.Made of a many different materials, the house was intended by Wright to have a“homey” feeling, a feeling of unity. The light fixtures and other items were built intothe house to keep the unity effect alive. The house was designed and built between1906 and 1910, and is located in Chicago. The building was commissioned byFrederick C. Robie, a 30 year old engineer at the time he approached Wright. Thehouse, in my opinion shows the exact definition of the “Prairie” style. The way that it’sbuilt on a narrow city lot and the way it’s horizontal lines appear, show the short, flatlook of that style.The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo provided Wright with an architectural as well asengineering challenge. The hotel was finished in 1922 and was criticized for itsaesthetic design, but when it survived the 1923 earthquake that left Tokyo inshambles, it was praised. Wright designed a “floating foundation” for the building. Ibelieve that Wright had designed the hotel perfectly for the Japanese. Thesimpleness and horizontal line of his Prairie style, fit in the culture perfectly. Wright’strait of using natural material was, and still is, common to the Japanese culture.Fallingwater was another one of Wright’s masterpieces. It also sought to embody theexact definition of organic architecture. Wright utilized mostly concrete and stone tocreate his masterpiece. The concrete gives this house a smooth look and allowedWright the ability to cantilever a portion of the house, making it appear as if it were astone ledge reaching over the brook the house sets next to. The different layersmake the building look like a cascading waterfall. Wright built the house aroundexisting trees, following his practice of disturbing nature as little as possible duringconstruction. The chimney is made around an existing boulder that the owner usedto sit on as a child. Fallingwater is one, if not the best, of Wright’...
