The Wright space : pattern and meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's houses

The Wright space : pattern and meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's houses

Hildebrand, Grant

1991

Seattle, University of Washington Press. 192 p.

Resumen: In this book thirty-three of Wright's domestic buildings, including all of the major houses on which his significance depends, are analyzed in detail in terms of their spatial characteristics. Fireplaces, seating, ceiling form, glazing, terraces, and roof overhangs are seen to follow a repetitive organization or pattern characterized by complementary juxtapositions of what the English geographer Jay Appleton calls "prospect" (a condition in which one can see over a considerable distance) and "refuge" (a place where one can hide). According to Appleton's theory of landscape aesthetics, this juxtaposition offers the ability to see without being seen (or to hunt successfully without being, in turn, successfully hunted) and thus, eons ago, had survival value. But such a condition must have been sought, originally, because it was intrinsically pleasurable to our species. Hildebrand finds a striking correlation in Wright's houses. Wright's pattern of prospect and refuge, to which are added similarly derived qualities of complexity and order, is show to be unique in domestic architecture to the degree to which it provides these preferred characteristics, suggesting why -- in spite of serious drawbacks -- his house were built and valued by so many clients.