Frank Lloyd Wright & the Creation of Fallingwater | Short Documentary | All Things Architecture
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 06. 2020
- It was a bright Sunday morning and a client of Frank Lloyd Wright was on his way to view the preliminary drawings for his weekend retreat outside Pittsburgh. The only problem was there were no drawings. This is the story of how Frank Lloyd Wright committed the design of his most iconic house to paper in just under two hours.
Editor's Note: The drawings seen in this episode were created at a later time, and are not the ones created on that Sunday morning.
This video is brought to you by ArchbyDesign.com, a blog celebrating the best of architecture. Discover the interesting world of architecture today at ArchbyDesign.com
Follow us on Instagram -
/ archi_by_design
Follow us on Twitter -
/ archi_by_design
© 2020 ArchbyDesign.com
Wright's admiration for Japanese architecture was important in his inspiration for this house, and for most of his work. Just like in Japanese architecture, Wright wanted to create harmony between man and nature, and his integration of the house with the waterfall succeeded in doing so.Nov 8, 2021
I’ve been to falling water. It’s a magical place. Unforgettable is right.
He was a genius no doubt about it, wish I could have lived to meet the great man. The greatest.
More remarkable than the last-minute drawings themselves is how much Wright drew in so little time.
Very cool. Love his school/house in Scottsdale, worth the visit if you are traveling to Arizona.
Thank you. A well known story well done.
Nice photo selection and presentation
Thank you for all of your comments and support. Please check out our latest video today! czcams.com/video/QhDH5S6uqGE/video.html
Absolutely wonderful!
My Japanese architect adored FLW. He built a circular house in the Japanese Alps. Nice from ourside but interior was not very comfortable. He also built another house which was more like a complex of houses connected by an undulating hallway with separate kitchens bathrooms but huge common area firplace and outlook of the forest and massive size kitchen. A bath japanese style with a view of the forest also. Liked the balconies of each unit. The undulating walkway was comforting. No steps. But the huge common space room was difficult to keep warm. The suspended chimney did not function to remove smoke. Entire structute had central air however. We were within walking distance of cafes through concealed path through the forest. Maintenance was quite a responsibility. Cannot imagine the maintenance of the Waterfall house. What is the waterfall flow increased too much😮
Great !
Hitchcock wanted the house at the end of North By North West to have the feel of this one. I can completely see the relationship.
You're right. I can definitely see the resemblance. That's a great movie with a lot of great architecture shots, including the United Nations Building. Hitchcock had a great eye for architecture.
This would happily be my dream home, love streams, and more the ‘sound of them”, this a what architecture is meant to do- to “highlight the treasure(s) that a “natural space” has to offer, while still keeping function following form ... imo. Idk if they said this property is in Penn., but it definitely looks like it, to me. The stone absolutely does! I’ve always been partial to the elegance of fine cut Indiana limestone, between these two, but in natural setting, this is stunning! #Pennsylvania #AppalachianTrail
Yes, it's in Bear Run, Pennsylvania. You're right it's an incredible house. It does a great job of blending the natural world and built world. I often wonder what it'd be like to live in such a place even if it was just one night.
Properly done my friend. I hope my Penfield House video comes out as well as yours did. ✌💙🌟
Great video! Well done.
Thank you. We're glad you enjoyed it.
I visited in May. Unbelievable.
You said that Wrights design for Fallingwater took only 2 hours, but that's really not true. In truth, the house is an amalgamation of ideas that he had over his entire career. The horizontal plane, the cantilever, the use of bricks etc; were all elements of his style
for decades before he did the Kaufman house. He just threw all of them at the house in that wonderful waterfall setting. And boy
it worked.
Yes, but he still did it in 2 hours. Isn't it amazing?
@@user-rj2rd9ch9r those were preliminary sketches, not formal drawings. Frank had to have something to show Kaufman when he arrived at his studio, but there were changes made as the project progressed. Is it amazing?
ha! absolutely, I mean look at it. Have you ever been inside any of Wrights buildings? I live here in San francisco
and we've got his little Circle Art Gallery building on Maiden Ln. It's one of the first examples of his usage of the
'ramp' as an essential element of the design. It's beautiful. It's such a nice feeling to be inside it. It's warm and cosy. If I worked in that building I'm not sure I'd wanna go home at night, ha!
@@spactick Well, I guess we have different perspective.
I think Frank is amazing because he succeeded to impress Kaufman
within the short period of time he was given.
Format of the presentation doesn't really matter. Wheater the sketch is
preliminary or formal, most important thing is to impress the client.
If I was told to make a huge change of my project in 2 hours, I couldn't endure the pressure.
BTW I have never seen Frank's work with my eyes, but my wife used to work at Imperial Hotel in Japan,
and she told me some stories about his architects.
Every architect's designs of buildings are an amalgamation of ideas, always. Just like musicians' compositions, painters' paintings etc. That must be clear. And yes he made his drawings in 2 hours!!
@@missatrebor the sketches/preliminary ideas were laid out in hrs not the detailed floor plan etc; he had his
crew of flunkie-worshipers finish things up in the sweat-shop
I've visited Fallingwater 8 times. While it's correct to say the house is integrated into the landscape, to say it BLENDS into the site is a fallacy. It looks like a spaceship that landed in the woods. If Wright had wanted it to visually blend into the landscape he should not have done the patio walls in that stucco material, and then painted it that melon color. It would have blended far more successfully if the stone had dominated the design.
I subscribed.
Awesome, thank you! I've got some fantastic stories in the works for this summer.
Damn.
Would flw draw designs as Mozart would write music ?
7:00
6:34 "it's hard to believe that Frank Lloyd Wright's most iconic house was first designed in just 2 hours" - a misleading statement - FLW tended to design in his head long before putting pencil to paper - this story shows how complete his design was - by the time he began the drawings
Mme LAURENTTTT
According to legend, Wright sketched Fallingwater in only two hours.
Needless to say, Franklin Toker, author of Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House, is skeptical of this claim. "We want to believe drawing up Fallingwater needed only two hours, just as we want to believe-despite massive, contrary evidence.
-MF/ BY KIRSTIN FAWCETT JANUARY 25, 2017
Why need to put Wright down? What and where is the massive contrary evidence? Present it here or be forever silent.
The reality is we'll never know for certain, but for every Wright historian that says the story is a myth, there's another that says it's fact. For the research of the video, I found a piece written by architecture historian Hugh Howard that appeared to suggest based on his research that it was true or at least possible. It's important to note too that the sketch that Wright makes in that initial drawing is a really rough sketch.
Today, environmentalists would have blocked the project from being approved by the state of Pennsylvania, and Fallingwater would have died in Frank Lloyd Wright's imagination.
The prairie style house, with large overhangs meant for sun control, don't make any sense here at the bottom of a dark forest covered ravine. This is what a "genius architect" does with only 2 hrs to produce sketches and no peer review. Wright visited the site only once, in winter. Kaufmann family had 20 years experience here but Wright didnt ask enough questions or listen to the answers.
Fallingwater is one of the first "modernist" homes that Wright designed. It differs substantially from his earlier prairie school houses, mainly because Fallingwater features a flat roof and ribbon windows, which are customary of modernist houses.
The initial drawing I talk about in the video was merely a starting point. It was a very rough floor plan for the house, but it was the culmination of Wright thoughts and ideas for the project.
@@AllThingsArchitecture The long ribbon windows would make sense on a Prarie house...allowing your view to sweep majestically o're the horizon. But from the living room here in Fallingwater, you can only look out at the thick forest. Cant see the sky as the overhang blocks it. Cant see the waterfall as the cantilevered balcony blocks it. After one 2hr site visit in winter, Wright went back and sketched his ideas in isolation. Gives a clear lesson of what not to do for others who follow.
Isn't this the house Frida Kahlo visited?
Yeah, twice. She was friends with the Kaufmanns after they purchased some of her paintings.
It doesn’t get any better than this, which is another way of saying it’s all downhill from here, which is another way of saying “good luck”, pal. Falling water is, for my money, on a very short list of the most beautiful objects ever designed by humans. LeCorbusier? Meh. Mies? Blah. Gehry? One-trick pony. Let’s face it: Wright is the man. Period. End of story.
Summer 1962, awaiting my 'A' level results had an interview to be a trainee town-planner with the now defunct London County Council. The interview board consisted of the Chief Town Planner, a European gentleman, and two others. I was questioned as to architects and I extolled FLW, Falling Water, Taliesin West, etc. I was then asked my views of Le Corbusier, who I disliked intensely, and made my adverse views known; Mies van der Rohe likewise. I was successful and got the job. When I arrived I then discovered the Chief Town Planner had been a student of Le Corbusier!! A very good job he was broad minded. After 12 months I realised town planning was not for me and so I departed for other fields. FLW was unique.
@@morganmajurey5805 It's been said (my way of saying someone said it but I don't remember who) that while the U.S. has produced some notable artists, some great writers, some fine composers, etc., we've never produced a Picasso or a Shakespeare or a Mozart. We did however, produce Frank Lloyd Wright.
Arrogance alert!
It's not like he's Christopher Wren, calm down. All modernism is meh at best.
some acchitects want desing to live away from nature some want desing that dont' disturp nature but him he want people to life with nature
Click bait... same old same old here...
How do you say "Hello" in a regal manner? Too much embellishment. An exaggerated fairy tale?
A master of building ugly buildings.
In your opinion, what are some examples of successful residential projects, and some architects with a solid residential project portfolio?