+2 votes
80 views
in Home & Garden by

When I lived in Iowa, I visited one of the homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright there...and was intrigued. His homes are often described as Usonian, which (I think) refers to the U.S., United States. Wright also gave thought to designing communities, hoping to transform architecture in the USA.

The characteristics, as I have watched several videos, are that the home appears as part of the landscape, organically formed out of the land, rather than imposed on top of it...and both the hill and the house are the better for each other.

BUT, one of my friends says that when he emigrated from England to the USA, he felt that in his homeland, most of the homes were built in harmony with the land...and seeing so many homes here just imposed down onto the ground rather than integrated within the surrounding landscape, was distressing for him. in fact, this was one reason he had such difficulty in adjusting to life here in the United States.

So I have been thinking about my British friend, and Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian homes, and now I am wondering: Maybe if we follow our own human nature, we will naturally build organically designed homes to live in? 

And maybe we have gotten away from our own natural instincts in our home design, as we have become ever more obsessed with rather frantic motives (such as profit)?

...here are two links for you to peruse, one five-minute video of a Frank Lloyd Wright home, one of his last family homes designed near the end of his life; and then, a few photos of classic English cottages...probably evolved from the tiny thatched cottages their ancestors built.

And then, in the context of all that, what about your own dwelling now, is it organic architecture, as FLW names it?

Here is the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Connecticut;

...and here the nine English cottages: https://www.thecottagejournal.com/9-english-country-cottages-fall-love/


2 Answers

+2 votes
by

This house I live in now is only 3 years old and was custom made for me by my Son's construction company. Don't know how organic you could call it but I do have nature all around me!

by
+1

I remember, Rooster... :)  ...with delight, your home near the beautiful Russian River!

by
+1

Actually, hon. I live near Somerset, Cal. In the hills where I love it the best. :)

by

Rooster, you and I have not been in contact as much lately, perhaps, because I somehow missed that you are now near Somerset. And I am so delighted that your home is now in the place you love best!  I treasure knowing you over these years, since 2011, I think? ...and for you to have contentment fills my heart with delight.

by
+1

Yes, we have known each other for a while now. One big reason I still come here is to read your posts and such.

Last Summer's fires drove me out for a week or so but they stopped it at the edge of Somerset!

by

Rooster I looked up Somerset...and you are among all the beautiful national forests there! 

as for the fires, I have lived much of my life here in Washington, and never gone through anything like these last few years. Summer 2015 was the biggest wildfire ever recorded in the state, and I was with my cousin in the Okanogan Highlands east of the Cascades. She was evacuated, but had to come back to take care of the farm animals. Then I came to be with her, and we would watch the red glow on the horizon constantly, but the fires never came closer than 1/4 mile...and that is much too close, but we kept the animals okay and we got her large garden harvested and her produce put up for winter.

Those firefighters are truly heroes, what they have done to keep people and property safe.

SO glad you came through all that okay.

Oh, and I just noticed the time of your post...you are up early, as usual, I remember when you were doing the moderation!

by
+1

Ha! I'm up so early because I work for Slitherine from Midnight to about 8AM every day. They're based in England and I try and work their hours. I don't mind as I love doing graphics work! Nice people too, like on here.

Just finished working on a "Pacific" DLC for this 3D game which is a big seller!


by

Rooster, that trailer is almost unbelievable in its effectiveness. 

Do you know what has happened with that Q/A website where you were a moderator? Are they still going? I don't seem to even recall their name now...past history, but it is where you and I got to know each other more, and for that I appreciate them most.

I do recall you went more deeply into that very fulfilling work with Slitherine just after that Q/A site all fell through, both you and I and some others too just could not handle it and left...are you still in contact with Angela, I think that was her name, the other moderator with you there?

***Late addition, nine hours later: Rooster, just for old time sake I looked up Blurtit.com...apparently inactive now, this was on Wikipedia: 

"In November 2019, Blurtit Ltd. applied to Companies House for a voluntary strike off as the IP ownership was sold to another company."

by
+1

To be honest? I haven't even had time to look if blurtit is still even there! LOL

Haven't heard a thing from Angela for a few years now. No idea there.

I do love the work even at my age and the younger ones there respect me and my work. :)

by

Rooster, you know, I still feel a bit of sadness about Blurtit...part of me wishes Tim had the good sense to sell it to you when he had the chance. But seeing how fulfilling Slitherine is for you now, I know that things did turn out for the best.

by
+1

That they did, Lady. That guy is a crook! LOL

+2 votes
by

My house is definitely not organic..but the idea is good.

And those cottages probably sell for £200,000 plus..

by
+2

SirFurry, I just looked up the exchange, and the 200K pounds translates into $272,708...here, that is a rather cheap home...it's scary. Although, I think I saw that my family home, which my parents purchased in 1955 for $11,500, is now appraised around only $100,000. It is rather tiny...only 900 square feet housed a family of four. But as I think of it now, it was probably somewhat organic; designed by the builder to fit on the treed lot, on a bank overlooking a creek. And he built it as his own home -- but then got restless after only one year, sold his retirement home and went back to building.

And yes, I thought the idea was interesting. Oh, and I found a street view of that tiny home built in 1954, and the appraised value is now $300,000 (or 220024.50 pounds) not $100,000! And when we lived here, the color was not white/cream, but the rough wood-paneled exterior was stained  a warm brown color...making it even more "organic" -looking, blending into the surroundings.

So, now thinking about that house, I am still playing with the idea that when someone builds one house at a time, fitting it to the location, it will tend to come up rather organic! :)


image

Is this page not working?

Click here to see the recent version of this page

...