Between Silence and Light

Good craft is essential to the success and firmness of a design. Both Falling Water and Monticello had impeccable craft for that time period. The designers paid careful attention to detail. Frank Lloyd Wright tried to complement the land and preserve it as much as he could.  While at Falling Water I noticed that he curved one of his beams to go around an existing tree so that it would not interfere with the existing landscape.  He reiterated this technique with his hearth design.  The hearth was made of a boulder that brought the outside in- literally.  It had cascading layers that sloped into the room. Frank Lloyd Wright was almost compulsive about his clients interfering with his design.  He was known to ‘client-proof’ his homes in many ways. He seldom made compromises with his clients and designed built-in furniture- one reason being so that his clients could not change many things.  There were one hundred and sixty-nine custom Frank Lloyd Wright pieces within Falling Water. Jefferson also included built-ins in Monticello.

Both designers executed their designs carefully and with good craft.  On the other hand the each had their flaws.  Like Jefferson’s idol, Palladio, his design was symmetric in plan view but this produced awkward spaces inside.  One awkward occurrence was the skylight, one of thirteen, that hugged the wall on one side in Jefferson’s bedroom.  There was also overlapping moldings in corners and spaces that just didn’t quite add up.  At Falling Water some of Wright cascading cantilevers soon sagged and supports had to be added. 

 A third of Monticello was reserved for Jefferson himself.  Some argue he was a selfish architect because of this and the fact that Monticello had an immense amount of people living and visiting all the time.  Only a wall divided Jefferson’s private rooms and public rooms.

In Falling Water Wright lowered the walls and created dark hallways to push you both outside and away from private rooms into more public spaces that had higher ceilings and a more open feeling.  This technique distinguished the two spaces well.

Both designers used techniques to tame the landscape in some way.  Jefferson flattened the mountaintop and made Monticello the focal point.  Wright blended in with the natural surroundings by creating an illusion of pulling the outside in and vice versa.  He made his design complement the natural surroundings.

These relations between the structure and he land create a distinct language.  The parts have a cohesive dialog that works well together.  Monticello is off set by the land while Falling Water emulates its surroundings.  There is also a strong language created by the interiors of the spaces.  Monticello is packed-full of artifacts and elaborate touches while Falling Water has a sense or sereneness created by uniting the outdoors and indoors and speaks of a ‘less is more’ language. 

Falling Water exemplifies the aspect of virtual by tying the outside with the inside by means of illusions.  He has boulders and foliage that come inside and are a big part of the interior.  He has open windows and glass everywhere to make it seem as if you were outside.  In many instances these windows could open so much that you were actually outside.

            We also talked about public and private space in History class. “One of the major shifts that occurred in the nineteenth century was the need to design for building functions that had never existed before-large, covered public markets; railroad stations; public and charitable institutions; hospitals; mental asylums; and housing for the workers being drawn to rapidly expanding industrial cities, to mention only a few of the new building tasks.” Roth 471 This is why just recreating precedent designs would no longer fit the modern needs.

            This weeks opus words related strongly to our trip to Monticello and Falling Water as well as to our History readings and lectures.  We explored public and private spaces in the alternative means of design, Jefferson’s Monticello and Falling Water. Falling Water was in a much more private place than Monticello.  Monticello used the land to illuminate its presence while Falling Water camouflaged itself within the land.  Falling water also used the virtual existence of nature in the interior space.