Frank Lloyd Wright Peer Review

Micah: I really enjoyed reading Micah's post not only for the content but the way she writes brings the reader in and allows them to experience and truly understand Wright's work. Her extra credit video on his Falling Water home was very interesting. That is a home that I have seen or read about over the years and have always had interest in it.

Morgan: I enjoyed seeing her put emphasis on the horizontal elements of Wright's designs. This is something that I feel makes the Prairie Style what it is. Also, talking about the use of manufactured materials shows what kind of era it was and the resources available.

Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959

Frank Lloyd Wright was the man responsible for creating an "American" style architecture and vocabulary. He more so had a focus on residential homes, however he did do work in commercial. Wright was a influence and made great contributions to the modernism movement.

After working with Louis Sullivan for an amount of time Wright left Sullivan to star his own business in Oak Park, Illinois in 1896. Here he did his many works and created Prairie Style Architecture. This style possesses the following characteristics:

• Hipped roof with a strong horizontal profile
• Integration of the materials, home, and landscape
• Focus on family for interior space
• Fireplaces were the center and focus of the home
• Built in furniture was a prominent aspect
• Design of furniture was unique based off of each homeowner as well as light fixtures
• Stained glass windows

 

 

He truly utilized and focused on the importance of designing with a lot of thought and consideration with ones environment. Since he was located in Chicago and was the designer of homes in the plains and flat lands of the Midwest, we are able to see that in his designs. He used a lot of clean horizontal framed lines, natural materials, natural colors from plants in the locations, and windows in the space to allow the richness of the wood and the colors to pop.

Below are modern practices of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style

 

Click Here to see a short YouTube clip explaining some issues of buying a Frank Lloyd Wright home now and with concerns on their current location issues. 

 

Peer Review: Art Nouveau

Tiziri: I enjoyed reading Tiz's blog post in reference to Art Nouveau. Her style of writing and content made it very easy for myself or any other person to understand this movement of design. We also shared a similar representation of how it is seen in design today with the stair balusters, which I think shows a great representation of this style in modern times.

Stephanie: Her post on this design style was very informative and I also enjoyed her visual representations of this style. Especially the modern living room with the stair case. I felt was one of the best ones that I saw, giving us a true understanding of this in todays design. As well as the modern chair that she provide. With the natural characteristics that we can see in the wood and seat material of leather, it also combines the look of elegance and class with the gold seat back.

Art Noveau

Previously I discussed about the Arts and Crafts Movement, which was lead by designer, William Morris. He was such a good designer that he inspired another movement in the design world. This is what is known as Art Nouveau, which was beginning to be seen in the design world from 1890-1910. Not only was Art Nouveau inspired by Morris, they also got their inspiration from artists such as Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Gauguin, and Aubrey Beardsley.

Art Noveau first began in Europe where it was in a period of peace and prosperity, the leaders of this movement being Belgium and France. It also affected other areas including Germany, Spain, and Scandinavian countries. This growth allowed for a more open mind and more open expression if design, this allowed for new and experimental directions in how they went about in one's work. When looking at this type of design we can see the interest and admiration for Japanese art. Japanese art was another one of the major inspirations for this type of design. This can be seen below in the characteristics of Art Nouveau. The European architects that were involved in this movement were accomplished furniture designers. This movement was able to do mass production/factory manufacturing of their furniture, however the quality was still seen in the final product.

Characteristics of Art Nouveau are as follows:

• It is a Rejection of Victorian design.
• Design based and inspired from Nature.
• Use of modern materials (iron and glass) 
• Use of modern technology (industrial production)
• Electric Lighting
• Relationship with Fine Arts including paintings and sculptures
• Curvilinear lines are a dominant trait (Whiplash)
• Abstract forms derived from: Flowers, Vines, Shells, Bird Feathers, and Insect Wings.

During this era, Victor Horta was the most influential designer. Horta was a Belgian architect, designer, and teacher. He did a lot of unique iron rails and iron work. Also, one can see a lot of stenciling on ceiling and walls, as well as mosaic tile patterns on many surfaces of a room. While all of these seem a little out there, they were all done in a cohesive way. The Horta House in Brussels is one of his iconic works. This can been seen pictured below. It has an asymmetrical façade, twisted iron balcony, large glass window frames, and curvilinear nature related details.





    Horta House                                                  Henry Van de Velde

Below are modern examples of Art Nouveau:


 

Please Click Here to see another article on Art Nouveau.