5 ms·

Frank Lloyd Wright and the “textile block” construction system (1992)

42 points by benbreen 5y ago

jeffrallen 5y ago
Anyone else notice the connection between concrete blocks and containers? And the connection between Flaw's assessment of the Ennis house and Kubernetes? Heh heh.
daverol 5y ago
Textile Block method, so an obligatory 'Blade Runner' mention: https://www.fancypantshomes.com/architecture/frank-lloyd-wright-ennis-house-is-much-more-than-just-the-blade-runner-house/ https://www.fancypantshomes.com/architecture/frank-lloyd-wri...
- Animats 5y ago
  Right, the Ennis house. Recently sold for US$18 million.[1] [1] https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-10-25/frank-lloyd-wrights-iconic-ennis-house-sells-for-18-million https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-10-2...
- DarknessFalls 5y ago
  Why does no one mention the more blatant use of the Ennis house, in The House on Haunted Hill? The exteriors were used for this, while the motif of the blocks were the only part used for Blade Runner.
Cupertino95014 5y ago
Major FLW groupie here. I've been to the Wisconsin Taliesyn, Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax building in Racine, his own home in Oak Park and many of the other homes there he built. I love it. That said: my brother went with me to Taliesyn. The main thing he noticed was the shoddiness of the workmanship, e.g. glass corners that didn't meet squarely. Still, it's inspiring. During the Depression, all you needed to move to Taliesyn and study with the master was $500. No skill requirement. Johnson Wax had years and years of water leaking in from the roof, although they finally fixed it and they work in it still. Steel-reinforced concrete is a time-limited construction technique. Water eventually gets in and rusts the steel.
- mikehotel 5y ago
  Would you consider insulated concrete forms (ICF) addressing the water intrusion concerns, while retaining the other benefits of reinforced concrete?
  - Cupertino95014 5y ago
    Maybe you know more about this than I do. Does the insulation last, say, 200 years?
    - tricky 5y ago
      ICF requires rebar to be dropped in the forms before pouring so... maybe not much better than standard reinforced concrete re: water intrusion.
      - mikehotel 5y ago
        Water could reach the rebar from the ground, but I would think waterproof membranes and proper drainage should allow it to remain mostly dry. The foam panels should also reduce the amount of air that gets to the concrete and the rebar. Of course, you want concrete to be wet for curing, but how would water and oxygen reach it after it drys out? Do you think the oxidization process will not stop after curing?
        LegitShady 5y ago
        concrete is porous. IF you wrapped your concrete in a waterproof membrane, the first tear or piercing in the membrane would then become an entryway for water and there would be no way for the water to leave because of the rest of the membrane. Proper drainage is a better solution. It's like the bridges that used epoxy coated rebar for chloride corrosion resistance and then found out that any tiny nick in the epoxy coating then causes that rebar to somehow corrode FASTER than uncoated rebar.
      - thechao 5y ago
kjhughes 5y ago
Frank Lloyd Wright restoration project house currently for sale for $4.25M in Los Angeles: It is one of “Wright’s 20 most important houses…the missing link between two World Heritage sites: Taliesin and Fallingwater,” according to the writings of architectural historian Kathryn Smith, who was quoted in the listing. https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-newly-listed-4-25-million-los-angeles-home-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-is-not-for-the-faint-of-heart-01626898173 https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-newly-listed-4-25-m...
- cepp 5y ago
  It sold ~3 weeks ago for ~3M.
eternityforest 5y ago
It's so bizzare that a construction method can be considered ugly or beautiful. Why doesn't architecture and industrial design have any concept of separate front-end and backend anymore, like software does? Some things do, like Ikea's crazy composite desktops, and they seem to work well. Why are we still doing this Bauhaus truth to materials stuff?
pontifier 5y ago
Lol even Frank Lloyd Wright had problems with zoning officials and the permit process...
hedgehog 5y ago
This popped up on HN a couple days ago along with most of these comments that are labeled as being posted today. New HN bug?

42 points by benbreen 5y ago

Anyone else notice the connection between concrete blocks and containers? And the connection between Flaw's assessment of the Ennis house and Kubernetes? Heh heh.

daverol 5y ago

Textile Block method, so an obligatory 'Blade Runner' mention: https://www.fancypantshomes.com/architecture/frank-lloyd-wright-ennis-house-is-much-more-than-just-the-blade-runner-house/ https://www.fancypantshomes.com/architecture/frank-lloyd-wri...

Animats 5y ago
Right, the Ennis house. Recently sold for US$18 million.[1] [1] https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-10-25/frank-lloyd-wrights-iconic-ennis-house-sells-for-18-million https://www.latimes.com/business/real-estate/story/2019-10-2...
DarknessFalls 5y ago
Why does no one mention the more blatant use of the Ennis house, in The House on Haunted Hill? The exteriors were used for this, while the motif of the blocks were the only part used for Blade Runner.

Cupertino95014 5y ago

Major FLW groupie here. I've been to the Wisconsin Taliesyn, Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax building in Racine, his own home in Oak Park and many of the other homes there he built. I love it. That said: my brother went with me to Taliesyn. The main thing he noticed was the shoddiness of the workmanship, e.g. glass corners that didn't meet squarely. Still, it's inspiring. During the Depression, all you needed to move to Taliesyn and study with the master was $500. No skill requirement. Johnson Wax had years and years of water leaking in from the roof, although they finally fixed it and they work in it still. Steel-reinforced concrete is a time-limited construction technique. Water eventually gets in and rusts the steel.

mikehotel 5y ago
Would you consider insulated concrete forms (ICF) addressing the water intrusion concerns, while retaining the other benefits of reinforced concrete?
- Cupertino95014 5y ago
  Maybe you know more about this than I do. Does the insulation last, say, 200 years?
  - tricky 5y ago
    ICF requires rebar to be dropped in the forms before pouring so... maybe not much better than standard reinforced concrete re: water intrusion.
    - mikehotel 5y ago
      Water could reach the rebar from the ground, but I would think waterproof membranes and proper drainage should allow it to remain mostly dry. The foam panels should also reduce the amount of air that gets to the concrete and the rebar. Of course, you want concrete to be wet for curing, but how would water and oxygen reach it after it drys out? Do you think the oxidization process will not stop after curing?
      - LegitShady 5y ago
        concrete is porous. IF you wrapped your concrete in a waterproof membrane, the first tear or piercing in the membrane would then become an entryway for water and there would be no way for the water to leave because of the rest of the membrane. Proper drainage is a better solution. It's like the bridges that used epoxy coated rebar for chloride corrosion resistance and then found out that any tiny nick in the epoxy coating then causes that rebar to somehow corrode FASTER than uncoated rebar.
    - thechao 5y ago

kjhughes 5y ago

Frank Lloyd Wright restoration project house currently for sale for $4.25M in Los Angeles: It is one of “Wright’s 20 most important houses…the missing link between two World Heritage sites: Taliesin and Fallingwater,” according to the writings of architectural historian Kathryn Smith, who was quoted in the listing. https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-newly-listed-4-25-million-los-angeles-home-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-is-not-for-the-faint-of-heart-01626898173 https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/a-newly-listed-4-25-m...

cepp 5y ago
It sold ~3 weeks ago for ~3M.

eternityforest 5y ago

It's so bizzare that a construction method can be considered ugly or beautiful. Why doesn't architecture and industrial design have any concept of separate front-end and backend anymore, like software does? Some things do, like Ikea's crazy composite desktops, and they seem to work well. Why are we still doing this Bauhaus truth to materials stuff?

pontifier 5y ago

Lol even Frank Lloyd Wright had problems with zoning officials and the permit process...

hedgehog 5y ago

This popped up on HN a couple days ago along with most of these comments that are labeled as being posted today. New HN bug?