Wright Chat

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

Well put. I'm pleased that the school and the Foundation were fully involved with this part of Lindal's venture, and I hope there is a positive response from
potential home-builders.

The modernist segment of the market has always been small; presumably one of the positives is that the earnest pioneers were and are serious about taking
a different path. They know what they want, they are if anything proud to be members of a more or less exclusive "club," and they can rightly claim logic and
rationality in defense of their aesthetic choice.

And modernism, often in the form of MCM, is as strong an interest, apparently, as it has ever been. Everyone knows who Design Within Reach is, and Dwell
Magazine continues to sell well to the segment. Perhaps the Frank Lloyd Wright niche is the segment's Cadillac or Mercedes, bearer of the crown or golden
orb of American Modern ?

SDR

jay · Joined: 02 May 2016 Posts: 175

Lindal Cedar Homes posted a rendering of their Gordon-inspired home...
(Interesting to see a pretty wide deviation from the original)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtWDYLjFaiW/

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

The SF Sunday paper gave us a peek at a local architect I hadn't come across, one Julie Dowling. She seems given to classic flat-roof modernism with an emphasis on sprawling roof overhangs. Her site references Lindal, so I took a look:

https://lindal.com/blog/home_style/dowling-2230/

Ms Dowling has a twin sister holding down the East Coast office, somewhere in New Jersey . . .

S

Paul Ringstrom · Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 4159 Location: Mason City, IA

I like DOWLING STUDIOS 2230. The plan is quite rational. It does need overhangs on the main structure so that it would look less like a shoe box.

If you have a relatively large lot with a view this could be just what you are looking for.
_________________
Owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

Ms Dowling is not the originator of this tripartite house form; a number of mid-century modernists played with it first, and no doubt they were inspired by earlier examples. I associate it with Harvard GSD-trained
architects; Philip Johnson and Ulrich Franzen come to mind. And their boxes were without overhanging roofs---in Johnson's George Oneto house (1951) there are no extended roofs at all, while Franzen's Beatty house has
a raised central roof providing protection for a terrace---as in the Dowling house.

Even such far-flung designers as Ralph Rapson might be said to have explored this territory---in his Case Study #4--- and certain Ellwood, Koenig and Rodney Walker designs appear, on the exterior at least, to partake of the form.

The major tapered beams supporting the Dowling-designed residence's central roof make a noteworthy decorative structural element . . . as well as a handsome advertisement for the Lindal product line ?

S

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

Moreover: the nearest thing we have to this form, in Wright's work, might be the symmetrical tripartite spatial arrangement of thirteen Prairie-period interiors: Hickox, Henderson, Walser, Westcott, Martin, Barton, Cheney, Brown, DeRhodes, Horner, Ingalls, Irving, Balch.

S

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9293

The Dowling plan does go back, indeed, but Rapson is a bridge too far. While Ellwood is a definite 'yes', neither Koenig nor Walker would fit into that category of ultimate simplicity.

When listing FLW's contributions (whether logical or not), don't forget Dana.

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

In keeping with Dowling et al, I selected only the Wright examples whose main space(s) are bilaterally symmetrical. True, neither Koenig nor Walker made likewise symmetrical plan arrangements;
I was drawn to exterior photographs in the MOCA Case Study book which suggested in a couple of cases---erroneously---forms analogous to the study subject. I should have left well enough alone . . .

I would love to see more examples of the type---equal closed spaces bookending a glazed center---from those who actually used it. It seems I returned Bill's "Harvard Five in New Canaan" too soon;
I wish I had it at hand. Floor plans of these East Coast modernists' work are not thick on the ground . . .

S

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 9293

Dana actually is of the type, but it consists of the living room, flanked by the two porches. Stretching it a bit, but it counts.

Another house that fits the type, which was recently listed as being in danger of demolition, is Gordon Bunshaft's own house, except that the midsection has only one wall of glass, the entrance façade being entirely closed.

DRN · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 3766 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ

Eliot Noyes' own house in New Canaan follows this theme but with a courtyard substituting for the open plan central functions and the living/ dining/ kitchen off to one side.

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1346&bih=918&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=0nrcXN6jDvCJggfqkJeoDA&q=eliot+noyes+house+plan&oq=eliot+noyes+house+plan&gs_l=img.3...2723.4086..4662...0.0..0.87.306.5......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i30j0i24.fp9LRBF7XZ4#imgrc=_&spf=1557953237322

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

So, how far back is a prototype ? Did Palladio play thus, or . . . ?

S

Paul Ringstrom · Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 4159 Location: Mason City, IA

I would make the following changes to DOWLING STUDIOS 2230 to make it visually more Wrightian.

1) Make the central section 12' feet tall with 3' clerestory windows all around the perimeter.
2) Make the central section roof flat with one or two-foot overhangs.
3) Make the extension over the patio an extension of the central section roof.
4) Make the two bedroom sections 9' tall with four-foot overhangs with two-foot clerestory windows around the perimeter.
5) Make a four-foot walkway around the building so you can exit a bedroom and walk to the patio.
_________________
Owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

Great.

Or, we could make DOWLING STUDIOS 2230 less visually Wrightian.

1) Remove all overhangs.
2) Raise the house off the ground on pilotis.
3) Make strip windows halfway up the walls.
4) Cover the exterior surfaces with plaster, smooth stucco, or other render.
5) Paint random plastered interior surfaces with primary or tertiary colors.

S

Paul Ringstrom · Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 4159 Location: Mason City, IA

SDR,
I know you are mocking my suggestions, but I like the floor plan and thought my suggestions might make it more appealing.

Paul
_________________
Owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond

SDR · Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 17782 Location: San Francisco

No offense intended, Paul; I couldn't resist going "the other way," just to see where it would lead. I like the Dowling design as it is, I guess . . .

I've spent considerable time, over the years, contemplating what it would take to make a typical ranch house "more Wrightian." When you see one of those low-slung numbers
with a face-brick "wainscote" running across the front, below the windows, you can't help thinking that the designer was channeling Mr Wright---consciously or unconsciously ?

S