

Fallingwater: A Building That Bonds with Nature and Dances with Time - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/fallingwater-a-building-that-bonds-with-nature-and-dances-with-time

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copsarebastards
> But to say that Fallingwater is simply a meditation on nature would miss the
> point—which, sadly, I did. I walked away from Fallingwater thinking that the
> house was a beautiful representation of the juncture where nature and
> architecture meet and nothing more. Then I emailed Neil Levine, a professor
> of history and architecture at Harvard University, to ask for an interview.

> Levine replied promptly, but to my dismay, he told me he was too busy to
> talk. Furthermore he mentioned that I would do better not to engage with
> jargon like “organic architecture.” I was slighted, yes, but also intrigued.

> In 2011 Levine published an essay titled “The Temporal Dimension of
> Fallingwater,” where he argues that time—and not just nature—is crucial to
> Wright’s design. This temporal element was a direct consequence of the
> natural setting. The stream, including the waterfall, isn’t only a place
> where the horizontal meets the vertical, but also where the motionless meets
> the turbulent, the silent meets the thundering, and the finite meets the
> infinite. The stream is some combination of both sides. By placing the house
> above the falls, Wright furthers this juxtaposition.

It's worth understanding here that just because Levine has a Ph.D. doesn't
mean he's right or the author of the article is wrong. Levine's imperative as
a research scholar is to come up with different and novel ideas about the
architecture he studies, and as such, when looking at a long-studied work like
Fallingwater, it's no surprise he might try to come up with a new opinion.

But ultimately, it's just an opinion, and the barrier of evidence for such
opinion is pretty low. It's not math where there are proofs, it's
hypothesizing about the meaning of something which is experienced
subjectively. One could make persuasive statements about the intentions of
Wright, or about the experiences of people experiencing Wright's work, but to
talk about a building as if it's objectively a temporal work is just wankery.
And if Levine wants to argue that point as if it were objective truth rather
than an interesting way to view Fallingwater, that makes him a wanker.

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Animats
It also leaked and sagged until a major restoration in 2002. Wright designed
beautiful buildings, but the structural designs on some of them had problems.

Wright's most grandiose building is the Marin Civic Center, sometimes called
the Martian Embassy.[1] It's very '50s futuristic, and several SF films were
made there.

[1] [http://inhabitat.com/frank-lloyd-wright-designed-marin-
civic...](http://inhabitat.com/frank-lloyd-wright-designed-marin-civic-center-
in-san-rafael-turns-50/marin-civic-center-19/)

~~~
gdubs
Reminds me of the performing arts center Frank Gehry designed for Bard College
[1]. When it was first built, snow and ice would slide off the roof with such
velocity that they coned off the area.

1:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Fisher_Center_for_th...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Fisher_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts)

~~~
arh68
Wow I didn't know _two_ Gehry buildings had serious problems. The Stata Center
leaked and cracked when it first opened [1]. Weirdly, that Tech article says
the arts center at Bard was alright at the time: _Bard President Leon Botstein
told the Chronicle that the building “came in on budget and has worked
beautifully.”_ Perhaps there's a story behind every Gehry.

[1]
[http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N53/lawsuit.html](http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N53/lawsuit.html)

~~~
pavpanchekha
He's also been sued for a building which, in the mid-afternoon, would focus
the sun's rays into the eyes of incoming motorists on a nearby highway.

Gehry buildings are striking and inspiring, but he _does_ have a history of
surprising practical harms.

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colinbartlett
Fallingwater is the most beautiful and serene place I have ever visited around
the world. It is a really inspiring place to me.

I wish it was more accessible (thought I suppose that was the point) but it
really is worth the trip out to Pittsburgh and then two hours into the woods.

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evo_9
Also my favorite architectural series Lego kit: [http://shop.lego.com/en-
US/Fallingwater-21005](http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Fallingwater-21005)

~~~
Shivetya
Video of someone showing off the kit assembled.
[https://youtu.be/S6h-ytGJ50A](https://youtu.be/S6h-ytGJ50A)

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drfuchs
Well, it may look beautiful from the outside, but if you've ever been inside,
most of the rooms are way too cramped, and the ceilings are low. Not as bad as
his Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, though; I don't have
claustrophobia, and I still wanted to run screaming from the freakish no-
right-angles-anywhere offices. (The locals say that Phillips Petroleum bought
it to be their headquarters, but never moved in because it was so anti-
functional.)

~~~
cafard
It is said that Wright built to his own size, which is to say a trifle shorter
than the average American adult male. He said that had he been three inches
taller, his designs might have been different.

~~~
drfuchs
Well, Yahoo search says his height was 5' 9" (1.75m), which is more than an
inch taller than I am...

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rdtsc
There is a nice documentary about it on Netflix (sorry it is in DVD format now
only).

[http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-s-
Fallingwat...](http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-s-
Fallingwater/70101465)

