A Harmony of Form and Function — Frank Lloyd Wright’s “FallingWater”
When being asked to visualize what a house would look like, the majority would immediately think of the typical house’s parts found inside it. People would usually visualize a beautiful living room, a kitchen, the guest rooms, a dining table, the restrooms and powder rooms, and the master bedroom. This habit of immediately incorporating the different parts of a house with its beauty suggests that people think about or dream of possessing a beautiful one in the future. As unusual as it really is, no person would immediately think of putting a house on top of a falls. This is how Frank Lloyd Wright showed the extent of what the field of architecture could do. Frank Lloyd Wright’s FallingWater is a house designed in 1935. This specific piece of architecture serves as the epitome of “organic architecture”. FallingWater’s design showcases the perfect harmony between people, architecture, and nature.
In order to fully understand how Wright’s piece of architecture promotes form and function, let us discuss first the vital aspects of FallingWater in terms of its physicality. It is greatly obvious how Wright incorporated his work with nature.
He made sure that the interior of the FallingWater would greatly describe and connect with the exterior and vice versa. From the outside, the FallingWater’s cantilevers are extremely noticeable. The thinking behind such design directly leads us to how Wright desires his works to extend from the architecture itself out into the immediate surroundings it belongs to. In addition to this, Wright utilized and highly emphasized the use of horizontal and vertical lines throughout this piece which would be deeply discussed later on. Proceeding with the piece’s interior, we would immediately notice how the materials used greatly reflects the materials found from the outside. The house’s cabinets, shelves, and some of its doors were made from sapwood which provide a more vibrant yet natural feeling in terms of its colors. The floor in their central room also incorporates the boulder used as the foundation for the house. In their living room, a noticeable rock that is bulging is actually a part of the boulder mentioned earlier. In the same way that the exterior made use of cantilevers, such elements can also be found in the house’s interior. The tables, chairs, countertops, cabinets, and other elements found in the interior have this distinct part where it was intentionally extended or appears to be hanging. This incorporates the ideas from within the house which emphasizes how the FallingWater creates a sense of continuity. Ceilings were also made significantly lower for a specific purpose. Windows are intentionally made in a way that it does not create an interruption between the different elements within the house. The glasses used for the house’s windows were also fused with the concrete walls through the use of slots which hide the metal frames that support it. One unique feature found in the FallingWater is the hanging steps found in the living room which leads you directly to the stream. With these said, these elements make up the form of the piece of architecture, and in order to fully understand whether the FallingWater manifests how the form should follow function, let us now proceed as to how it served its true purpose.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s main concepts revolve around how pieces of architecture should promote the concepts of “within” and “continuity”. Having successfully mentioned all the notable elements found from the interior and the exterior of FallingWater, let us now proceed in identifying their functions. As mentioned earlier, horizontal and vertical lines were heavily emphasized in Wright’s work. To fully understand the reason why such elements were utilized, we always have to look at such things under the concepts of the “within” and “continuity” by Frank Lloyd Wright. The use of vertical lines suggests that such materials found in the piece of architecture are elements where you can pass through or elements that promote a sense of elevation. This can be seen in the house’s door frames. On the other hand, the use of horizontal lines provides an inviting sense to peek or to see through this certain element. This is the reason why horizontal lines are highly observable in the window frames of FallingWater. The alternate arrangement of such elements provides some sense of order as to how these specific parts function. Proceeding with the architecture’s central room which is the living room, this room serves as the heart which performs a vital role in connecting all the other parts of the house. In order to go to the balcony or into the rooms, one must pass through the living room first. This promotes Wright’s concept of “continuity” for it helps in the flow, not just in terms of the movement of the people inside it, but also in the elements found within and outside the house. This room gives everyone a beautiful view from the outside which promotes how the inside of the house works well and supports the elements found outside. Also, the hanging steps which lead you down the stream can also be found in the living room. This promotes a sense of association in a vertical manner by connecting the heavens and the earth through the house which functions as a bridge. In addition to this, the ceiling was intentionally built significantly lower in order to direct the visitor’s eyes outwards instead of upwards. With these said, it is noticeable how Wright designed FallingWater in a way that nature would be appreciated regardless of where you would look. The house in itself would immediately direct you back to nature. These elements mentioned both support and follow Wright’s concepts on incorporating the inside with what is outside and in promoting a flow that strongly connects the person in both the interior and exterior of the house. This simply suggests how FallingWater promotes both form and function, still in strong connection with its immediate environment and nature.
The FallingWater reflects an architectural style that is a product of both modern and organic architecture — formulating the mix of modern design with nature. Architecture and nature were fused together to the extent that both parties would complement each other. Quoted by Ida Rolf, “Form and function are a unity, two sides of one coin. In order to enhance function, the appropriate form must exist or be created.” In Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water architecture, he showcased the perfect example of form and function, and how they can be seen as one. Seeing how Wright positioned the house over the falls in a stacked grouping of cantilevered concrete “trays”, this brings the natural environment into the house alongside with its other elements that connect and reflects what is outside. This success in Wright’s career as an architect further allowed people to concretize their vision. In this modern-day that we are in when you ask people what their dream houses would look like. They would answer in manners similar to how Wright suggested a house above a falls. They would answer “on top of a tree”, “a mobile house”, “a house out of just a small space”, and many more. This obscure idea now became a standard of quality and union. The Fallingwater did not only succeed in becoming a bridge between nature and architecture, but it also became a bridge between imagination and reality — still in accordance with the importance of form and function.
References:
Love, K., Wright, F., & W. (Writers), & F. (Director). (1995). Fallingwater : A conversation with Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. [Video file]. Santa Monica, CA: Direct Cinema Ltd. Retrieved September 3, 2020, from https://www.worldcat.org/title/fallingwater-a-conversation-with-edgar-kaufmann-jr/oclc/33063267
Ida P. Rolf Quotations. (n.d.). Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://rolfresearchfoundation.org/about/ida-p-rolf-quotations
Fallingwater: At Home With Nature. (2020, May 04). Retrieved September 06, 2020, from https://americanlifestylemag.com/life-culture/editorial/fallingwater-at-home-with-nature/
Narigon, A. (2017, November 30). Behind the Scenes at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. Retrieved September 06, 2020, from http://designatmnblog.com/2017/10/behind-the-scenes-at-frank-lloyd-wrights-fallingwater/
