Wright Chat

Roderick Grant wrote:
Congrats to RJH. Prairiemod, commenting on this current post, refers to your comments as "humble and thoughtful" while the rest of us are "acid-tongued." Are you on their payroll?

My thoughts exactly when I read the PM article...



Passion not withstanding, much of the criticism is just very strong opinion but without personal acrimimony, out of a genuine concern for the integrity of Franks built work. I would draw a line between individuals tinkering with their own projects, which are no threat to Frank, and Taliesin sanctioned/independent ripoffs. Mobius should be commended at the least for trying, regardless what he calls it, for attempting to incorporate a little Frank into his life.

We've posted an update to this ongoing story. Apple has posted information about Thomas Heinz, the Petra project, plus a trailer to the upcoming documentary on their site. They talk about the controversy and show some construction footage of the house.

Greetings everyone,



I've posted links to related articles on another forum & thought it might be nice to mention this here.



see http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic ... 7777#37777

The video is very imformative. What I find weird is the concrete walls with chunks of stone sticking out. It is neither desert concrete (which is suggested in the drawings) nor standard rock construction. There is something very artificial about the look of it. Justly so, since it is artificial. I have often wondered just which 40 FLW houses Tom has restored. As long as I have known him, over 20 years, that is the number he has claimed. Either he was stopped dead in his tracks, or he fudges the numbers. From a distance, the house is very impressive. Up close, not so sure.

I couldn

I totally agree with the desert concrete comments, but something tells me that Wright would be pretty happy about the fact that this house was getting built. This project has nothing to do with the Mickey Moused designs built elsewhere.

I agree.

Roderick Grant wrote:The video is very imformative. What I find weird is the concrete walls with chunks of stone sticking out. It is neither desert concrete (which is suggested in the drawings) nor standard rock construction. ........From a distance, the house is very impressive. Up close, not so sure.

Yea, I don't understand that solution considering the efforts to get this built. I may not agree with the decision to recreate this house, but you have to admit this was quite an undertaking, even accomplishment, for an individual attempt. But those rocks just look terrible. I imagine they had to leave the structural integrity of the concrete wall intact, but it would have been better to at least have added a proper desert rubble facade. Rebar to hold rocks artificially? That's about as un-Wright as you can get, and as good a reason as any to criticize these projects. I rest my case!

Can this application of the stone on the Charoudi/Massaro house be the finished? Hope not. It looks to me like the rebar or bolts are holding the stone more or less temporary, until concrete is somehow applied in the voids to achieve a reasonable desert masonry finish. Does anyone have an update on this?



Doug Kottom, Battle Lake, MN

dkottum wrote:Can this application of the stone on the Charoudi/Massaro house be the finished?

I had your same thoughts, but even if not finished there are too many rocks too close together compared to the cottage (there is actually more concrete than usual between the rocks of the cottage). Heinz obviously rejected Wright's intention to use desert rubble.



"Desert rubble inspired", if you will.

[quote="RJH"]I would like to comment on some of your opinions. I have done quite a bit of research on FLLW authentic houses and I think a lot of what FLLW enthusiasts believe is incorrect.



You have to keep in mind that when many of these Usonain houses were built they were experimental designs. Furthermore, the talent to construct many of these Usonain houses didn

After April of 1959, finishing a usonian that was in construction, or building new from existing "working drawings" the amount of interpretation increased significantly. While some of the apprentices sent to supervise construction made field changes without Wrights input, most would either consult with Wright, or at least Wes and Jack. Of course after Wrights death, things changed, although those close to Olga would consult her.

Something that MUST be considered in any event is the content of these working drawings. Have you had the opportunity to experience these drawing "sets"? The typical unsonian set of drawings usually had maybe 7 or 8 sheets, including the usonian "typical detail sheets". The spec. booklet was a very thin informal volume.

There simply is not enough information to built something from these documents alone, to reasonably regard something as an honest Wright final product. The "intricate detailing" in the vast majority of documents simply did not exist, at least of course until the builder asked for them.

It is my feeling that anything done after April of 1959, can only be something that is either interpreted from a Wright design, or based on his ideas. This of course can be the case when considering some projects that went up even when he was living, since we can contemplate the extent of his supervision, abilities of the supervising apprentice, and the builders familiarity of the idea.

[img]C:\My Documents\My Pictures\Kodak Pictures\Massaro\[/img]



test...

[quote="RJH"] Once the concrete forms are removed the newspaper is taken off the rock faces. It was always a very complicated and tedious building method and probably why they didn

For proper protocol, I thought it necessary to post on the old thread.



I have recently been out to the Massaro site a few months ago for a private and rare visit. I have also taken a lot of photos of the opus. Mr. Massaro was gracious enough to give a personal guided tour himself. This is by NO means a small Usonian house and I would almost compare it to the construction complexity of Fallingwater. I can tell you that many of the assumptions being made by writers on the board (and some I even made myself) are simply unfounded. Easy to do when you do not know the facts.