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Architecture and Nature: Comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water and Richard Meier’s Douglas House
Introduction
Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the renowned architects of the twentieth Century. He is mostly known by designing the Kaufmann vocational resident house known as the Falling water house. Richard Meier is well known for his architectural design of houses, especially the one known as the Douglas House. Both architects are well known for using nature in their works. Meier loves using colors in order to bring forth a particular impression especially associated with nature.
The Falling water and the Douglas house are both pieces of work done by Wright and Meier respectively. They have both turned out to be instrumental and inspirational in many architects works and careers. There are a number of similarities and differences in both works.
Similarities
Both works are residential houses. The Falling water is a vacation residential house built for Edgar Kaufmann in 1939 and Meier’s work is a residential house built for Jim and Jean Douglas. This was in the year 1973. The houses ate built in the midst of nature. The Falling water house is built on a bear run over a waterfall in the Allegheny Mountains, Pittsburgh (Wright 10). The Douglas house is built on a steep slope near the Harbor Springs above Lake Michigan. The vision of the green nature presented by the forests brings forth the incorporation of nature and architecture in their works (Edwards, 2010).
One can see the water when one is in the house. The water has been used by the architects as to place a harmonic feeling between man and nature. They bring out the refreshing feeling of a home and life in a place that can be scary due to the presence of harmful animals in the mountains.
Differences
Wright has used other colors while Meier has purely used white. Due to the white, the house looks like “a machine crafted object that has landed in the natural world” (Meier 87). The white color has been used to blend with the blues and the greens of the water and the other nature in order to enhance the beauty brought forth.
The Falling water has running water while the Douglas house has still lake waters. The running waters bring refreshment and life in the vicinity while the blue of the lake have a dialogue with the whiteness of the white to bring forth a distinct feature most attractive. The springs in the vicinity also bring forth a sense of life even when there is no one living in the house (Meier 87).
Conclusion
The Falling water and the Douglas house are both a perfect example of how nature blends with architecture to give a spectacular view. The materials used and the natural colors given by the water, trees and the sky are more appealing than the artificial colors put to create such effects. Although one is actually in the mountains and the other is on a steep slope, they can both be viewed and be distinguished from a far distance. Both houses have been built above the water as one is above the falling waters while the other is above the MichiganLake (Wright 30).
Works Cited
Edwards, Lisa. Step Into The Douglas House, a Richard Meier Renowned Home in Harbor Springs. MyNorth.Com 2010. Web. 26 April, 2011.
Meier, Richard. Richard Meier Architect. New York, NY: OxfordUniversity Press (1976). Print.
Wright, Frank Lloyd. Fallingwater. New york, NY: Phaidon (2002): Print
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