The Two Franks and Their Architecture Essay

Without a doubt, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest architects in American history and the greatest architect of the 20th century. Nature was his muse and his architectural structures embodied organic qualities. He took full advantage of the technological advances of the 20th century but redirecting the concept of space and employing new techniques; Wright was known for his modern and innovative designs. He believed that, “architecture was not just about buildings, it was about nourishing the lives of those sheltered within them”. Wright is not only one of the most well known architects in America but he is also thought of as one of the most influential architects in the world.

This museum is the first time Johnson started to move away from the influence of Mies and the International Style. The international style of architecture emerged in the 1920’s and 1930’s. You can see this style of architecture in photo A. Common characteristics of International Style buildings are said to be rectilinear forms, ligh taut plane surfaces that have been completely stripped of applied ornamentation and decoration, and open interior spaces. The typical materials of this style are glass and steel usually combined with less visible reinforced concrete. In picture number four you can see Munson Williams Proctor museum has opaque stone-clad walls, and uses luxuriant materials such as granite and statuary bronze, and a very balanced and symmetrical design. These aspects were all part of Johnson’s growing new interest in neo classical typologies, or what would be known as New Formalism in modern architecture. Neo formalism emerged in the 1950s and really took off in the 1960s, it remained popular in the third quarter of the twentieth

It appears that from the very beginning, Frank Lloyd Wright was destined by fate or determination to be one of the most celebrated architects of the twentieth century. Not only did Wright possess genius skills in the spatial cognition, his approach to architecture through geometric manipulation demonstrates one aspect of his creativeness. Forever a great businessman, Wright seemed to know how to please his clients and still produce some of the most innovative and ridiculed buildings of

Gehry’s deconstructive style has stretched the boundaries of non-traditional building materials, space, movement, and elevated architecture into a unique art form. The three buildings that I chose were the Rouse Company headquarters, built in the 1969 Columbia, MD, Vitra Design Museum 1987 - 1989, Weil am Rhein, Germany, and Weisman Art Museum completed in 1993, University of Minnesota, Minnesota. These building show an evolution in Gehry’s architectural style. The buildings move from the spare organic Prairie style, reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright, to the fluid energetic movement he is known for.

The buildings around the San Francisco Museum of Modern art, are skyscrapers and geometric shaped buildings. The SFMoMa stands out, with its color and design. As looking at the SFMoMa from across the street, the circular structure within the SFMoMa drives they eye to look at it because of how out of place it looks compared to the building itself

Visual art and construction can be integrated within one another through different mediums. Frank Lloyd Wright shows this in the building, Fallingwater, while Wim Delvoye presents it in his piece, Caterpillar 5bis. These two men have very unique and different styles but in the end they both relate to art and construction. Whether it be art in construction or construction in art there is no doubt that the two have crossed paths.

Many of those buildings were being developed in his mind while he was growing up and spending summers on his uncle’s farm. It was during this time that he developed his love for Nature, to be a part of it. His love for Nature is dominant in his earlier works dubbed the “Prairie Houses”, but can also been seen in his later works such as Johnson Wax and the Guggenheim Museum. When Frank Lloyd Wright was just sixty-eight years old, he was commissioned to design a house for Edgar Kaufmann. Wright and Kaufmann went to the property to survey the location for the house. Kaufmann liked to spend time at the water falls on his land so that is where Wright decided to build it. Wright figured if Nature could place the boulders over a waterfall, than he could build a house over one. It took Wright only three hours to draw the plans for the house. The house consists basically of concrete slabs balanced on the boulders above the stream, and the walls are slabs of the natural rock surrounding the house. The house includes a pool that is built under the house and is fed by the passing stream. Every aspect of the house embraces the Nature that it co-exists with, and the house appears to fade into its surroundings.

The de Young museum seen from a distance is a bold architectural statement, with its sleek horizontal building, indeterminate dark brown color and its massive tower emerging from its slightly bent curving roof. The building is an example of boldness, internationalism and cultural neutrality. Its setting in the Golden Gate Park’s landscape with the topography, vegetation; weather and light are taken advantage of. The significance of nature and the art that is housed in the museum from the Americas, Oceania, and Africa can be seen as having resonance in the architecture. Many of the works of art are sacred in their cultures, are made of natural materials and were never intended to be displayed in formal settings. Post modern theme of ‘context’ comes into expression as Jacques Herzog put it: “These objects belong to nature. We wanted to emphasize that”.

It was an architectural school that he ran out of his own home and studio. A short five years later, his apprentices and he began work on “Taliesin West,” a residence and studio in Arizona that housed them during the winter. When Wright was approaching 70 years old, he appeared to have retired from running his founded fellowship. He had many failed projects and abrupt inactivity. He then announced his return with his most celebrated piece of work called Fallingwater. This residence was created for Edgar Kaufmann as a weekend house. It’s located in western Pennsylvania and is built over top of a waterfall. It is a prime example of Wright’s love for organic

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most important architects of the twentieth century; with his buildings and his ideals of an organic architecture, he got to be known by everyone. Who does not know about the Fallingwater? This building is considered his masterpiece and represents all his principles. For him, organic architecture was designing by integrating a building to its site and context, and he was able to achieve it with most of his projects. However, Wright’s career did not started like this; he went through a lot of complex periods that ended consolidating his ideals as an architect. Moreover, each of these phases had different kind of influences that Wright took and learned from. Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge how outside architecture and social factors influenced his “Organic” idea.

Turrell considers themes explored by artist, and is focusing on his perception, color, light, as well as space and the important role of site specificity in his practice.” It features works, drawn from the museum’s Panza Collection. In his exhibition at the Guggenheim, Turrell has created a new work entitled Aten Reign (2013), changing the museum from the tradition of one of his most amazing, larger-scaled projects, the Frank Lloyd Wright as shown below has a bigger volume of space floating overhead and less transparency to be looked across. (LACMA 50)There is not anything occupying the rotunda, with the exception of the structures the artist has required to amplify and reveal the nature of space. “He offers a new vision with the building, taking attention away from the boundaries of the built environment and drawing more attention to the interior and promoting what he has described as architecture of space created with light.” Daylight coming from the museum shines down to light the furthest layer of the large assembly shown from the

Mies van der Rohe is one of the most prominent figures in modernist architectural history, the man who popularised some of the most influential phrases of the era, e.g. “less is more”, and strove to push his ideas and philosophies, not just on what he thought a building should be, but of what he thought architecture itself was. He changed the cityscape of America, showing the world a style that was simple and elegant, with such a controlled palette of expressions that shone through in its geometric beauty.

A non- arbitrary architecture is an architecture incorporate nature and culture to define the life of a human being. Karsten Harries mention that the needs of human comfort in a building does not meet the tenants comfort since they are illogically made instead of emphasising the design to standout to meet the requirements of people, places and landscape in a real world. The implantation of building design by Frank Lloyd Wright's and Aalto's Villa Mairea has shown the world that design is not only to enhance but compliment God's creation. Frank Lloyd and Aalto's Villa design manifest mainly on the non-arbitrary of architecture, emphasising qualities of direction, of weight, of materiality, of light and so forth. Thus, understanding non-arbitrary architecture, design will be seen in different perspective as the two architecture, Frank Lloyd and Aalto's Villa

Before the mid-twentieth century, museums in Europe and the United States were generally planned in variations of the neoclassical style. But, the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao moved the heading of gallery outlines, which gave an extensive show venue to twentieth century and modern art, designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry. Architecture is important nowadays to the public, because it offers a physical surrounding environment in where we live in. Moreover, architecture is not only affected by the culture, but also by the economy of the country.

Architecture can be viewed with two different types of properties. Properties that can be seen like shapes, their composition, the spaces they create and, the colours and textures that make up their appearance. These properties are considered to be visual while other properties are considered to be abstract. These properties can only be described using words; the meanings behind the architecture and the stories that can be told about it. The context, its cultural background and its function also affects how we view architecture. The question is, what