high performance/sustainable office

Fallingwater-revisited

Architects : Frank Lloyd Wright, Edgar J. Kaufmann
Year: 1934
Owner : Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Location: Mill run, Pennsylvania 

" merging man with the surrounding landscape..."
"one of a kind..."
"It is a work of man for man; not by a man for a man..." 

  

     Photographs of Fallingwater, a private home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930s are certainly as beautiful as they are plentiful. The home is so stunning, in fact, that people who heard of it or saw a photograph after it was built travelled to the mountains of Pennsylvania to see it for themselves. This wasn’t a fleeting fad; visitors are still just as drawn as they were over eighty years ago. It is ironic that the home has been photographed so much. A picture can say a thousand words, it’s true. But a thousand words aren’t enough to describe Fallingwater. 

      Fallingwater is more than a home, it is more than a structure that bears its name. It is remarkable and stands out among other architectural works as much for its setting as it does for its design. There are as many reasons a person wouldn’t want to build on the land as the Kaufmann family, who’d enjoyed vacationing there for years, had for embracing it and choosing it as their home. Wooded acres surrounded by more wooded acres, a waterfall and streams and creeks, and not-so-gently rolling terrain isn’t land usually considered prime for building. But Fallingwater was built on just such land and has since become such a part of American history that the property can hardly be imagined without Fallingwater there. The mist from the nearby waterfall and the stream that runs beneath the home catches the light and covers the view of the foundation, creating the beautiful illusion that the home is floating in air. As spectacular a sight as Fallingwater is to behold, it seems to belong, as if it’s always been there, blending seamlessly in color and strength with the towering trees that still stand tall  around it. The land seems to have been designed for Fallingwater as much as Fallingwater was designed for the land. This takes nothing away from Frank Lloyd Wright’s brilliant work. The acclaim and recognition he received for his design was well-earned. He was given the daunting task of designing a large, luxurious home that would sit above a waterfall, fit into the natural beauty of the land and be structurally sound, and he did just that. The fact that he was so remarkable he made it look simple speaks even more to his ability.