Writings On Gates And Passageways

Cars, Concrete and Clay
How organic architecture can change our lives

Frank Lloyd Wright had a love affair with the automobile. He is also the acknowledged father of organic architecture. Today, natural or organic are words often used to describe something that looks like or evolves from nature. Organic architecture, according to Wright, would actually filter the principles of nature through people’s consciousness, and the buildings that resulted would have a natural flow from the inside out. They would interpret rather than imitate nature. He did believe that these homes would best be built in a rural environment and he loved the automobile for its ability to transport people to the country. He also loved the feeling of driving fast in a beautiful streamlined car. The aesthetic value of material things formed a key part of his philosophy.

The disadvantages of the automobile as a mode of transportation, bringing with it a dependence on oil, would not really come to light until after he had died. Yet even in his time Frank Lloyd Wright got into trouble with the Arts and Crafts movement for giving a speech praising the machine at one of their meetings. He didn’t give much weight to the distinction between humans and nature. He was a huge fan of using man made materials in his construction. His Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, was the first major building executed entirely in poured concrete.  The innovative use of steel allowed him to open up the interior of his houses encouraging a free flow of space which he believed to be a better environment for human nature than a series of small rooms. He believed that progress and the machine would, in fact, enable humankind to re-connect with what was natural. That for something to be organic meant that it was true to its purpose and that the purpose of architecture was to transform.

What then is organic architecture as Wright saw it? In a 1908 article for Architectural Record, Wright outlined the six points of his philosophy. First, the design should be simple. Wright disliked ornamentation for its own sake and favored clean smooth lines in both the interior and exterior. Second, he felt each house should express the individuality of the owner. Third, and even more important, the house should be a true reflection of the site. Fourth, the colors should be drawn from nature and fifth, the materials used should be true to their purpose. He did not believe in painting wood and loved the use of exposed brick or concrete. He also strongly believed that the materials used should be drawn from the local environment where ever possible. Finally, each building should possess integrity. Its purpose should be to draw out the occupants’ better nature, to allow them to realize their full potential.

 

In later writings, Wright developed the idea that a building should possess spiritual integrity. For Wright, this point was perhaps the most important. It is said that to understand Wright’s philosophy you must have the experience of walking through his buildings. Wright was particularly drawn to Eastern philosophy and the poet Lao-Tzu, whose insight on the transformative nature of interior space is most aptly illuminated in the following poem:

“Mold clay into a vessel;
From its not-being (in the vessel’s hollow)
Arises the utility of the vessel.”
Lao-Tzu

That buildings existed to transform people from the inside out was a concept new and radical for its time. People needed to live in a “natural house” in order for their true nature to evolve. Wright developed his idea of what a natural house would be by simply observing nature. The first question he asked was what was a house meant to do? Just as a tree or a human body has a purpose, so too should a house. In her book, “Living Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright”, Doris Ransohoff describes the evolution of this thought:

 “Every detail of a house ought to be organically part of the whole
design, as an arm and a leg were a part of the human body, as a
branch and leaves were part of a tree. A house ought to give a smooth and flowing feeling, any easy feeling. It ought to look as though it had always been where it was.”

Houses would no longer simply be places to shelter or even pretty pieces to look at. Their purpose would be spiritual transformation and organic architecture would enable this to happen.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a prolific architect who continued to design his entire life. He developed plans for hundreds of buildings and nearly 500 of these were actually built. Most of his designs were for individual homes and many of these still retain their original ownership. The innovative use of technology did not always work for him. Some of his roofs leaked and some cantilevers failed. Although he advocated an almost Utopian vision of home ownership for all, he almost always went over budget in the execution of his projects, sometimes coming in more than twice his original quotation. Yet his clients loved their houses and were transformed by their relationship with Wright. Some even went on to write books about their experience.

Our experience with our own home is an interesting example of the transformative power of architecture. When we first looked at the house we now live and work in, it was with some concern about the busyness of the street and the dilapidated look of the block. It was a small Victorian house sited on a busy street. (Neither the architectural style or the location would be considered ideal to Frank Lloyd Wright). The house itself needed a coat of paint and the yard was a barren wasteland. Yet there was an indefinable “something” that spoke to us, overcoming our objections. There was an intangible presence that seemed to beckon us to a better life. This promise has come true first, with the creation of our home and garden and then with the creation of our business that we run out of our home.

What was this “something” that certain structures possess that seemed to draw us out of ourselves? My partner identified this almost immediately as a sense of balance or flow both outside and in. The house is small, long and narrow. But it fits beautifully into the dimensions of the lot. It is sited on one corner so it seems to leap out at you as you drive down the street. The fact that it is only one story high is part of its charm.  Inside the rooms seem to flow effortlessly into each other and there is a sense of peace and proportion in the layout.

This does not mean that the house is perfect, indeed there are many aspects of it that we have changed or will change. Yet it continues to inspire us and others in the community. People know our house. When we tell the most unlikely stranger our address they will know immediately which house we are talking about. It is not a large house or even architecturally significant yet it speaks to people. It touches them, as it did us.

Alain de Botton is an author who explores modern themes by placing them in a historical and philosophical context. His book, The Architecture of Happiness, explores the human psyche to determine why we are drawn to beautiful art and architecture and what it is about these objects that satisfy us in such a deep way.
He states:

"We value certain buildings for their ability to rebalance our misshapen natures and encourage emotions which our predominant commitments force us to sacrifice. Feelings of competitiveness, envy and aggression hardly need elaboration, but feelings of humility amid an immense and sublime universe, of a desire for calm at the onset of evening or of an aspiration for gravity and kindness - these form no correspondingly reliable part of our inner landscape, a rueful absence which may explain our wish to bind such emotions to the fabric of our homes.”

 Frank Lloyd Wright believed that the transformative nature of buildings could actually change the world. In the 1930’s, during the worst part of the depression, he developed his idea for a Utopian community called Broadacre City. In his vision, people would be happiest owning their own home in smaller communities, spread out across the country. Ideally, each house should be surrounded by one acre of land so the occupants could look out on a natural setting. This move toward decentralization would be dependent on the car, a mode of transportation now becoming widely available. He minimized the costs involved with moving out of the city stating in an article titled, The Natural House: “a gallon of gas is not so expensive that you cannot afford to pay for the gas it takes to get pretty far from the city”.

This statement would surely be the antithesis of the environmental movement today. Decentralization and the move to the suburbs, resulting in a dependence on the automobile, can be blamed for many environmental woes. The reliance on gas is not only expensive but damaging to the environment. The long commute places stress on an already overworked community. While Wright’s ideas are sometimes blamed for the move to the suburbs, most suburban housing developments bear little resemblance to his vision.

 
Broadacre City as developed by Wright never actually materialized. He did design and build a series of homes based on this model. They were called Usonian homes and they were more cost effective and smaller than many of his earlier buildings. Yet there was still an emphasis on organic design, albeit on a more modest scale.
The closest he came to Broadacre City is a housing development built in the 40’s in Westchester County, New York which was named Usonia. The land was bought in common and Wright designed the site. Over fifty homes were built and the designs were all based on Wright’s principles of organic architecture.

In his book, Usonia New York; Building a Community, Roland Reisley, himself a member of the community, asks occupants to describe the impact living in Usonia has had on their lives. They conclude:

“Wildness with civilization, privacy with community – Usonians have   experienced the kind of balance that Americans have been seeking for two and a half centuries. “Wright’s road and site plan was a masterstroke,” explained Esther (Harris) Schimmel. “It gave us space and privacy surrounded by nature. The stone and glass that Kan, (Kaneji Domoto), integrated with our land has been immensely satisfying.” Trude Victor wrote that in her house, designed by Aaron Resnick, “to bring the outside inside, the flow of movement inside to outside, kitchen to dining room, dining to living room, seemed natural and kind of exhilarating.”

Rarely today do you see the transformative nature of art and architecture play such an important role in homebuilding. Even environmentalists, who are concerned about urban development, simply encourage people to focus on building and buying green. James Wines, himself an architect, in his book, “Green Architecture”, lists the many reforms urged by those advocating a green revolution in building. Among other things they call for smaller buildings, clustered together to reduce urban sprawl, the use of low energy materials, increasing energy efficiency through the introduction of solar heating and reduction in the use of ozone depleting chemicals.

What Mr. Wines finds lacking in this movement is any serious attempt to address the aesthetics of organic architecture. While he applauds many of the scientific advances, he argues greater attention should be paid to how a building looks. If our desire is to reduce building waste and emphasize recycling, the best way to do this is to create structures that are beautiful and have the power to transform. Buildings that have been preserved over time are those which touch people in a deeper way. The benefits of solar heating are lost if we simply install this in that same bland looking building. The cost of using more eco-friendly materials is wasted if we do not love the home they are in. As Frank Lloyd Wright would remind us, it is the spiritual integrity of a building that will ensure its longevity.

The history of our house is a good example of this. It was built in 1889 and has been lovingly restored by many people over the years. At times in its history it has almost fallen into the landfill but someone has always come along and rescued it. We have also fallen under its spell and have spent many hours preserving and enhancing the look, especially in the creation of the garden. We have tried, as much as possible, to create the feeling of a natural setting, to reduce the impact of living on a busy street.

We carried this same approach into the development of our woodworking business that we now operate out of our home. From the start we knew that certain things were important to us. My partner designs structures for the out of doors that are made to fit their environment. This reflects a basic principle of organic architecture, as developed by Wright, that the design should be specific to and drawn from the site. Second, we use only the best quality wood, sourced locally. Vancouver Island is home to the most beautiful red and yellow cedar in the world and we use this exclusively in our work. When my partner’s work is installed in a natural setting it looks as though it belongs.

We didn’t set out to enter the “green” building revolution but we did have a natural concern for the environment which stemmed from our core beliefs. We knew that we were privileged to use some of the most beautiful old growth cedar and that we needed to honor this by creating structures that would last over time. We wanted to create passageways that people would love and therefore naturally want to preserve. So each piece reflects a connection to the person and the place, a connection that is meaningful to those who see it. The passageway on Pender Island was created to mark the transition into the driveway, to welcome friends and family home. The 8X8 posts were eight feet tall with carved tops to both complement and contrast with the tall cedar trees next to them. End grain tablets in the middle panel look like ancient stone tablets both mirroring nature intensifying the feeling of passage.

If our company has an environmental philosophy it is much like that espoused by Frank Lloyd Wright. The process through which we decided on what finish to use illustrates this point. We knew we wanted to preserve the wood as best we could, while at the same time allowing its natural beauty to shine through. We did have a concern that the product we used be non-toxic both for the health of ourselves, our customers and the environment. But we placed at least as great an emphasis on the ability of the finish to enhance the look of the wood, to preserve without coating the natural grain and glow of the beautiful cedar we are privileged to use.

We believe that technology and science should be utilized, first and foremost, in the creation of works that enhance people’s spiritual nature. So that the end result would be something that people would naturally want to preserve over time. There is a spiritual or transformative component in my partner’s work. Her passageways touch people in a deeper way. She uses the play of light and shadow, the different depths and the natural grain of the wood to achieve this. Her unique designs honor the transitional process of entering a different space, the home or garden. She marks the moment of moving into a quieter, more reflective space, away from the busyness of the outside world.

The importance of this would have been obvious to Frank Lloyd Wright and is maybe not so obvious to our thinking today. It seems that our society, even sometimes the more environmentally conscious parts, views beauty as a luxury, something that is nice when and if you can afford it. Science, as we know, can fail us sometimes in ways we can not even anticipate. The damage done by the automobile is an obvious example of this. Frank Lloyd Wright loved the automobile for its ability to transform. He saw it as a thing of beauty and he also admired it for its ability to move human beings into a more natural setting.

Knowing what we do now about the damage done by a reliance on oil, we certainly need to explore other options were we to fulfill Wright’s dream of Broadacre City. While we may feel it is impractical and even environmentally damaging for everyone to move out to their own Broadacre City, the idea that people do best in a natural setting still holds true today. Wright’s basic principles of organic architecture and the natural house are as valid and as necessary now as they were in his time. The purpose of green architecture should be to build buildings that transform people and communities, as well as to ensure that the methods and materials ensure sustainability and reduce harm to the environment.

It is not the dream of transformative architecture itself that needs to be changed, but rather the forms of scientific advances used to achieve it. Science is not an end but rather a means to an end. How did society lose the idea that beauty and art and spiritual transformation form an essential part of what it means to be fully human? When did these become secondary to scientific advances? Transformative art and architecture is as necessary as the roof over your head and the clean water that you drink. It is that indefinable “something” that made us choose the house that we did and therefore create the type of business that we did. It is why so many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s clients still live and flourish in the homes that he created for them. If a home is like a vessel of transformation it will touch that part of us that wants to preserve what we love. It can change our lives in profound ways and therefore change the way we are in the world. It has the power to make “natural environmentalists” out of all of us.

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