h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

sorry should I better shut up?

No, no. I'm putting all of it in another spot so I can look at it, easier, like a check list type thing.

allright, do that
And I'll work my way through my book. But not today anymore. I'll go on tomorrow and then probably leave it during the week as I can't really concentrate after work.

ok, an idea for a beginning:

'Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain.'

Frank Lloyd Wright may be America’s most famous architect. He did not only design many buildings but brought up many revolutionary ideas and even founded an own school of architecture.


I hope you don't find it too short, but maybe I can think of more once we have more of the entry.

Fallingwater
1935-1939, for Edgar J. Kaufmann

http://www.vinci.org/uml/i/fallingwater-831x624.jpg

shall the express peace and calmness which are created by wood, river and rock at this place
the people living in the house are set in a relation with the nature around the house (find a better way to say that if you can)
in every part of the building the beauty of nature is shown and becomes part of life
the lower storey has views to three sides and two terrasses, one up the river, the other across the rocks and the waterfall
in the other two storeys every room has access (?) to a terrasse, too

all vertical elements of the house are built out of stones coming from the region. The way in which the walls are build makes a skulptural expression.
The horizontal parts are out of concrete
interior:
floors and walls are coated (?) with stones, all wood is walnut

That's all I could find in my book. I'll go on researching.

ok.

Don't worry, I'll be more quiet during the week when I have to work.

I hear.

ok, so:

Taliesin
FLW's house, studio and farm
Spring Green, Wisconsin

please look up what the name means in English, I can't translate it properly, it's welsh, glowing mountain-something

FLW took that name because of his welsh origins and because the house is on a mountain-thingy

the one storey building had a beautiful view over the mountains and the valley with a lake, on the other side of the L-shaped building was an enclosed(?) garden
twice the building was destroied by fire and today's Taliesin II is much bigger

http://www.pbs.org/flw/buildings/taliesin/images/taliesin_draw3.jpg

Taliesin III:
http://www.delmars.com/wright/flwtalies.jpg

oh, and it was built 1911-1959 (I guess that's till Taliesin III was finished)

1937-1959 Taliesin West
apartment, studio of FLW
Scottsdale, Arizona

to 'flee' from the winters of Wisconsin, FLW decided to move to Arizona
he described the view from the McDowell hills as view over the rim of the world
the walls are natural stones and above frames of wood which were covered with white tarpaulin; that was inspied by Camp Ocatillo [I'll tell you in the next post]
to make the building more durable [?] FLW added glass and steel

http://www.delmars.com/wright/taliesn2.jpg
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/flw/taliesin_west02.jpg

wright's office:
http://www.katecohen.com/road%20pix/wright-office.jpg
(I think you can see the construction quite well on this picture)

1929 Ocatillo
desert camp
Chandler, Arizona

FLW built it when he should build the hotel 'San Marcos-in-the-Desert' [yea, I'll try to find something about that, too]

he lived there with his family and his team
it was called Ocatillo because of the cactus around
it was Wright's first experiment with canvas/tarpaulin (? the book isn't very clear about that) as architectural material

FLW liked the white light that came through the cloth, it also harmonized with the desert

couldn't find a picture

1936-1939 Johnson Building
S.C. Johnson & Son Company
Racine, Wisconsin

when the building was opened in 1939 it was a worldwide sensation/splash (?)

as the building is situated in an industrial area, FLW decided to close it to the outside and get in light only from above
in the working hall a 'forest' of concrete pillars hold the roof. At the top they get wider and form circles, the spaces in between is glass

in the corners where wall and roof usually meet are glass tubes which create a connection to the roof

the entrance is inside of the complex, at the same side as the covered garages

all furniture was designed only for this building

the red colour of the brick walls is also taken for the floor and are a contrast to the white concrete pillars

http://www.delmars.com/wright/scja1.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~dbaxo/johnson_wax_inside.jpg
(no idea which one's better)

http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwher/courses/8690/johnson/1.jpg

another good pic of the Johnson building: http://www.delmars.com/wright/scjrdraw.jpg

more about taliesin:

FLW spent his childhood where this house stands (well, in this region, not exactly the spot)
the house should stand not *on* the hill because no house ever shall stand *on* something, it should be part of the hill. It should be 'natural' and not destroy the environment.

the stones for the terraces came from a quarry nearby and had the same structure as the stone out of which the hill was itself. Hill and terraces should be one.
Every one of the 4 courtyards had a 'spring' (the water came from a small river) and the water run to the vegetable garden.

Taliesin should be living and workingplace for the architect, his family and helpers and also a farmhouse. People who live there should be able to make a living from the land.

the stonefoundations were connected with the chimneys. The walls were light and out of wood. The connection of stone and wood was to be seen everywhere on the hill. (trees) The slopes of the roofs were the slopes of the hills and also were out of wood.

to be continued...

the floors inside were either of the same stone as the terraces or out of wood, the colour for the walls was natural Siena.
The sun could shine into every room at every time of the day through one of the various windows.
During the winter icicles should hang on the roof and so there are no gutters.
The furniture was simple.

ok, that's enough, I think. Now we'll have to write a summary of the summary

Fallingwater:

for the first time reinforced concrete was really neccessary for a residential building by FLW

pffft... and that's it, I don't understand the rest of the page about it

The Johnson laboratory was not flat like most others but a tower. That brings more light into the building and less ground is needed. It brought two times as much sunlight and working place.
The storeys are built around a round shaft in which all drains etc are and which carries the ceilings/floors. In the shaft are also lifts and stairs.
The glass facade hangs on every second floor. It is made out of glass tubes which are connected with aluminuim and plastic, because of temperature an inner hull out of flat glass was added.

(I think that's the tower next to the johnson building)