Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Wisconsin, USA. His mother was teacher and his father
a Unitarian pastor. His family had enormous influence on his work, as he was raised in an environment
surrounded by music, art and literature. The religious side, on the other hand, gave Wright the great respect
for nature, considered by him as the other name of God. Wright's childhood was marked by frequent trips
to his uncle's farm, where he developed his special attachment, already embedded in his education, to the
countryside and to agriculture, which had an emblematic meaning in his career.

Another important figure in Wright's career was the architect Louis Sullivan, whom he worked for in Chicago.
Sullivan fought for an innovative American architecture, adapted to the region and distinct from the
European. Sullivan started using new materials and the new modern technique. "Form follows function"
is attributed to him. He believed that a building was born organic, and that its interior space constructed
built its exterior. His greatest disciple was Wright, who identified himself with this architecture.

Wright went down in history as one of the pioneers of "Organic Architecture" or "Organicism", which is a
philosophy of architecture that promotes the harmony between the human habitat and the natural world.
Through the design, it seeks to understand and integrate the location, the structures, the fixtures, and the
surroundings so that they become part of a unified and correlated composition. The origin of this movement
arises with the crisis of modernism, as the ideals of modernity started to get destroyed with the advent of
world wars. It is at this moment that architects like Wright introspect and decide that what is important is
not to go against nature but with it, and that constructions should be derived directly from the natural
environment, prioritizing the needs of the inhabitants of a space. Wright always tried to impose his own
style, convinced that the shape of each building should be linked to its function, environment and materials
used in its construction. In the latter, he demonstrated superior mastery, combining with intelligence the
materials according to their structural and aesthetic possibilities.

Among his most outstanding works, Fallingwater, the Robie House, the second Jacobs House (The Solar
Hemicycle), La Miniatura, Ward Willits' residence and Hollyhock House, can be named.

Wright was pioneer of the Prairie Style, which was inspired by the flat landscape of Americas Midwest.
The prairie style houses are characterized by their horizontality, wide eaves and low slope roofs, so that
they integrate more harmoniously to the flat profile of the prairie (in contrast to the Victorian style,
characterized by its high inclined roofs). Other features of this prairie style include the use of exposed brick,
wood trim on the ceiling and stained-glass windows with geometric motifs.

The Robie House, built in 1910, is the most representative exponent of these prairie style houses. It is
located in Hyde Park, a suburb of Chicago. The Robie House would revolutionize architectural concepts at
that time, and would exert influence in both the United States and Europe. The Robie House has also
survived a hectic history throughout its almost 100 years, from the rugged fortune of its owners, its near-
demolition and its declaration as National Historic Site. One of the reasons for the enormous success of
this house lies in the explicit demands of the client. Robie wanted a fire-protected house without enclosed
spaces in the form of "blocks" and without the usual decorative elements, like curtains or rugs.

The Robie house has no facades, no exterior walls or "normal" windows, nor a main entrance. It occupies
practically the whole plot, the little space that remains free is incorporated to the global stratified composition
by walls and work planters. The horizontality is reinforced by sills, window lintels and stone trim, as well as
by the thin bricks with recessed mortar joints. It could be said that this house represents a whole repertoire
of solutions aimed at preserving the privacy of the interior spaces, without hindering the view.

Wright rejected the criterion that existed until then, of the interior spaces closed and isolated from each
other. In contrast, he designed spaces in which each room or room opened to the others, resulting in great
visual transparency, a profusion of light and a sense of spaciousness. To differentiate one area from
another, he resorted to divisions of light material or roofs of different height, avoiding unnecessary solid
enclosures. Thus, Wright established for the first time the difference between "defined spaces" and
"enclosed spaces".

Finally, Wright's main merit in the design of this house is to have broken with the idea of the house as a
box containing rooms that were other isolated boxes. On the contrary, the interior space is fluid and
transparent, allowing the entrance of light without obstruction of the views. This "explosion of the box" allows
a gentle retraction of the masses that unfold along the length and width of the terrain.