Wright Demonstrating the Ideals of Organic Architecture in Taliesin West

Russel Wright is an American industrial designer and architect that lived during the early to mid twentieth century. Many of Wright’s ideas and designs were considered to modern at time, drawing influences from not only ingenious designers like Frank Lloyd Wright but nature as well. Wright’s influences would lead him to create a design style unlike any at the time; a style that would eventually become almost standard in many homes in the United States. The designer Russel Wright and his wife, Mary Wright together published a guidebook known as Guide to Easier Living. In it contains numerous suggestions and thoughts on home architecture, interior design, as well as product design. Many of the thoughts and suggestions conveyed in the book can be seen in present-day design and architecture. Wright’s book also laid the groundwork for his home, Dragon Rock, which of itself possesses elements of design that are seen in today’s homes. Russel Wright’s Guide to Easier Living is clearly a response to interior design at the time; containing numerous design ideas, Wrights guide influences Wright’s own future works.

Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “Every great architecture is-necessarily-a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.” In other words, movements of architecture become movements because of individuals who fabricate their own new styles. Wright states this by saying every architecture reflects his/her time period with originality.Throughout history there have been many great architectures who have worked in many different styles of architecture, such as Gothic, Byzantine, Craftsmen, and Prairie. Many architectural styles such as Romanesque and Gothic went from being a style of architecture to defining a whole period in history. For example, the Craftsmen style of architecture, which originated from the Arts and Crafts movement, went on to define that time in history. Frank Lloyd Wright and the Greene brothers both have exquisite styles of architecture with many similarities and differences in which they pioneered themselves. Wright and the Greene brothers both share similar ideals of architecture in which can be found in their different styles today.

“Nature” is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and published by James Munroe and Company in 1836. [1] “Nature” has a total of 41 pages. The essay consists of eight parts: Nature, Commodity, Beauty, Language, Discipline, Idealism, Spirit and Prospects. Each part takes a different perspective on the relationship between humans and nature. In this essay, Emerson emphasizes the foundation of transcendentalism, “a religious and philosophical movement that developed during the late 1820s and 30s in the Eastern region of the United States as protest against the general state of spirituality and, in particular, the state of intellectualism.” [2] “Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses nature, and suggests that reality can be understood by studying nature.” [3] “Transcendentalism is closely related to Unitarianism, the dominant religious movement in Boston at the early nineteenth century. Transcendentalism evolved as an organic consequence of the Unitarian emphasis on free conscience and the value of intellectual reason.” [4] Emerson divides nature into four stages: commodity, beauty, language, and discipline. These define the ways by which humans use nature for their basic needs. The historical significance of “Nature” was that transcendentalism club led the celebration of the American experiment as one of the individualism and self-reliance. [5]

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.

Frank Wright (1867-1959), is an American architect born on June 8th in Richland Center, Wisconsin (Biography.com n.d.). A modern design, he produced an organic and clear American style (Architectural Digest n.d.). Wright founded his own firm and developed the Prairie School- single-story homes with low, slanted roofs and extended rows on the windowpane, using the available materials from local business and clean and not painted wood (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). The Robie House (Figure 1) located in Chicago and Unity Temple placed in Oak Park (Biography.com n.d.). Wright was known mainly in Europe but not in the United States. In 1913, Wright designed his home on his maternal ancestors land in Spring Green, Wisconsin (Architectural Digest n.d.). This home was named Taliesin, sadly it got burnt down twice and he still remodeled it again (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica 2017). Wright wrote two books in 1932: “An Autobiography” and “The Disappearing City,” both are known as architectural literature (Biography.com n.d.). In addition, to publishing the two books, he

This essay will focus on how those works are informed by both regional and international course. In this context, Sydney Ancher and his strong Miesian simplicity as well as Peter Muller’s affinity with Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture principle.

Similar to the ideas of Evernden and Cronon that are discussed above, Hinchliffe attempts to define, or redefine, the term “nature.” The author begins by identifying and defining three possible concepts of the term: nature as an independent state; nature as a dependent colony; and as a co-production. The first idea, nature as an independent state, means nature is something that is separate and in danger. The second, nature as a dependent colony, defines nature as an idea. The final concept, nature as a co-production, describes nature and society as intertwined.

Two architects who works needs to be recognized too are Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank O’Gehry. Both great architects with creative designs that seem to incorporate with their surroundings. Who contributed so much to our modern designs and buildings that we still visit today. Both architects who came up with new ideas and designs instead of the traditional like houses and buildings but added new concept to what we see today.

Frank Lloyd Wright is the Best known architect in the U.S. Wright's became so well know for the way he designed buildings that it become iconic it was very different from that time period. Everything that was being constructed had a european style. Wrights believe in preservation of nature, he would build around the exciting features that nature would often offer. An example is Falling Waters, a building built on top of a waterfall in Pennsylvania, the waterfall flows running through the house helping the house stay cold, but at one point the waterfall was going to be destroyed. The Clients wanted to build a pool where the house met the water, but in doing this it would destroy the waterfall itself the one thing the clients were building the house for. They ended up not making the pool and leaving the waterfall of it nature beauty because of Wright's creative problem solving to use what was around the structure and to improve the buildings looks and functionality with the waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright believed in preserving nature and building around it and taking asperation from it, creating a hole new style individually for the U.S.. The value of being able to make your own design in something is what all architects should aspire to do, making every building different and unique while leaving your own imprint on the culture that the building comes into contact

In Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor develops the following four elements of the biocentric outlook on nature:

The human body is the ultimate tool for discovering the environment. Human anatomy is considered to be nature’s peak of perfection and certain features serve as inspiration for many architects. To study the relationship between the human body and architecture, one must not be limited to human body parts resemblance to architectural works but to a larger extent consider human emotions, sensory nerves, the mind and general human psychology. In essence everything that makes us human. In its simplest definition Architecture can be described as an art or practice of designing buildings. It is practiced in a way that accomplishes both practical and communicative or expressive requirements. To relate it to human body then Architecture can widely define the place, the site, the energy, the systems, the building, the flora and fauna. These components that bring aesthetic property to humanity apart from the utilitarian purpose it serves. The perfect balance of a normal human body and the proportions are incorporated into architecture from a point of view of imitation, idealized allusion and the actual human use. Evidence of such human incorporation into architecture is seen from the Ancient Greek Architectures where it was common for tower columns to take shape of a human being like in the colossus of the Ancient

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.

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

Wright created the philosophy of "organic architecture," the center principle of which maintains that the building should develop out of its natural surroundings. From the outset he exhibited bold originality in his designs for both private and public structures and rebelled against the ornate neoclassic and Victorian styles favored by conventional architects. Wright believe that each building should have its own identity and it should be determined in each case by the particular function of the building, its environment, and the type of materials used in the structure. He used various building

Different architects have different styles because they are trying to get at different things. Architecture is not just about making something beautiful anymore, it is about trying to get across a set of ideas about how we inhabit space. Two of the most famous architects of the twentieth century, one from each side, the early part and the later part up until today each designed a museum with money donated by the Guggenheim foundation. One of these is in New York City, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The other is in bilbao, Spain, and it was designed by Frank Geary. My purpose of this paper is to interrogate each of these buildings, glorious for different reasons, to show how each architect was expressing their own style.