By blending harmoniously into its surroundings, Frank Lloyd Wright s Fallingwater shows that man can live at peace with nature, while Frank Gehry s Schnabel House demonstrates man s dominance over nature. Fallingwater is a perfect example of organic architecture, while the outdoor connection created by Schnabel House, although beautiful, is synthetic and man-made. Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry s respective approaches to residential buildings, and design in general, are highly incongruous. Wright built with the idea in mind that a house should blend into its surroundings, he built his buildings to be at home in nature. (Hoffman, 1986) Wright used to say that the ground was more important than anything man would make out of it or put upon it. (Hoffman, 1986) Wright also believed that a building would perform its highest function in relation to the life within it and the efflorescence of nature outside it. (Hoffman, 1986) These design concepts differ greatly from those of Frank Gehry. [Gehry s] works are often cited as being among the most important works of contemporary architecture, which led Vanity Fair to label him as "the most important architect of our age." (Gehry Technologies) Gehry has designed iconic buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. (Figure 1) Gehry is an architect who strives to expand the definition of traditional architecture, looking at each building he designs as a work of art. In his own words, I would like to make a building that is as intellectually driven as it is sculptural and as positive as it would be acceptable to hope. (Brainy Quotes) Upon consideration of these different design theories, it is no wonder that the two architects have created entirely different experiences of the home in the forms of Fallingwater and Schnabel House, and that each home has a completely different relationship to nature.
Figure 1 Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Designed by Frank Gehry. (Image taken from blogs.artinfo.com) Wright built Fallingwater for the Kaufmann family in 1935, around the time of The Great Depression of the 1930s. (Hoffman, 1978) The Great Depression influenced U.S. foreign policies in such a way that the United States government became even more isolationist. (U.S. Department of State). One could argue that Fallingwater echoes this concept of isolation, due to its forested and secluded location. Fallingwater is a 5,330 square foot residential home with a 1,700 square foot guest house addition. It is situated directly over the rushing waters of Bear Run in the forests of Pennsylvania. The weekend home is a cantilevered structure of reinforced concrete, sandstone, glass and steel, which is acclaimed as a masterpiece of organic architecture and considered [Wright s] most sublime integration of building and nature. (Waggoner, 1996) By visual inspection alone, an onlooker can see that the goal of harmonizing the home and the environment has been achieved, and when inside, one can experience a sense of protection from nature without feeling cut off from it. (Waggoner, 1996)
Figure 2 Fallingwater, near Mill Run, Pennsylvania Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. (Image taken from www.wright-house.com) One of the most recognizable features of Fallingwater is the use of cantilevers above the creek, as seen in the image above. According to Hoffman, the horizontals of nature in the most dynamic relation to gravity are cantilevers. (Hoffman, 1986) Hoffman gives several example of cantilevers in nature including: flowers blossoming from their stems, the wings of birds and insects, and natural rock formations. Wright s use of a cantilever situated directly above the spring below is reminiscent of all of these cantilevers which occur in nature, and is a perfect example of Wright using his architecture to imitate the surrounding environment to make a cohesive space. Other distinctive features of Fallingwater include the use of horizontal lines and natural materials. According to Wright himself, All materials may be beautiful- their beauty depending much or entirely upon how well they are used by the architect. (Waggoner, 1996) Wright recognized that the key to the Fallingwater site was the fractured rock shelf that had resulted in the creation of the waterfall. (Waggoner, 1996) The horizontality and materiality of the rock
shelf is reflected in the architecture of the house, which creates a harmonious composition for the onlooker. The intrinsic quality of each material is emphasized by the manner in which it is treated. For example, the stone is laid up in a rough, horizontal fashion that is reminiscent of the native sandstone formations found in the region. (Waggoner, 1996) Wright s use of glass allows the largest connection to the outdoors out of all the building materials used. Wright regarded glass as the materialization of light, the weightless medium of sight. He found it to be the most paradoxical material of architecture and the most complex in relation to nature. (Hoffmann, 1986). The use of glass fenestration can be seen in Figure 3 below. Nearly half of Fallingwater is terrace or exterior space. Each of the four bedrooms has its own terrace, and there are two terraces off the living room. (Waggoner 1996) The outdoor spaces were frequently used by the occupants for activities such as reading and dining, and they easily brought nature into the routines of everyday life for the occupants of the house. The design of the house encourages occupants to connect with the outdoors. Figure 3 Fallingwater Exterior Views (Images captured from GreatBuildings.com) Schnabel House was built by Frank Gehry in 1990. In the late 1980 s and early 1990 s there was a recession period of economic downturn affecting much of the world. This collapse
was handled well by the US economy, and the stock market began to quickly recover. In North America, the lumbering savings and loans industry was beginning to collapse, leading to a mini crisis that put the financial wellbeing of millions of Americans in jeopardy. (McNees, 1992) Located in a suburb in Brentwood, California, Schnabel House is a key example of Deconstructivist architecture. The exterior of the house appears chaotic, while the interior of the house is highly ordered and organized. (Figure 4) The house is simultaneously open to, and shielded from the sun. The house can be described as a village of sculptural forms. It is built of copper, stucco, wood, glass and lead, and includes a reflecting pond. (Kostof, 1985) Gehry has a reputation as an architect for challenging core beliefs and the normal ideas of what buildings should look like. Schnabel house was partly inspired by Gehry s Tract House. Marna Schnabel admired the independent buildings of its village concept, which became the idea behind her house. (Friedman, 2009) According to Gehry, when designing Schnabel House I thought that by minimizing the issue of function, by creating one room buildings, we could resolve the most difficult problems in architecture. Think of one-room buildings and the fact that historically, the best buildings ever built are one room buildings. (Steele 1993) The interiors give a sense of openness by flow from one room into another by providing wide views of the surroundings. The concepts of Schnabel House indicate that people can live in harmony with nature because man can control it and replicate it as he sees fit, man uses nature to meet his needs. Although the house is located in a city neighborhood, the plants and palm trees are emblematic of the dessert surrounding California. This analogy of movement through a wilderness to the city continues in the freeway-like highway, leading to an office tower in the distance, thus the home does not reflect nature, but the city. (Steele, 1993) The pond was inspired by lakes of
Finland. (Friedman, 2009). Both the recreation of the desert, and the pond demonstrate man s ability to create a habitat for himself, even if it is artificially made, such as a city or village. The house relies on the fluidity of motion between indoor spaces. Although the user of the Schnabel House would spend a portion of time outdoors traveling from room to room, the time outdoors is not intended to connect the user with nature. Unlike Fallingwater, where occupants read or sunbathe outdoors, at Schnabel House, the occupants travel outdoors merely in order to go inside to a different room. The outdoor environment is confined within the property by fences because the home is located within suburbs. The vegetation is not natural, like the forests which surround Fallingwater, but is imported. The vegetation is emblematic of the California desert, and is analogous to moving through the city rather than a woodland. Gehry is well-known for using industrial materials, and using them in unique applications. The materials chosen for the house have been single-mindedly restricted to a compatible palette of copper, lead, gypsum stucco, wood and glass, for major surfaces, with the added flourish of blue tile or white pipe rail tossed in where appropriate. (Steele, 1993) His material selection is another key element which indicates that man has control over the elements. Natural building materials, such as stone and wood are almost entirely absent from the home. Figure 4 Schnabel House Entrance (left) and Reflection Pond (Right) (Image taken from Archinect News)
Although Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright are both modernist architects, they create completely different experiences of the family home, as shown through the comparison of Frank Gehry s Schnabel House and Frank Lloyd Wright s Kaufmann House (Fallingwater). Both homes aim to achieve a certain level of what they consider to be harmony, but Fallingwater embodies the ideal that people can live harmoniously with nature while Schnabel House is an example of a home which creates its own nature.
Bibliography Archinect News. 2013. Frank Gehry s Schnabel House updated and sold for $9.5M. (January): http://archinect.com/news/article/66291754/frank-gehry-s-schnabel-houseupdated-and-sold-for-9-5m. Friedman, Mildred. 2009. Frank Gehry, The Houses. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Hoffmann, Donald. 1978. Frank Lloyd Wright s Fallingwater. The House and Its History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Hoffmann, Donald. 1986. Frank Lloyd Wright Architect and Nature. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. Hyman, Isabelle and Trachtenberg Marvin. 2008. Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity. 2 nd Edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, Inc. Jodidio, Philip. 1995. Contemporary California Architects. Köln, Taschen. Kostof, Spiro, and Ingersoll, Richard. 2013. World Architecture: A Cross-Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press USA Kostof, Spiro. 1985. A History of Architecture, Settings and Rituals. New York: Oxford University Press. McNees, Stephen. 1992. "The 1990-91 Recession in Historical Perspective." New England Economic Review. Steele, James. 1993. Schnabel House Frank Gehry. London: Phaidon Press Limited. Waggoner, Lynda S. 1996. Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright s Romance with Nature, New York: Universe Publishing. Images http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/fallingwater.html http://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/greatdepression http://gowright.org/robie-house.html http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/architecture/recent-work http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/frank_gehry.html#zm1lfblub5i6zrz3.99