These ideas proposed by Wright represent a half century of ingenuity and unrivaled creativity.
Wright was unquestionably a architectural genius and was years ahead of his time. The biggest obstacle which held Wright back throughout his career was the lack of technogaly that was present during his time. As a architect, Wright accomplished more that any other in history, with the possible exception of DaVincci or Michangelo. His philosophy of Organic Architecture showed the world that form and function could both by achieved to create a house that was both true to nature and affordable. Wrights homes, have today become monuments of greatness and distictionn. Most of them serve as museums, displaying the his ideas and the achievements of a lifetime of innovation.
It wasn’t until Wright published “The Natural House” however, that he fully was able to illustrate all of his ideas relating toward housing. In the “Natural House” wright defines the meaning of Organic Architecture and how it can be applied to creating housing which provides a closeness to nature for the occupents. Wright was undoubtly a romantic and individualist. His feeling toward nature and self integrity can best be shown by comparing them to those shared by Emerson and Thoreau.
Wrights deep love of nature and his individualism were formed from the events which influenced him as a child and up until his days working for Louis Sullivan. In order to fully understand the ideas which Wright proposed through his philosophy of Organic Architecture, one must first understand the events and influences which led to their creation. As a child, Wrights parents always encouraged him to be a free thinker and individualist. Both of his parents were intelligent and creative people by nature. They, of all people had the greatest influence on Wright.
Throughout his life they were extreamly supportive of Wrights dream of becoming an architect, and always made sure that he had books and pictures of buildings that he could study and learn from. Wrights parents had little money, but they always found the extra money needed to support their childrens intrusts. When Wright became old enough to begin learning about working, his parents felt that sending him to his uncles dairy farm during his summer break from school would provide him with the proper work ethics and morals needed to become a responsible adult. The work on the farm was rigorous and seemingly endless to Wright. He despised the chores which he was required to do.
Wright attempted to run away almost each summer that he was sent there. However, his kind but stern uncle promised him that all of his hard work would make him a better person and would teach him responsibility. As the years passed, Frank began to dread working on the farm less and less. He became fascinated with nature and developed a deep respect for it. It was there, on a small Wisconsin dairy farm where Wright began to ponder the theory of integrating architecture with nature.
Wright attributed his love toward nature and his respect toward it, to the many summers which he spent on his uncles farm. The other major influence in Wrights life, was the collapsing of the State of Wisconsin Capitol Building. At the time, Wright was only 13 when he witnessed the building collapse upon itself, killing all 40 workers who were inside it. Severely traumatized and unable to sleep for weeks, Wright kept wondering why the tragic incident occurred.
Weeks later, it was revealed that the cause of the buildings collapse was a lack of support from the pilars which held up the above 3 stories. The architect and the builder both reglected to test the pilars before they were introduced into the buildings structural design. After Wright learned this, he vowed that if he became a architect, he would thourghly test all of the support membranes used in the construction of all the building projects which he oversaw. The greatest factor which Wright put forth in his philosophy of Organic Architecture was that of safety. Wright felt that all buildings, whether they were commercial or residential should be built and designed so that they were structuraly sound as well as true to
