Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, born 150 years ago today, revolutionised home building in America. Known as the ‘father of organic architecture’, the architect designed more than 1,000 buildings, 532 of which were built. His works established a unique synonymity with nature and modern design. His home designs often drew inspiration from forms found in nature and emphasised the use of natural materials like stone and wood.
As his career progressed, he turned to innovating the use of modernist materials like precast concrete and glass to embrace nature as well. While his counterpart Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) used glass for its intrinsic characteristics and as a symbol of modernity, Wright compared the material to the ‘mirrors of nature’ like lakes and ponds and used it to draw nature into the homes he designed.
Wright practiced design for 70 years and is arguably the greatest architect in American history. While his works have received worldwide acclaim he was just as well known for his notorious lifestyle and colourful personal life. There have been various explorations into the idea that his concepts, design ideologies and travel would have, at least to some extent, drawn from his dramatic life.
Even though he was a man whose personal and professional life was extensively documented, AD has curated a list of lesser known facts about the infamous architect.
1. THE INDIAN CONNECT
The Calico Dome in Ahmedabad which housed the showroom and shop of Calico Mills at the time of its inception is renowned for its geodesic structure inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s work. Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, owners of Calico Mills, had originally commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design the administrative building for the mill compound on the same plot. While Wright designed an initial concept for the building, due to permission issues and construction restraints from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the project fell through and the dome was built in its place.
2. THE GUGGENHEIM CONUNDRUM
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was Wright’s first project in New York City. The project is well known for its spiral core and is the only museum designed by the architect. Little do people know that Wright wanted to construct the structure in red marble, a colour he has used on many of his residential projects. The idea was negotiated for alternative designs in green or yellow marble before Wright decided on an all-white concrete exterior.
3. THE JAPANESE BIND
During The Great Depression of 1920, Wright made more money selling his curated collection of Japanese art prints than he did with his architectural practice. He had collected a vast collection of Japanese art through his numerous trips to the country. His collection grew substantially when he worked on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, as he was living in Tokyo through its construction. He sold a large number of prints and even used them as collateral for financial backing. He faced legal trouble from a few of these sales as the buyers claimed that he had used pencils and colours to draw on the original print, reducing its authenticity.
4. THE LEAK
There is a pop culture tale regarding Frank Lloyd Wright that tells the story of a dinner party hosted by Herbert Johnson at the home designed by the architect. There was leak in the ceiling and the water kept dripping. When Johnson complained to Wright, the architect famously told him to just move his chair. Similar complaints about maintenance issues, even in some of his most successful projects, have been common. Wright’s design strategies were so dominated by his romantic concepts that he often didn’t pay heed to the mundane details. The extreme renovation of the cantilever at Fallingwater was another such instance. Wright had previously overruled the structural engineer’s suggestion to use more steel in the slab so as to speed up construction, only to have the engineer’s fears being realised.
5. THE FALLOUT
There was a defiant nature of contempt that Wright held against the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to the extent that he referred to them as “a harbor of refuge for the incompetent” and “a form of refined gangsterism”. He refused to enrol with the organisation even though they awarded him with the AIA Gold Medal in 1949 in an effort to resolve the feud.
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