My dad likes Frank’s work but it drives me nuts. We went to the Talliessen tour and that killed what begrudging respect I had left.
The man removed a load bearing wall from his sister’s house for pity’s sake. Others had to redo the work later when the house started to sag. Two of his students added a concrete lintel to a crooked wall to stop it from falling over.
His theories often created the sort of existential crisis (especially chronic water damage, one of my personal bugaboos) for the buildings that I find negligent. I get bristly about programmers who behave the same way. The beauty of their creation is what’s important, not the utility to the inhabitants.
As far as I’m concerned the man was a menace.
Usually I keep this opinion for off-the-rails software engineering meetings or anecdotes over beers, because I get that it’s not that popular, I’m kind of a downer for tearing down an inspirational figure. But shag carpet next to a goddamned pool was my tipping point. What the fuck.
Pretty strong commentary about an architect who clearly created many beautiful and lasting works - not sure where the vitriol is coming from. His houses are absolutely artworks, and should be treated as such, despite their maintenance woes. Have you ever been to Falling Water? It's had huge problems -- recently mostly remedied -- but is an inspiring and magical creation.
There are plenty of ugly run-of-the-mill houses with the same issues. Wright was not worse than his contemporaries in terms of quality of construction. I know people whose houses were built ten years ago and have similar problems.
> when the Editors of the Guide were sued by the families of those who had died as a result of taking the entry on the planet Tralal literally (it said "Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal for visiting tourists: instead of "Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal of visiting tourists"), they claimed that the first version of the sentence was the more aesthetically pleasing, summoned a qualified poet to testify under oath that beauty was truth, truth beauty and hoped thereby to prove that the guilty party in this case was Life itself for failing to be either beautiful or true.
”Nezam Amery was the indispensable link in the Frank Lloyd Wright/Iran/Shams Palace story – and his father had been assassinated by the father of his client, Princess Shams.”
16 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 41.5 ms ] threadThe man removed a load bearing wall from his sister’s house for pity’s sake. Others had to redo the work later when the house started to sag. Two of his students added a concrete lintel to a crooked wall to stop it from falling over.
His theories often created the sort of existential crisis (especially chronic water damage, one of my personal bugaboos) for the buildings that I find negligent. I get bristly about programmers who behave the same way. The beauty of their creation is what’s important, not the utility to the inhabitants.
As far as I’m concerned the man was a menace.
Usually I keep this opinion for off-the-rails software engineering meetings or anecdotes over beers, because I get that it’s not that popular, I’m kind of a downer for tearing down an inspirational figure. But shag carpet next to a goddamned pool was my tipping point. What the fuck.
Op did acknowledge the artistic value, so not sure why your response is simply an appeal to artistic value.
He was designing buildings that were also intended to be lived in or used for some functional purpose by people.
When engineers do that with cars we call them German.