Organic architecture is a whole philosophy, which is based on the ideas of harmonious coexistence of man and the environment. The founder of this style was the American architect F.L. Wright, who created his own school, where future architects study in the 21st century.
Organic architectural style
Any architecture is created according to certain physical and aesthetic natural laws, as well as according to the rules of geometric constructions in the Euclidean coordinate system. Unlike traditional objects built in rectangular shapes, organic ones are based on the concept of integrating a building into a single living complex with the surrounding landscape and nature.
The task of organic architecture ( organic architecture, lat.) Is that the form of the structure and its placement must be in harmony with the natural landscape. Only natural materials are allowed.
There are 3 main aspects to this architecture:
- environmentally friendly materials that are safe for humans;
- bionic form of the object;
- use of natural landscape.
The founder of this style is the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who developed and supplemented the theory of his mentor Louis Sullivan.
F. L. Wright and his objects
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959 ) For 70 years of creativity, he created and embodied in reality the theory of composition of architecture as an organic integral space, which is completely inseparable from its environment. The idea of ​​its continuity is based on the principle of free planning and is widely used by modern architects.
According to the projects of F. L. Wright, suburban mansions and residential buildings, as well as public buildings, were constructed, during the creation of which he used the principle of flowing spaces. In total, during his creative life, he managed to design 1141 buildings, including not only residential buildings, but also churches, schools, museums, offices, etc. Of these, 532 projects were completed, and 609 are in progress.
In addition to architectural structures, F. L. Wright was engaged in the design of furniture, fabrics, art glass, tableware and silver. He also became famous as a teacher, writer and philosopher, having written 20 books and many articles, actively promoted his ideas, giving lectures in various regions of the USA and Europe.
One of Wright's projects on the development of decentralization of American cities on the example of Brodeira continues to be discussed by scientists and writers of the 21st century.
The main building materials used are: stone, bricks, wood and concrete. Their natural texture is an additional decorative technique with which the impression of the integrity and naturalness of the object and nature is created. For example, a concrete wall fits like a rock in the middle of a forest. The stone facade is often made of rough blocks, the floors - from unpolished granite; if logs, then only rough and uncouth.
One of the main ideas of organic architecture - integrality, or integrity, is designed to create the impression of a constructed object as a single whole, not divided into details. Minimalism and the desire for simplicity, the smooth flow of one room into another are welcome. It was Wright who owned the idea of ​​putting together an open plan dining room, kitchen and living room.
Instead of a large amount of decor and variety in color design, a limited amount of materials is used with a large area of ​​the building and the reception of a maximum degree of glazing.
Wright Architecture Principles
A new doctrine of the evolution of architecture was formulated by L. Sullivan, taking into account the provisions of biological science in the 1890s. Later it was embodied and was finalized by his follower, F.L. Wright, in the 20th century.
The main principles of organic architecture formulated by Wright:
- apply straight lines and streamlined shapes whenever possible when designing a building, the proportions of which should be as close to human as possible for a comfortable life in it;
- to develop the minimum required number of rooms in the house, which together should form an enclosed space, penetrated by air and freely visible;
- linking the structural parts of the building into a single whole, giving it horizontal extent and underlining a plane parallel to the ground;
- leave the best part of the surrounding landscape outside the object and use for auxiliary functions;
- you can not give the house and rooms the shape of a box, but use the flow of one space into another with a minimum number of internally divided rooms;
- instead of a foundation with utility rooms, there should be a low base at the base of the building;
- entrance openings should correspond to the proportions of a person and should be placed naturally according to the building scheme: instead of walls, transparent enclosing screens can be used;
- during construction, strive to use only one material, not to use a combination of various natural textures;
- lighting, heating and water supply are designed as components of the building itself and its building structures;
- the interior and furnishings should have a simple shape and be combined with the elements of the building;
- Do not use decorative design in the interior.
Architectural style and human needs
The famous psychologist A. Maslow developed a general hierarchy of human needs, called the pyramid:
- physiological (proper nutrition, clean air and environment);
- a sense of security;
- family;
- social recognition and self-esteem;
- spiritual.
The goal of creating any object in the organic style in architecture is the implementation of all levels of the Maslow pyramid, especially the most important of them - the self-development of the person for whom the house will be built.
According to the concept of F. L. Wright, great importance in designing and building a house is given to personal communication with the customer and the creation of such a living space for him that would satisfy all his spiritual, social, family, physiological needs and provide the necessary safety.
Architectural career and Prairie House
Career F. L. Wright began at the Chicago architectural company Adler and Sullivan, founded by the ideologist of the Chicago school. Then, in 1893, he founded his own company, in which he began designing his first houses. Already in his initial works, a clear perception of spatiality was traced, in which he “spreads out” all the houses along the earth.
At the beginning of his activity, Wright is engaged in the construction of private mansions on the orders of customers. Great fame brought him the "Prairie House", which were built in 1900-1917. and created using Wright’s principles of organic architecture. The architect created the objects using the ideal of unity of the building and nature.
All houses are made with an open horizontal plan, the roof slopes are moved outside the building, finished with raw natural materials, terraces are laid out on the site. By the type of Japanese temples, their facades are rhythmically divided by frames, many houses are built in the shape of a cross, where the center is a fireplace, and around - an open space.
The architect also designed the interiors on his own, including furniture and decor, with the goal of integrating them organically into the space of the house. The most famous houses: Willits, Martin, Roby's house, etc.
At the beginning of the 20th century F. L. Wright achieved great popularity in Europe, where he released in 1910-1911. two books about a new organic style in architecture, which marked the beginning of its distribution among European architects.
Taliesin
F.L. Wright built his own home, or "Taliesin" ( Taliesin), in his own style in 1911, and he became his longest project, which was repeatedly completed and remade. A house was built of local limestone among the hills of northwestern Wisconsin, in a valley that previously belonged to relatives of his family. The name comes from the name of the ancient Welsh druid and translates as "luminous peak."
Taliesin was designed according to all the principles of organic architecture on a hillside surrounded by trees. The building embodies the idea of ​​a harmonious unity of man and nature. Horizontally located window openings alternate with creeping rows of roofs and wooden railing, which serve as an interfloor fence. The interior of the house was created by the owner himself and decorated with a collection of Chinese porcelain, ancient Japanese screens and sculptures.
In Taliesin, fires occurred twice - in 1914 and 1925, and each time the house was rebuilt. For the second time, together with Wright, students who studied at his school participated in the revival of the house.
Wright School of Architecture
The official name of the educational institution created in 1932 is “F.L. Wright, ”but during the life of the organizer it was called the Taliesin Partnership, which brought together young people who want to learn the principles of organic architecture of the 20th century. Workshops were also set up here, in which future specialists learned to process limestone themselves, chop trees and make the necessary details for construction.
Another Taliesin West was founded in Arizona, where workshops, training and residential buildings for students were built, and later a library, cinema and theaters, a dining room and other necessary buildings. Guests called this complex an "Oasis in the middle of the desert." Many of Wright's students continued to work on various projects of the architect, while others left and founded their own architectural firms.
In 1940, the F. L. Wright Foundation was founded, which still manages its architectural school and prepares students for a master's degree in architecture.
Personal life of an architect
The founder of the new architectural style, F. L. Wright, had a stormy personal life: for the 92 years he lived, he managed to get married 4 times and had many children. His first chosen one in 1889 was Catherine Lee Tobin, who bore him 6 children.
In 1909, he left his family and went to Europe with his future wife Meimah Botvik Cheney. After returning to the United States, they settle in their own Taliesine home. In 1914, a mentally ill servant in the absence of the master kills his wife and 2 children and burns their house.
A few months after the tragedy, F. L. Wright met his admirer M. Noel and married her, but their marriage lasted only a year.
From 1924 until the end of his life, he was next to his 4th wife, Olga Ivanovna Lazovich-Ginsenberg, with whom they signed in 1928. They had a daughter. After his death in 1959, "Olga" for many years led his fund.
House over the waterfall
World fame F. L. Wright brought he built to order the Kaufman family country house in Pennsylvania, built over a waterfall. The project was implemented in 1935-1939, when the architect began to use reinforced concrete structures in construction and learned to combine them with the romance of the surrounding landscape.
Having learned about the architect’s decision to erect a building almost above the waterfall, civil engineers unequivocally came to the conclusion that it will not stand idle for long, because according to the project water flowed directly from under the foundation. Meeting the requirements of the client, Wright further strengthened the house with steel supports. This construction made a huge impression on contemporaries, which helped the architect to increase interest in customers.
The building is a composition of reinforced concrete terraces, vertical surfaces are made of limestone and placed on supports above water. The house above the waterfall stands on a cliff, part of which remained inside and is used as a part of the interior.
The attraction house, which still surprises with the used construction technologies, was reconstructed in 1994 and 2002, when steel supports were added to it for strength.
Public buildings designed by F.L. Wright
In the years 1916-1922. the architect takes part in the construction of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, in which he widely used the ideas of the integrity of structural elements, which helped the building to withstand during the earthquake of 1923.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Wright used his style to build public buildings in the United States. The most famous examples of organic architecture are considered the headquarters of Johnson Wax, located in Racine (pc. Wisconsin) and the S. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1943-1959).
The constructive basis of the central hall of the Johnson Wax company is “tree-like” columns, expanding upward. The same structure is repeated in the laboratory room, where all rooms are grouped around the “trunk” with elevators, and floor slabs are combined in the form of squares and circles. Lighting is through transparent glass tubes.
The building of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, which was designed and built for 16 years, became the apotheosis of Wright's architectural creativity. The project is based on an inverted spiral, and inside the structure looks like a sink with a glass courtyard in the center. Inspection of the exposition, according to the architect’s idea, should take place from top to bottom: going up on the elevator under the roof, visitors then descend gradually down a spiral. However, in the 21st century. The museum management abandoned this idea, and the expositions are now inspected as standard, starting from the entrance.
21st Century Organic Architecture Style
The revival of modern organic architecture in the design and construction of buildings is facilitated by architects from many European countries: Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Poland, etc. All of them adhere to the principles of organic unity of space and nature developed by F. L. Wright, enriching modern architectural trends with their creativity and embodying philosophical and psychological ideas of the construction of real structures as living objects, designed for a comfortable and harmonious life of people.