Considered the most influential architect of his time, Frank Lloyd Wright designed about 1,000 structures, some 400 of which were built. He described his "organic architecture" as one that "proceeds, persists, creates, according to the nature of man and his circumstances as they both change." As a pioneer whose ideas were well ahead of his time, Wright had to fight for acceptance of every new design.
He entered the University of Wisconsin at 15 as a special student, studying engineering because the school had no course in architecture. Wright left Madison in 1887 to work as a draftsman in Chicago.
Wright worked for several architectural offices until he finally found a job with the most cultured architect of the Mid-West, Louis Sullivan, soon becoming Sullivan's chief assistant.
As an independent architect, Wright became the leader of a style known as the Prairie school. Houses with low-pitched roofs and extended lines that blend into the landscape typify his style of "organic architecture.
http://www.oprf.com/flw/bio/
FALLING WATER
Falling water, the residential masterpiece of great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was designed in 1936 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann. Considered by some as the most famous private house ever built, Falling water epitomizes man living in harmony with nature. The house, set amid 5000 acres of natural wilderness, is constructed of local sandstone, reinforced concrete, steel and glass. It juts out over a waterfall on Bear Run, appearing as naturally formed as the rocks, trees and rhododendrons which embrace it.
The interior of falling water remains true to Frank Lloyd Wright's vision as well, including cantilevered desks, earth-toned built-in sofas, polished stone floors, and large casement windows which allow the outdoors to pour in.
The hearth of the soaring stone fireplace is actually a boulder on the hill, supposedly Mr. Kaufmann's favourite sunning spot before Falling water was built - the house was literally built around it. From the Great Room a set of stairs enables you to walk down and stand on a tiny platform in the middle of the stream.
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Wright took abstract form and modern technology to their contemporary limits, using reinforced concrete to create a soaring spiral that swelled as it rose, creating a building that was as much sculpture as it was architecture.
'With ample justification, critics of the building has attacked the Guggenheim for ignoring both its urban context and its role in exhibiting art... the continuous slanted ramp Wright used instead of horizontal floors made the display of conventionally framed paintings especially difficult.'
'When asked why he chose the ramp, instead of level floors in the conventional stack, Wright explained that he felt the museum-goer would find it far more convenient to enter the building, take the elevator to the top ramp, gradually descend around an open court, always have the option, as the ramp touched the elevator stack at each level, to either go back, or skip down to further levels, and finally, at the end of the exhibition, he would find himself on the ground floor, near the exit.
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/guggenheimny/index.htm
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