At Home in the World — the Architecture and Life of Frank Lloyd Wright

Abstract

This article shows how the enduring admiration people have for the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) is explained by this principle of Aesthetic Realism, stated by the founder of this philosophy, the great American poet and critic, Eli Siegel: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” Scholars have written of Wright’s contradictions: his charm and his arrogance, the warmth of his interior designs and his coldness to persons near to him. The authors show that like people everywhere, Wright was trying in his life to put together opposites in himself, including the same opposites he was able to compose magnificently in his best architectural work: most particularly, the opposites of inside and outside, “the snug and exterior.” Two early examples discussed are his 1893 Gale House and the Heurtley House of 1902. Wright’s love of nature led to his concept of organic architecture: buildings inspired by, and at one with, their environment. A masterful example discussed in detail is his 1935 house design Fallingwater, built dramatically above a waterfall. The authors also show how two works from very different points in Wrightʼs long career — the 1904 Unity Temple, and the Guggenheim Museum, completed in 1960 — are opportunities for people to know ourselves better now. The explanation lies in the beautiful way each structure puts opposites together.