<p dir="ltr">Fallingwater, by Frank Lloyd Wright</p>
<strong><strong>Michael Brandon Seals
J. Lauer, Huma 1302 12:00 p.m.- 1:20 p. m.<img class="aligncenter" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kAF60-zB79FQzRFyfpU3QxCiSvLvmiE-jjFcscQlw6cEVeHcRISmHTxKik8squsrdoQmC3Kyrfko6dQ69FQG5_XM8whSfJyl3KNQUfQ1e8aCpdkYQnk" alt="" width="567" height="378" /></strong></strong>

Frank Lloyd Wright remains one of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential architects, his groundbreaking work, Falling Water is considered by many to be one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of modern times and rightly deserves to be preserved and remembered for generations to come. Fallingwater was born from the needs of a wealthy department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann who was looking to replace some deteriorating cabins he owned in the Pennsylvania woods his son, Kaufmann Jr. briefly studied architecture under Mr. Wright and suggested him as the architect. With almost nine months to work on the plans when Kaufmann phoned and said he was making the two hour drive to Wrights country estate, without a plan ever have been drawn Mr. Wright sat down amidst a flurry of frantic apprentices and penned what many consider to be the greatest architectural masterpiece of all time.<!--more-->

In the throws of the Great Depression as many families were forced out of their homes with work being a commodity many were unable to come by, and as the country tried to reclaim the infrastructure it once had the face of architecture began to change. During this part of the twentieth century modern buildings from modern schools were gradually becoming commonplace and the large curtain walled rectangular masses with skeletons of steel and concrete gradually began to replace the craftsman and art deco stylings of the more prosperous decades that preceded it. Buildings such as Mies Van der Rohe’s, German Pavilion in Barcelona and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye championed this industrial and machine like quality buildings were starting to possess. Machines for living as many modernists called them, this new style did bring the machine age into architecture for the masses however many thought that a certain natural quality was lost on these buildings and being stark forms of steel and concrete never seemed to be conducive to a place for people to live, it may have been a glorious design but a certain human characteristic was lost. Enter Frank Lloyd Wright, having already enjoyed an illustrious career as an accomplished architect and as he entered his seventh decade he began to once again change the face of american and international architecture with his new “usonian” designs of which Fallingwater is the genesis.

Falling Water breaks from the traditional modern designs of the time in that it does not seek to show off it’s new modern materials, but instead strives to bring a harmony between them and nature. Mr. Wright always said that he would grow a building from its site and I can say first hand from experiencing his work that it appears to have no other alternative than to have always been there. Wright himself described it as an “extension of the cliff beside a mountain stream, making living space over and above the stream upon several terraces upon which a man who loved the place sincerely, one who liked to listen to the waterfall, might well live.”(Hoffman) “Falling water would complement its site but at the same time compete with the high drama of the falls, the unceasing sound of the crashing water, it would rise as a great machine of the forest. (Hoffman) This was also the first time Wright worked with the material of reinforced concrete which he would have to call upon to create the great spans of cantilevers that would give the house its form.

A book in itself could be filled with tales and controversies of the construction from the engineers saying it could not be built, to the concrete cantilevers beginning to sag the day the formwork was removed. Moisture and mold were a constant problem to a structure perched over the unending stream below but as was typical with many of Wright's designs the outside was invariably brought in, weather from the great expanses of glass looking into the forest or of the drip drip from one of the ceilings many cracks. However despite these practical shortcomings Falling Water was widely regarded as a masterpiece in its own time. In fact Time magazine heralded it as Wrights “most beautiful job” (Hoffman) and effectively reemerged Wright as a prominent figure in modern american architecture. Fallingwater was the catalyst that sparked most of his latter commissions as well, masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York and his numerous “usionion” designs to follow. Without this work, we would have none of his amazing latter commissions as well as its influence to the Mid-century modernists who would often cite Fallingwater as their inspiration to follow the field of architecture.

Today is it considered one of the greatest works of the twentieth century if not of all time. It was placed on the National Landmark in 1966 and is on Smithsonian's list of “Places to visit before you die” of which there are only 28 on the list. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Awarded it the “best all-time work of american architecture” Falling water remains a popular tourist attraction despite it remote location in the Pennsylvania woods. It has recently undergone a complete refit and repair of the concrete cantilevers as well as having many vapor barriers and moisture protection that was now available in the nineteen-thirties.

I remember clearly the first time I saw Fallingwater, it was on a calendar of fancy houses in the office of my parents business. I can not specifically remember the year but I think I was around seven or eight, I was already tearing thru legos for children of any age and was beginning to discover my lifelong passion for design and architecture. I remember seeing the house there on the calendar and thinking for the first time that that building was destined to be there it had the air of a millionaires retreat and a castle ruin at the same time, there's almost nothing that dates this house and it truly has a timeless quality, I clearly recall thinking that everything about it made sense, from the central monolith with numerous volumes jutting out. Still having the illusion it was all grown from the site, to the way it seemed to continue the line of the cliffs below it creating a cave like interior space that was still open and airy yet sheltering. Fallingwater literally inspired me to study architecture, and although I will probably end up in the Industrial design sector not a day will go by that I do not think of the man who inspired me to create.

Falling Water is considered Mr. Wright's greatest commission and in that sense we should logically compare it then to his european counterpart the great, Le Corbusier. Villa Savoye is considered by many to be Le Corbusier's best work in the field of residential architecture and like falling water Villa Savoye is also a retreat home for a wealthy benefactor. However the two contrast sharply as to materials, location and composition. As previously stated the European Modern style of the time was defined by large “floating” compositions whose large featureless expanses of stucco were punctuated by thoughtfully placed horizontal bands of windows and curtain walls, which was a huge contrast to the natural and harmonious melting of materials at Fallingwater. Villa Savoye consists of multiple pilings (round columns) supporting a large two story rectangular block overlooking a large flat expanse of french meadow and prairie. Like Fallingwater they are both elevated compositions but Le Corbusier uses stilts whereas Wright set his over the ledge of a waterfall merging the house and nature into one. Villa Savoye and Falling water were built within a decade of each other and both architects were aware to the comparison of each others work to their own. (Frank Lloyd Wright, Phaidon) However despite the difference in design both accomplish their fundamental roles of providing a relaxing weekend house albeit in different ways and for different clients.

This house has to be maintained and preserved for future generations to see how their forefathers created a harmony between man made structure and nature, not in todays sense of “green” this and frivolous lawsuits for having the wrong door knobs installed but in the sense of using local and plentiful materials and in a way so as to make the occupant become closer to nature by having it seamlessly make the transition from outdoor to indoor space. This house has untold wisdom emanating from is hollowed stone ledges that must be preserved for our heirs to discover. for such a great work cannot just be replicated or turned into a formula for a style of architecture, no, it is a living entity just like the river it rises over should flow into the future unending and into the mind and the hearts of the future of this great land.

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<p dir="ltr">Works Cited</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cohen, Jean-Louis. "Villa Savoye." Le Corbusier. Germany: Tashcen Gmbh, 2004. 43-47. Print.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">"Fallingwater." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. &lt;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater</a>&gt;.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Glancey, Jonathan. Architecture. New York: DK, 2006. Print.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Hoffmann, Donald. Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Second ed. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1978-1993. Print.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Kuhn, Chuck. Fallingwater. Digital image. Http://chuckkuhnimages.blogspot.com/2010/12/frank-lloyd-wright-falling-water.html. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">McCarter, Robert. Frank Lloyd Wright. London: Phaidon, 1997. Print.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Nuttgens, Patrick, and Richard Weston. The Complete Architecture Handbook: From the First Civilizations to the Present Day. New York: Collins Design, 2006. Print.</p>
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Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. "Fallingwater." Wright. Germany: Taschen, 2004. 53-54. Print</strong>

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