialize. [5].

The long-cantilevered terraces wrapped with reinforced concrete balconies is what defines the house. Serving as extensions towards nature the terraces add an element of sculpture to the house. The terraces liberate the compressed spaces inside [of the three levels of the house through their horizontal protrusions and connects with the flow of the water flow as they both go in the same direction.

                        

Falling water is primarily made of reinforced concrete, native sandstone and glass [7]. Texture and pattern combine to imitate nature. The balconies are smooth in texture while the vertical stone columns are rougher and rockier. This is symbolic of the various texture found in nature and helps make the structure seem more natural in its setting [8]. Wright chose locally available sandstone for the body of the house and chose and exterior pallet of colors to ensure that the house "blended in" with its environment [4]. The concrete is painted in light ochre and the steel frames are painted red to match the color of the trees and surrounding leaves.

Inside, the floor is made of stone waxed to resembled polished river stones.  The main floor has almost floor to ceiling window creating the feeling of been part of nature.  The windows on the façade can open in the corners, breaking the "box" form of the house and opening it to the outdoors. These windows can also control the level of breeze and the sound of the rushing water below [1].

Light and space is sporadic. Although it may seem [giving the rectilinear shapes and volume] that there is order within the structure, there is not. The only constant light is at night when the building is lit, during the day however light is found in its most natural form [8]. Shadows are cast by the arrangement and construction of the building, meaning the overhanging balconies project a shadow to the flow below and so on. There is as little space as possible with nature at all side of the structure, resulting in the minimalist destruction of nature as possible.

The Fallingwater house is truly a great representation of Organic architecture, a philosophy that promotes harmony between design and nature.

Cited Works

[1] “About.” Fallingwater, fallingwaterproject.weebly.com/about.html.

[2] Daley, Jeff. “Japonisme and Frank Lloyd Wright.” Prezi.com, 9 Apr. 2013, prezi.com/sfnjfy3m63oq/japonisme-and-frank-lloyd-wright/.

[3] “Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater Explained | Architecture | Agenda.” Phaidon, www.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2016/june/08/frank-lloyd-wrights-fallingwater-explained/.

[4] Gibson, Eleanor. “Frank Lloyd Wright Integrates Architecture into Nature at Fallingwater.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 8 June 2017, www.dezeen.com/2017/06/07/fallingwater-frank-lloyd-wright-pennsylvania-house-usa-150th-birthday/.

[5] Perez, Adelyn. “AD Classics: Fallingwater House / Frank Lloyd Wright.” ArchDaily, 14 May 2010, www.archdaily.com/60022/ad-classics-fallingwater-frank-lloyd-wright.

[6] Quirk, Vanessa. "Light on the Land: In Modernizing the Student Residences at Fallingwater, the Key Was a Sensitive Touch." Metropolis, vol. 36, no. 7, Feb. 2017, pp. 78-83. EBSCOhost, arktos.nyit.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.arktos.nyit.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bvh&AN=764905&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

[7] Saher, Tami. “Casestudy of Falling Water.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 30 Apr. 2015, www.slideshare.net/tamisaher/casestudy-of-falling-water.

[8] “Visual Analysis Fallingwater.” Visual Analysis Fallingwater, flw06.tripod.com/id8.html.

[9] Zoeyysy. “Falling Water －Frank Lloyd Wright.” Modern Architecture: A Visual Lexicon, 11 Oct. 2017, visuallexicon.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/falling-water-%EF%BC%8Dfrank-lloyd-wright/.