A PBS /American Public Television arts program produced in Philadelphia is airing this week on some PBS stations in the US with a segment about FLW. Stuart Graff of the FLW Foundation, Jennifer Gray of Avery Library, and a Wright Homeowner in the Philadelphia area were interviewed.
https://www.articulateshow.org/articula ... oyd-wright
PBS/APT show "Articulate with Jim Cotter" : FLW
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Roderick Grant
- Posts: 10535
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
Interesting video. Ms Gray is a bit too negative, and comparing FLW's work to Fascist architecture was uncalled for. (She does chatter, doesn't she?)
If every house FLW designed had been initially for, and subsequently bought by, owners as astute as Dan Nichols, whatever problems they accrued would not have been serious. Most home owners don't know much about how to keep architecture alive, and that isn't exclusively a problem with FLW-designed houses. Corbu's Villa Savoye (which had leaky roofs from the get go) was a mess by the time it became a public structure. Mies' Farnsworth House ended up with an enclosure of the entrance terrace with a screened porch! while Tugendhat's marble floors were covered by linoleum when the Commies took charge. Many Schindler houses, often built with spit and a promise, have been horribly mangled by subsequent owners.
I suppose there may be some justification for holding FLW to a higher standard, considering his stature.
If every house FLW designed had been initially for, and subsequently bought by, owners as astute as Dan Nichols, whatever problems they accrued would not have been serious. Most home owners don't know much about how to keep architecture alive, and that isn't exclusively a problem with FLW-designed houses. Corbu's Villa Savoye (which had leaky roofs from the get go) was a mess by the time it became a public structure. Mies' Farnsworth House ended up with an enclosure of the entrance terrace with a screened porch! while Tugendhat's marble floors were covered by linoleum when the Commies took charge. Many Schindler houses, often built with spit and a promise, have been horribly mangled by subsequent owners.
I suppose there may be some justification for holding FLW to a higher standard, considering his stature.
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The two-board fascia on Sweeton is identical, in form and angle if not in width, to that found on many another Usonian; I believe it to be the single most commonly-used fascia detail in the catalog of pitched-roof Usonian houses.
One of the design habits which brings me closest to Wright is his use of whole numbers. The 1:4 and 2:3 roof pitches indicated on the Sweeton drawings are examples of this tendency . . .
S
One of the design habits which brings me closest to Wright is his use of whole numbers. The 1:4 and 2:3 roof pitches indicated on the Sweeton drawings are examples of this tendency . . .
S
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Roderick Grant
- Posts: 10535
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:48 am
An opportunity to link the great Sweeton restoration thread:
http://wrightchat.savewright.org/viewto ... eb1ef54121
The video does a nice job of showcasing the entry sequence of the house, but it doesn't capture the sheer dynamics of the ceiling form, how it nearly doubles in height from the front door to the hearth in one continuous progression. The upward expansion is combined with the horizontal expansion of the window wall, which reveals itself the further you move into the main space. Then, when you come to pass the hearth, as the ceiling reaches its pinnacle, the southern wall of windows is revealed in an eruption of "release", its drama reaching into the sky.
Perhaps a way to think of the Sweeton's roof and ceiling form is in its pronounced effect of "floating", similar to houses like Neils, Glore, Olfelt, etc, with its white underside and thin mullion supports.... the ceiling floating like a white pillow-cloud above you....
http://wrightchat.savewright.org/viewto ... eb1ef54121
The video does a nice job of showcasing the entry sequence of the house, but it doesn't capture the sheer dynamics of the ceiling form, how it nearly doubles in height from the front door to the hearth in one continuous progression. The upward expansion is combined with the horizontal expansion of the window wall, which reveals itself the further you move into the main space. Then, when you come to pass the hearth, as the ceiling reaches its pinnacle, the southern wall of windows is revealed in an eruption of "release", its drama reaching into the sky.
Perhaps a way to think of the Sweeton's roof and ceiling form is in its pronounced effect of "floating", similar to houses like Neils, Glore, Olfelt, etc, with its white underside and thin mullion supports.... the ceiling floating like a white pillow-cloud above you....