F.L. Wright - Architecture

IGCA
THEORY OF DESIGN
Architect – Frank Lloyd Wright
Submitted By:
Amit Jakhad (14010)
Harsha Yadav (14027)
Mansi Pushpakar (14034)
Sahil (14048)
Swati Chaudhary (14065)
Supervised By:
Ar. Himadri Gogoi
Ar. Shivani Verma
Ar. Priyanka Kaushal

“One that is integral to site; integral to environment; integral to the life of the inhabitants. A house integral
with the nature of materials wherein glass is used as glass, stone as stone, wood as wood and all the
elements of environment go into and throughout the house. Into this integrity, once there, those who live in
it will take root and grow. And most of all belonging to the nature of its being.”
- F.L. Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
(1867-1959)
01

About
02 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 1,000 structures, 532 of which were
completed.
More than 450 executed buildings , over a period of 70 years.
First project - Charley House, Chicago, Illinois.
His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches,
schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums.
Also designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass.
Recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time".
Unity Temple Rookery Building Imperial Hotel

Chronology
Born to William Carey Wright and Anna Lloyd Jones
Started studying at University of Wisconsin in Madison
Left university without graduating & arrival at Chicago in search of
employment
Joins the Adler & Sullivan Firm
Passed away
Recognised as “the greatest American Architect of all time” by American Institute of
Architects
1867
1886
1887
1888
1959
1991
03

Approach & Philosophy
A philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and
the natural world through design approaches so sympathetic and well integrated with its site, that buildings,
furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition.
Eg: Falling Water
How he defined Organic Architecture changed often, as he refined it, and also as the situation demanded.
1. Integral to site – Houses designed to rise up out of the site as it belonging.
2. Integral to environment – Built appropriately to climate.
3. Integral to Individual – Each building built to accommodate the lifestyle of the inhabitants way of life
and needs.
4. Integral to Materials – Details of the building were the material themselves.
Organic Architecture04

His Most
Famous
Architectural
Works
Falling Water, Pennsylvania
Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan
Price Tower, Oklahoma
Wrights’ Home & Studio
Johnson Wax Headquarters, Wisconsin
05

06 Introduction - The Price Tower is a nineteen-storey, 221-foot-high tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
It is the only realized skyscraper by Wright, and is one of only two vertically oriented Wright structures
extant.
Architect: F.L. Wright Years of construction: 1952 to 1956.
Concept - The idea was
conceptualized as a tree such that
there was one supporting,
organizational system - the core –
that fed into the rest of the floors.
A way to think of the core, or trunk,
as more than just a main structural
support, but as an element that
informs the floors becoming fully
integrated into the overall system
while in effect destabilizing the
cores dominance on each floor.
Wright nicknamed the building the
“the tree that escaped the
crowded forest”.

Floor Plans
The floor plan centres upon an
inlaid cast bronze plaque, bearing
the logo of the Price Company and
marking the origin of a
parallelogram grid upon which all
exterior walls, interior partitions and
doors, and built-in furniture are
placed.
The resulting design is a quadrant
plan—one quadrant dedicated for
double-height apartments, and
three for offices.
07

Floor Plans
The general geometric element is
the equilateral triangle.
All lighting fixtures and ventilation
grilles based upon that form.
Angled walls and built-in
furniture based on fractions or
multiples of the triangular module.
Based on a modulus of diamond
30° -60° and 60° -60°, triangles are
used as a pattern throughout the
building and can be seen even
printed on the floor.
08

Supported by a central "trunk"
of four elevator shafts which are
anchored in place by a deep
central foundation, as a tree is
by its taproot.
The nineteen floors of the
building are cantilevered from
this central core, like the
branches of a tree.
The outer walls hang from the
floors and are clad in patinated
copper "leaves."
The building is asymmetrical,
and like a tree, "looks different
from every angle."
Elevations & Sections (North)09

Elevations & Sections (SouthWest)
The cast concrete of the floor of the towers floors and core
along with the copper panel cladding that has an acquired
patina over time establishes a relationship with nature
through the buildings earthy tones.
Because the exterior walls needed no columns to support the
weight, Wright was able to develop his imagination on the
facade covering with embossed copper panels with
geometric figures of his own invention which he gave a
greenish color, bands of windows and angular fins copper,
such as leaves, protect rooms from the sun.
Each floor has a curious geometry as "pinwheel" light
fixtures, stairs, pillars and canopies are assembled at sharp
angles.
10

Design
The materials for the Price Tower are equally innovative
for a mid-twentieth-century skyscraper: cast concrete
walls, pigmented concrete floors, aluminium-trimmed
windows and doors, and patinated embossed and
distressed copper panels.
From a distance,
oxidized copper louvers
that provide shade for
windows create the
illusion of green branches
and with the unique
architectural design of a
tapering tower from the
nineteenth floor.
11

Interior
Price Tower was to be a multi-use building with business offices,
shops, and apartments.
Oxidised copper façade protects the interior from harsh sunlight and
getting much heated up.
The interior also included spaces and lighting fixtures in the form of
equilateral triangles and octagons at angles 30 and 60.
Self-designed furniture.
12

Introduction - Johnson Wax Headquarters is the world headquarters and administration building of
S. C. Johnson & Son in Racine, Wisconsin designed for the company's president, Herbert F.
Architect: F.L. Wright Years of construction: 1936 to 1939.
Concept - Wright decided to create a
sealed environment lit from above.
The project needed to be of American
Dream, where the workers are happy and
are united as one family.
Monolithic exterior & interior walls where form
didn’t follow function and function didn’t
follow form but were made inseparable.
Japanese Architecture to bear strong
emphasis on horizontality.
Form of a colonnaded single structure
surrounding a quiet courtyard and the
prayer pagoda.
13

Floor Plans
Materials used
in the
construction of
included red
Kasota
sandstone and
reinforced
concrete with
cold drawn
mesh used for
the
reinforcement.
14

Floor Plans
The mushroom columns and glass tubing ceiling formed a large workspace, nearly one half acre in size.
The Great Room, as it is referred to, is furnished with specific Wright designed pieces, two circular
elevators,
and a
mezzanine.
Low ceiling
carport
featuring
shortened
mushroom
columns
leads to the
lobby.
15

Floor Plans
The elevators took on a birdcage like appearance providing a panoramic view of the Great Room
traveling from the basement to the Penthouse level.
On reach
of the
Great
Room the
sky opens
and
surrounded
by slender
mushroom
columns
and light
streams in
from
overhead.
16

Section & Elevation
Wright provided almost
Utopian workspace,
self-sufficient and a bit
futuristic.
The modern streamlined
atmosphere was
communicated through
a consistent circular
language; curved corner
profiles, rounded shapes in
furniture pieces, and use of
Pyrex glass tubing
extending beyond roofing
materials for wall dividers
and replacing conventional
windows.
17

Design - Almost all workplaces are in one single room with 80 thin dendriform pillars.
These supports the glass roof and, as it were, form a “forest” with their plate-shaped surrounds.
The large workspace is well lit with indirect light and very little glare, resulting in a work environment
conducive for creativity.
The skylights are assembled from glass tubes of varying diameter.
The circular lily pads of concrete are woven together by a membrane of Pyrex glass tubing that illuminate
spaces with natural light.
The use of Pyrex glass tubing allowed for a
lot of diffused light to enter the interior.
18

Research Tower – stands 153 feet tall and its central core, which is 13 feet in
diameter, extends 54 feet into the ground.
15 storey building supported by a vertical column, a central core from which the
floor cantilever like the branches of a tree.
Of the 15 floors, six are square, with circular mezzanine floors above them, with one
additional square floor on the second level running up the core of the building are
an elevator and a stairway.
Outside walls are made of brick bands which alternate
with walls made from glass tubing.
They admit light but cut of the view outside.
Columns could carry loads up to 60 tones (determine
after a structural analysis text)
More than 7,000 Pyrex glass tubes serve as its windows,
with the exterior lined with bands of more than 22,000
bricks, featuring the signature Wright/SC Johnson color,
“Cherokee Red.”
19

20 Introduction – A historic house located at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois. It has been
restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, last since F.L. Wright lived
there with his family.
Architect: F.L. Wright Years of construction: 1889
Concept - The hearth
was the heart of the
the home, and a quote
etched into the panel
above the sunrise
fireplace reads,
“Truth is Life. Good
friends, around these
hearth stones, speak
no evil word of any
creature”.

Floor Plans21
Entering the home,
the home’s main
staircase spills into the
right entryway and
the living room
beckons to the left.
Dining Hall with bay
windows, creates a
“room within a room”
and a more intimate
dining experience
overall.
The octagonal pattern
is not only repeated,
But also rotated
multiple times.

Floor Plans
22
The stamp of Sullivan’s
influence is apparent
in the simplification
and abstraction of
the building and its
plan.
Defined by bold
geometric shapes—a
substantial triangular
gable set upon a
rectangular base,
polygonal window
bays, and the circular
wall of the wide
veranda.

Interior
The bedroom was unique with its
vaulted ceiling, hanging pendant
lights, and murals.
Painted by Wright-collaborator,
Orlando Giannini, the murals at
either end of the room depict a
quasi- Native American/Egyptian
motif that the pendant lights.
The “compression and expansion”
technique that Wright used
throughout his career to divide
spaces and emphasize drama,
hence the space became
childrens’ playroom.
23

Interior
Doors secluded at either end of a narrow space behind the four
stork-themed capitals. Aside from the storks (representing fertility
and wisdom), the capitals also depict a tree of life (representing
nature), books (knowledge), as well as various architectural scrolls.
Comprises the northwest corner of the building and continues the
octagonal theme. A cantilevered horizontal roof unifies the
rectilinear look of other aspects of the northern façade.
An octagonal second floor mezzanine surrounds the atrium and is cleverly
supported by a network of chains, alleviating the need for structural
columns, and thereby providing the space with unencumbered beauty.
24

The Guggenheim, Manhattan, NYC
Introduction - The Guggenheim Museum in New York is the first museum established by the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, dedicated to modern art. Founded in 1937 in Upper East Side, NYC.
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright Years of construction: 1956-59
Concept – Conceived as “Temple of
The Spirit”
Its design was inspired by a "Ziggurat"
Babylonian temple pyramid, inverted.
The building looks like a white ribbon
rolled into a cylindrical shape, slightly
wider at the top than at the bottom.
Abstract form and
modern technology to their
contemporary limits.
Shape which corresponds to the
concept of organic architecture.
25

Triangle
depicts
structural
unity
Arc
depicts
aspiration
Square
depicts
integrity
Circle
depicts
infinity
Design - the cylindrical building, wider at the top than the bottom.
The tour begins at the entrance and slowly leads visitors to a path where the artworks are exposed along
a spiral ramp lit by a large skylight at its zenith divided in the shape of a citrus fruit.
The galleries form a spiral. The spiral shape, marked by the symphony of triangles, ovals, arcs,
circles and squares.
The shapes adapted from the nature as
“Geometry is the building block of nature”
26

Interior
The paths around the great central
emptiness promote the reflection upon
and the enjoyment of the art. The
provision of semi-open exhibition halls
gives visitors an overview of the entire
building from any point up the central
aisle. Also, it calls attention to the
mosaic on the ground floor.
In the conquest of the static regularity of geometric design and combined with the plasticity of nature, Wright
produced a vibrant building whose architecture is as refreshing now as it was 40 years ago.
27

Wright directs visitors via a
ramp to the top of the
building, and down a gentle
helicoidal ramp so that almost
without realizing it, the work
set out at different levels is
interconnected, yet distinct
from one another by a small
transitional space that is
almost imperceptible.
The centre of the spiral
reminiscent of a snail, which
allows us to see the centre of
the rotunda and various levels
of exposure of the spiral ramp
downward.
Section
28

Introduction – Perched above a mountain cataract on a rocky hillside deep in the rugged forest of
South western Pennsylvania, some 90 minutes from Pittsburgh, is America’s most famous house.
Architect – Frank Lloyd Wright Years of construction - 1936 – 39
Concept - With Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright went one step further—designing a house nestled into a
mountainside, with views that made the house appear to be part of nature itself.
Wright’s famous concept of “Organic
Architecture” stems from his
Transcendentalist background. The
belief that human life is part of nature.
Wright's passion for Japanese
architecture was strongly reflected in
the design of Fallingwater, particularly
in the importance of interpenetrating
exterior and interior spaces and the
strong emphasis placed on harmony
between man and nature.
29

Floor Plans
The type of structure of
the house is structurally
raised in particular,
because there are
columns and beams to
form porches, and the
plates, the horizontal
elements that stretch as
terraces on the waterfall,
were made with
concrete.
Some walls
and other vertical
elements that define the
spaces of the house, the
Like the floor, were lined
with native stone from
the site.
30

Floor Plans
Its composition is
horizontal, although
somewhat complex. The
vertical axis is defined by
the chimney that stands
out above the deck. The
building grows from
within outwards and is
spreading according to
the needs of its residents.
Therefore, it can be
amended, as in the
organic architecture
building is conceived as
a living thing and that
can change.
31

Floor Plans
Each floor is marked by
wide overhangs that are
projected
asymmetrically in
several directions. In fact
terraces are bounded
by smooth slabs of
concrete.
32

Design
The waterfall itself would be invisible from the interior but wholly integrated into the plan, with a stairway
from the living room giving direct access and the rush of falling water always echoing through the house.
Fallingwater is like a piece of
contemporary abstract art from
the twentieth century.
Reinforced-concrete cantilever
slabs project from the rocks to
carry the house over the stream.
Deeply recessed rooms, fieldstone interiors, and unusually low
ceilings create the impression of a cave—a private, sheltered space
within the natural scheme of things.
The materials used for the construction of this house were:
concrete, stone Ragusa, native stone, wood
and steel.
33

Fallingwater is constructed on three levels primarily of reinforced concrete,
native sandstone and glass.
Soaring cantilevered balconies are anchored in solid rock.
Walls of glass form the south exposure, and a vertical shaft of mitered glass
merges with stone and steel to overlook the stream.
Between the terraces are rooms with glass walls—transparent boundaries
between inside and out.
34

Section
In Fallingwater he chose
ferro-concrete for his
cantilevers, this use of
reinforced concrete for
the long suspended
balconies was
revolutionary.
He boldly extended the
balcony of the second
floor master bedroom
soaring six feet beyond
the living room below.
35

Elevation
The exterior of the house
has an intimate
relationship with nature
that surrounds it. He tried
to use natural materials:
wood, brick, rock,
which achieved a
greater integration
between the building
and the forest that
surrounds it.
36

F.L. Wright - Architecture

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