Falling Water

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT 'S KAUFMANN HOUSE ( FALLINGWATER

The Edgar J . Kaufman house (or Fallingwater , designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1936 for a Pittsburgh department-store owner , is perhaps the best example of Wright 's attitudes toward the relationship between architecture and nature . The house , situated in the western Pennsylvania woods above a small creek and waterfall , merges with its setting and enhances the natural environment instead of contradicting it . While not part of Wright 's famous Prairie style , it theless embraces many of its principles

Wright (1867-1959 ) built his reputation in

the 1890s and early 1900s as the creator of the Prairie style ' which had a close relationship to its setting due to its use of regional materials (natural stone , brick locally-grown wood ) and how it fit into the landscape . For example Wright 's Prairie buildings are long and low , expressing the land 's flat horizontal qualities . According to Ken Burns ' PBS documentary about his work , Wright 's version of modernism was very much rooted in 19th century America . In the land , in the American culture , in the idea of home and domesticity , in warm materials that came out of the earth , wood and stone and so forth ( Frank Lloyd Wright ' HYPERLINK "http /www .pbs .org /flw /buildings /fallingwater /fallingwater .html http /www .pbs .org /flw /buildings /fallingwater /fallingwater .html

The exterior of Fallingwater follows these principles , though adapted to a hilly eastern setting . Situated on a rocky site above a creek called Bear Run , the multi-level house uses locally-produced sandstone in the vertical elements (like the chimney , which makes the house look like it grows out of the rock it sits on . Also , it features broad horizontal cantilevered elements (made of reinforced concrete , which frame the waterfall and seem to imitate the broad ledge where the water cascades as well as the foam of the tumbling water itself . It also features broad horizontal bands of windows , another trademark of Wright 's work

The interior features broad , open rooms , large windows , white walls outdoor terraces , and extensive use of brick and local stone . Despite the terraces and windows (which let in abundant natural light , as Wright in all of his homes , the house seems private and secluded according to although all of Fallingwater is opened by broad bands of windows , people inside are sheltered as in a deep cave , secure in the sense of hill behind them ( A Country House : Fallingwater , Frank Lloyd Wright 's masterpiece home ' HYPERLINK "http /www .wam .umd .edu stwright /FLWr /fallingwater .html http /www .wam .umd .edu stwright /FLWr /fallingwater .html ) Wright 's Prairie houses gave their inhabitants both privacy and exposure to the elements (mainly fresh air and sunlight , and this house keeps that practice

In some ways , the building both expresses and ruins the site . While its gradual , multi-leveled rise imitates the rocky falls and hillside , it also shields the falls , making it hard to see from any distance According to the INUSA website , the Kaufmann family had enjoyed picnicking there wanted...