Frank lloyd wright

The Latter years (1932-1959)

After the Prairie House

Timeline
1909 Due to the scandal of leaving his wife and children for
the wife of one of his clients, Frank Lloyd Wright has
Difficulties in securing new clients and closes his
Firm in Oak Park.
1910 - 1912 Wright travels Europe with Mrs. Cheney while
working on having his portfolio and writings published.
1916 - 1921 After the murder of Mrs. Cheney and her
children by a Farmhand at his house, Taliesin, in Spring
Green, Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright moves to Japan.
while there he has several commissions. The most
notable is The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
1922 Returns to the USA. Designs four houses in California,
and several apartment complexes and resorts. The
latter are never built because of the 1929 Crash.
1932 With his second wife, Oliganna Hinzenberg, Wright
starts the Taliesin Fellowship with 23 apprentices.

Publishing
Ausgefuhrte Bauten und Enturfe (1910) His portfolio and
writings on architecture.
Ausgefuhrte Bauten (1911) A more extensive photograph
collection of his work.
In 1925 his portfolio, ausgefuhrte Bauten, was republished in
Holland, including an English translation.
An Autobiography (1932)
The Disappearing City (1932)

Taliesin School of Architecture

In 1932, Frank Lloyd Wright and his wife started the Taliesin Fellowship, which then became the Frank Lloyd Wright School of
Architecture. Twenty-three apprentices came to live and work on wrights farm in Spring Green.
The farm was a self-sustaining entity, with the apprentices growing and harvesting their own food, building their own living
quarters and other buildings needed on the farm. They also learned drafting, construction methods, and other crafts, as well
as overseeing the construction of Wrights projects.
"The fine arts, so called," they asserted, "should stand at the center as inspiration grouped about architecture . . . . (of which landscape
and the decorative arts would be a division)." Education at Taliesin would emphasize painting, sculpture, music, drama, and dance "in
their places as divisions of architecture." Frank Lloyd Wright (1931).

Each Fall after harvest ,the apprentices would then load up trucks and station wagons with food, drawings, and other
necessities and caravan across the plains to scottsdale arizona, the site of Taliesin West. The school continued Throughout his
life, having upward to 100 students at a time. Apprentices worked on their own designs as well as projects assigned to them
by Frank lloyd Wright.

TALIESIN, FARM AND OUTBUILDINGS

RENDERED BY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1933)

TALIESIN WEST - LIVING ROOM

SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA

Organic Architecture
After his return from Japan, Frank lloyd Wright gave many lectures and interviews on
architecture. In these discussion he began describing what he called, Organic
Architecture. This became the theme for the rest of his career. How he defined Organic
Architecture changed often, as he refined it, and also as the situation demanded.
one that is integral to site; integral to environment;
integral to the life of the inhabitants. A house integral
with the nature of materials --- wherein glass is used as
glass, stone as stone, wood as wood --- and all the
elements of environment go into and throughout the house.
Into this new integrity, once there, those who live in it
will take root and grow. And most of all belonging to the
nature of its being. Frank Lloyd Wright
Integral to Site - houses designed to rise up out of the site as it belonging.
Integral to environment - built appropriately to climate.
Integral to Individual - Each building built to accommodate the lifestyle
of the inhabitants way of life and needs.
Integral to Materials - details of the building were the materials
themselves
HOUSE RISING OUT OF THE HILL NATURALLY
OLFELFT HOUSE (1958)

HOUSE SITS ON ROCK CLIFF RISING FROM THE SEA AND

COVERED WITH GREEN CANOPY ROOF
WALKER HOUSE (1948)

ROUGH ROCK AND CONCRETE BLEND WITH HARSH DESERT

ENVIRONMENTS, SLATTED WINDOWS PROTECT FROM HARSH SUN.
TALIESIN WEST

Usonian houses
With the stock-market crash of 1929, Frank Lloyd Wright turned his interest to low
cost housing for the masses. He called these houses, Usonian, being of the USA. The
first of these was the Jacobs house (1936).
The entire project cost $5,500, this included Wrights fee of $450. In the next 30
years over 50 houses were built, and a hundred more designed, on the precepts of
the Jacobs home. These homes were innovated and ahead of their time, as Wright
created homes to fulfill the needs of a changing American society. Following the
demands of Organic Architecture, each of the houses were individual and unique.
However, they did have common elements that united them.
*Designed on a Module system - Originally a 2 x 4 grid and a vertical grid of
1-1. these were the size of 1/2 sheet plywood, and the dimintions of the slat
and battens that made up the wall. Later other modules would be used based
on the site and the materials used.
* Deep Eaves - Cantilevered roofs that overhung and sheltered the walls,
shading the house and Clearstory windows from the afternoon sun
*Open Plan - Pioneered the connecting of the kitchen, dining room, and Living
room. This Reflected the need for the Lady of the house to be connected to the
activity of the house, not hidden away.
* Connection to Nature - Shielded house from Public, but opened up the private
side to the gardens and Light, blending indoors and outdoors, continuing the
design of the house to the exterior.
* Efficient design of Bedrooms and Bathrooms - Bedrooms were modest in size,
but contained spacious closets. Bathroom plumbing was stacked and located
adjacent to kitchen to economize on material cost.
* Passive Heating - Use of concrete floors as thermal mass and large windows
help regulate heating and cooling. In-bedded Plumbing pipes under foundations
to provide radiant heating.
* Economical Materials - Used materials that were inexpensive. Early models
with concrete, brick, and plywood, later with local stones and CMU blocks.
Avoided ornamentation, instead let the natural properties of the materials
provide the details of the house

STANDARD USONIAN WALL SECTION

BATTEN BOARD WALLS, CLEARSTORY WINDOWS AND OVERHANGING,

FLAT EAVES DEFINED THE USONIAN HOUSES
SCHWARTZ HOUSE (1939)

Usonian Housing Plans

As time passed, Frank Lloyd Wright adapted the usonian concepts from the original 2x4 design to six general styles.

DIAGONAL DESIGN
SIMILAR TO POLLIWOG LAYOUT
BUT BASED ON A PARALLELOGRAM AND
WALLS ANGLES RATHER THAN 90
DEGREES.
Right: Snowflake House (1941)

POLLIWOG DESIGN
2X 4 LAYOUT WITH 90 DEGREE TAIL EXTENDING INTO
GARDEN SEPARATING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AREAS OF THE
HOUSE
ABOVE AND TOP: JACOBS HOUSE (1936)

In-Line Design
house designed for narrower lots, square layout without tail.
ABOVE : GOETSCH-WINKLER HOUSE (1939)

Usonian Housing Plans

RAISED DESIGN
TWO-STORY DESIGN MADE TO ACCOMMODATE SLOPED
PROPERTY LOTS
Above: Lloyd Lewis house (1940)

SOLAR HEMI-CIRCLE DESIGN

FIRST BUILT FOR JACOBS FAMILY
WHEN THEY OUTGREW THE
ORIGINAL USONIAN DESIGN, BUILT
AROUND A CIRCLE COURTYARD.
Above right: Jacobs House II
(1940)
Lower Right: David Wright House
(1950)

HEXAGONAL DESIGN
Above: Hanna house (1936)

Broadacre City
In 1935, Frank Lloyd Wright took his concepts of organic design and Usonian Architecture and applied them to the design of
the new american city, one that abandoned the crowded, unhealthy conditions of the metropolitan life. The plan
centralized itself on the idea of habitants living with nature. each residence was located on a one acre lot, giving them lots
of space to have a personal garden and privacy. The lots were accessed by arterial roads that connected to a main
highway, which had a monorail for public transportation and freight traffic. Public venues such as government,
entertainment, and recreation were located in one central location. Wright imagined these cities expanding across the
whole nation and, as current cities were abandoned for this preferred lifestyle, replacing existing cities. Though these
designs never came to complete fruition, however, various townships were designed and built based on his ideas.

Above: Broadacre City Plot Design (1935)

Frank LLoyd Wright
ONE-ACRE PLOT PER HOUSE

Above: Broadacre City Rendering(1935)

Frank LLoyd Wright

Popular Successes
During these latter years of Frank Lloyd Wright
life he had become a household name. His plans
were published in home and garden magazines,
he was interviewed on radio and television, gave
lectures, built hundreds of homes and buildings,
and preached constantly the values of Usonian
design and Organic Architecture. Two buildings
however Stood above the rest in the minds of the
general public that made him the great American
architect.
Falling Waters (1935) - Designed and under
construction the same time the Jacob's house was
built there is a remarkable contrast and
similarities to Wrights Usonian Plan. It was
ornate, opulent and costly rather than simple and
inexpensive. Both did have open plans and
Falling Water was integral to its site as a building
could be, truly organic. (Seen on Left)
The Guggenheim Museum of Modern Arts - At first
glance appears very different in style, but
examination shows a very Organic Architecture
and commonalities to Usonian houses. It was
based on the Module of the circle similar the the
Hemi-circle House. This can be seen in plan,
fencing, dome ceiling, flooring pattern, and with
curving ramps for circulation around
Central,rather than exterior courtyard exterior.
(seen on right)

Bibliography
Alan and Alan Hess. Frank Lloyd Wright - MidCentury Modern. New York: Rizzoli International
Publications, 2007.
Drexler, Arthur. The Drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright. New
York: Horizon Press for the Museum of Modern Art,
1962.
Meehan, Patrick J. The Master Architect: Conversations
With Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 1984.
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Selected
houses, vol. 6. Tokyo: A.D.A. edita, 1991.

Above: Tracy House (1954)

Weintraub,Sergeant, John. Frank Lloyd Wrights Usonian

Houses. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications,
1976.
Wright, Frank Lloyd. Modern Architecture: Being the Kahn
Lectures for 1930. Southern Illinois University
Press, 1931.
Wright, John Lloyd. My Father Who Is on Earth. Southern
illinios University Press, 1994.

Above: Pearce House (1950)