The residence is simple as the tide is, as are the tones that sound in harmony. You do not need to be understood to be appreciated and, in fact, it is often better when not too much turns. Some will say that Taliesin flows, but after spending time in the residence, I do not necessarily believe that it is true.
For me, the house is much more channel than river. It shapes the movement, but it is the people who are the current. Walking through Taliesin was easy, especially because the house indicates where you must go and how you should move. The view, for example, is usually better when you feel. I noticed it first in the small wooden desk of me guest bedroomthen in the room and again in the architect's bedroom. Almost without thinking, visitors are forced to take a seat in the same way that the water is curved in a meandro.
But if the house is the river, Wright is gravity, erosion and any other force or phenomenon that forms the Earth's water courses. Its authorship is tangible everywhere. You admire the view that he thought it was the best. The room seems great, partly because it is and partly because the aisle that leads to him is narrow and dark. He often did it, strategically placing less welcoming spaces just before those who should be great. I called it compression and release. There are obstacles – like a great stone fireplacewooden railing or furniture – that force people to take certain paths.
You can find similar situations in many of Wright's works. For example, the Guggenheimwhich only offers a main route through its white spiral ramp. Or even the houses designed for its clients, which in most cases included built -in furniture; Even if you wanted to change them, you couldn't. I do not live in Wright's work, so I cannot say with certainty if this hand that guides is useful or excessive – he has argued both ways – but for a weekend dedicated to trying better to understand the architect, there could not have been a better lesson. After all, the moments in which one feels more uncomfortable are those in which everything is missing Frank Lloyd Wright I appreciated: light, space and a connection with the valley of the Jones gods.
***
In Wisconsin, among Wright fans, we talked about the clear intuition of the architect for the Sustainable design Long before the term was usual, how he had a much more endowed mind for engineering than most attribute to him and how his ideas continue to influence today's US houses. When he returned home, the conversations often revolved around his reputation: «Wasn't it a bad guy? Or if we talked about his buildings:» Didn't he had leaks on the roofs? «