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never really understood the hype around this guy. to me his designs are unattractive and often downright hostile to having any natural light indoors

by rsanek 2y ago

kcplate 2y ago
I felt the same way until I toured several of them. There is something about the beauty of the spaces when you are in them that just doesn’t translate to photos. Even the natural light plays into the design. In a lot of ways it’s magical.
- AlbertCory 2y ago
  Amen. You could look at the Acropolis and be unimpressed, too. That says more about you than the building.
- ethagnawl 2y ago
  I've only been to (not in) Fallingwater but I concur. I would have to imagine FW translates better than most but, still, being there was surreal and breathtaking. It feels equally futuristic, classic and organic -- elemental, even. If I had a bucket list, spending a night there (something that used to be offered a few times each year, IIRC) would be on it.
  - kcplate 2y ago
    > It feels equally futuristic, classic and organic -- elemental, even. This is a great description. Thanks.
jimmyswimmy 2y ago
For me (and I imagine a lot of people) it is his Fallingwater house (https://fallingwater.org/ https://fallingwater.org/) which is a tremendous example of architecture which builds on its environment. I don't think that's a particularly great place to live in - seems to be a museum now anyhow - but it's a wonderful idea. In a lot of ways architecture is about setting high expectations, and that does it. A lot of his other work - the Usonian designs - look to me to be like what became 80's style American architecture. But I'm no student of the field; I just admired Fallingwater.
- OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
  I don't get the worship, either. Fallingwater has required a lot of intervention to stay up. The much praised Johnson Wax complex has a tower that can't be occupied. The administration building has workers on the ground floor ("Great Workroom") where management can look down upon them from the second floor. He dictated how people who commissioned him were to live in their homes down to what they could and could not have in them. Many of those houses have required work as well. The guy was arrogant and constantly over budget. HN doesn't consider these good traits in other engineering fields.
  - mc32 2y ago
    I hate the arrogance as well… but, I’ve watched shows of homes built by renowned architects and some their clients have a special ability to accommodate the architects’s eccentricities. They’ll point out some odd and queer things with pride —and how they keep the oddities despite how impractical or inconvenient they prove. It’s like the clients get off on that themselves. It’s really weird.
    - snakeyjake 2y ago
      The only profession more full of arrogance than architecture is orthopedic surgery. Unlike the failed artists and engineers who build little dioramas out of cardboard and model railroad scenery, surgeons merit the arrogance. To reach your maximum safe annual dose of arrogance-by-proxy, just watch a single documentary covering what all of the architects who decided to become "urban planners" did to the fabric of society in the 50s and 60s because they thought that poured concrete hellscapes were beneficial to mankind and that they knew better than the sum total of all of humanity.
    - OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
      The wealthy can be into that kind of ... abuse. Jay Leno explains why he doesn't own a Ferrari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUPOvcolNZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUPOvcolNZg Highlight: https://youtu.be/VUPOvcolNZg?t=96 https://youtu.be/VUPOvcolNZg?t=96
bryan0 2y ago
> his designs are … often downright hostile to having any natural light indoors Are you sure about this? From Wikipedia [0]: > To unify the house to its site, Wright often used large expanses of glass to blur the boundary between the indoors and outdoors.Glass allowed for interaction and viewing of the outdoors while still protecting from the elements. In 1928, Wright wrote an essay on glass in which he compared it to the mirrors of nature: lakes, rivers and ponds. Also check out the interior of the Johnson wax headquarters, the ceiling is basically a giant sky light [1] [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright#/media/File%3AWork_area_at_the_Johnson_Wax_Building%2C_headquarters_of_the_S.C._Johnson_and_Son_Co.%2C_Racine%2C_Wisconsin_LCCN2011633764.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright#/media/Fi...
- zerocrates 2y ago
  Yeah he was... hugely into natural light. One factor that may be relevant here: many of his houses are designed to not use curtains or other window coverings; privacy is instead built into the house by having the front approach have few windows, or only the kind that are small and near the roofline, with the rear having many.
moomoo11 2y ago
As someone who lives in CA I think it would be cool to bring back neo Roman or Greek architecture. Open spaces with columns and hemp roofs.
- Animats 2y ago
  That would be the Temple of Wings in Berkeley.[1] Originally, it had only columns, no solid walls. Sheets of canvas were the only protection from the weather. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Wings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Wings
aardvark179 2y ago
I’m not sure I agree, but there is definitely a sense of enclosure and protection. He made some space beautifully well lit (the office attached to his home in Oak Park is a good example) but others parts of his houses seem to offer ways to see the outside world while retreating from it.
WillPostForFood 2y ago
Check out this photo of Taliesin West in Phoenix - great natural light. https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/663cf0bbe8f993fb5b10e5fa/master/w_1600,c_limit/TW2023HIGH_Andrew%20Pielage-9.jpg https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/663cf0bbe8f993f...
tightbookkeeper 2y ago
It’s one 1 of 3 names in architecture that educated people recognize. That’s the extent of the discussion here.

never really understood the hype around this guy. to me his designs are unattractive and often downright hostile to having any natural light indoors

by rsanek 2y ago

never really understood the hype around this guy. to me his designs are unattractive and often downright hostile to having any natural light indoors

kcplate 2y ago

I felt the same way until I toured several of them. There is something about the beauty of the spaces when you are in them that just doesn’t translate to photos. Even the natural light plays into the design. In a lot of ways it’s magical.

AlbertCory 2y ago
Amen. You could look at the Acropolis and be unimpressed, too. That says more about you than the building.
ethagnawl 2y ago
I've only been to (not in) Fallingwater but I concur. I would have to imagine FW translates better than most but, still, being there was surreal and breathtaking. It feels equally futuristic, classic and organic -- elemental, even. If I had a bucket list, spending a night there (something that used to be offered a few times each year, IIRC) would be on it.
- kcplate 2y ago
  > It feels equally futuristic, classic and organic -- elemental, even. This is a great description. Thanks.

jimmyswimmy 2y ago

For me (and I imagine a lot of people) it is his Fallingwater house (https://fallingwater.org/ https://fallingwater.org/) which is a tremendous example of architecture which builds on its environment. I don't think that's a particularly great place to live in - seems to be a museum now anyhow - but it's a wonderful idea. In a lot of ways architecture is about setting high expectations, and that does it. A lot of his other work - the Usonian designs - look to me to be like what became 80's style American architecture. But I'm no student of the field; I just admired Fallingwater.

OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
I don't get the worship, either. Fallingwater has required a lot of intervention to stay up. The much praised Johnson Wax complex has a tower that can't be occupied. The administration building has workers on the ground floor ("Great Workroom") where management can look down upon them from the second floor. He dictated how people who commissioned him were to live in their homes down to what they could and could not have in them. Many of those houses have required work as well. The guy was arrogant and constantly over budget. HN doesn't consider these good traits in other engineering fields.
- mc32 2y ago
  I hate the arrogance as well… but, I’ve watched shows of homes built by renowned architects and some their clients have a special ability to accommodate the architects’s eccentricities. They’ll point out some odd and queer things with pride —and how they keep the oddities despite how impractical or inconvenient they prove. It’s like the clients get off on that themselves. It’s really weird.
  - snakeyjake 2y ago
    The only profession more full of arrogance than architecture is orthopedic surgery. Unlike the failed artists and engineers who build little dioramas out of cardboard and model railroad scenery, surgeons merit the arrogance. To reach your maximum safe annual dose of arrogance-by-proxy, just watch a single documentary covering what all of the architects who decided to become "urban planners" did to the fabric of society in the 50s and 60s because they thought that poured concrete hellscapes were beneficial to mankind and that they knew better than the sum total of all of humanity.
  - OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
    The wealthy can be into that kind of ... abuse. Jay Leno explains why he doesn't own a Ferrari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUPOvcolNZg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUPOvcolNZg Highlight: https://youtu.be/VUPOvcolNZg?t=96 https://youtu.be/VUPOvcolNZg?t=96

bryan0 2y ago

> his designs are … often downright hostile to having any natural light indoors Are you sure about this? From Wikipedia [0]: > To unify the house to its site, Wright often used large expanses of glass to blur the boundary between the indoors and outdoors.Glass allowed for interaction and viewing of the outdoors while still protecting from the elements. In 1928, Wright wrote an essay on glass in which he compared it to the mirrors of nature: lakes, rivers and ponds. Also check out the interior of the Johnson wax headquarters, the ceiling is basically a giant sky light [1] [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright#/media/File%3AWork_area_at_the_Johnson_Wax_Building%2C_headquarters_of_the_S.C._Johnson_and_Son_Co.%2C_Racine%2C_Wisconsin_LCCN2011633764.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright#/media/Fi...

zerocrates 2y ago
Yeah he was... hugely into natural light. One factor that may be relevant here: many of his houses are designed to not use curtains or other window coverings; privacy is instead built into the house by having the front approach have few windows, or only the kind that are small and near the roofline, with the rear having many.

moomoo11 2y ago

As someone who lives in CA I think it would be cool to bring back neo Roman or Greek architecture. Open spaces with columns and hemp roofs.

Animats 2y ago
That would be the Temple of Wings in Berkeley.[1] Originally, it had only columns, no solid walls. Sheets of canvas were the only protection from the weather. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Wings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Wings

aardvark179 2y ago

I’m not sure I agree, but there is definitely a sense of enclosure and protection. He made some space beautifully well lit (the office attached to his home in Oak Park is a good example) but others parts of his houses seem to offer ways to see the outside world while retreating from it.

WillPostForFood 2y ago

Check out this photo of Taliesin West in Phoenix - great natural light. https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/663cf0bbe8f993fb5b10e5fa/master/w_1600,c_limit/TW2023HIGH_Andrew%20Pielage-9.jpg https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/663cf0bbe8f993f...

tightbookkeeper 2y ago

It’s one 1 of 3 names in architecture that educated people recognize. That’s the extent of the discussion here.