Frank Lloyd Wright's
SAMARA
John E. Christian, Owner


SAMARAQuest


Benton Fourth Grade Team

The Flat Roofs

Kinch O'Kelley / Beau Brutus
Lindsey Snodgrass / Shelly Krebs

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SAMARAQuest
    1   How come there are no gutters?
    2   Why did FLW use flat roofs?

Frank Lloyd Wright designed SAMARA using two flat roofs with the upper one overlapping the lower one with no gutters.

This was done initially to reduce the cost of the house thereby making it "affordable" for my wife and me to build SAMARA.

In addition, however, there turned out to be other advantages.

First of all, the flat roof construction with its wide overhangs gives a distinct oriental (Japanese) style of architecture which Mr. Wright knew we liked.

Such a style makes the house appear to be closer to the ground and thus fits well on our building site.


The flat roof without gutters also makes it possible to add the three-dimensional copper plate with the ornaments all around the roof-line. This feature also gives SAMARA a more oriental look as well as protecting the house from weathering.

The copper plate extends three inches above the roof line forcing the water on the flat surface to flow to openings in the roof located at each corner of the house.

So, the water just falls through the openings giving a waterfall effect on each corner of the house. This is a natural pheomenon and attracts your eyes to the outside brnging Nature to the inside of the house.

In the winter time, icicles are formed at these corner locations. Being easily seen from inside the house, the freezing water forms ice sculptures that further attract your attention to Nature on the outside Nature.

I've enjoyed responding to your questions. To learn more about SAMARA, I encourage you to visit the other Benton Fourth Grade Team pages. You may also be interested in taking a look at the Benton SAMARAQuest Challenge.

The Benton SAMARAQuest Challenge is designed to expand your learnings beyond what you already know about Frank Lloyd Wright and SAMARA. The Challenge suggests activities for exploring things you're interested in learning more about in your studies of the world's greatest architect.

Be sure to visit other
Benton Fourth Grade Teams
to learn more about
SAMARA.
The Benton SAMARAQuest Fifth Grade Teams The Tour People / The Origamies / The Favorites
The Flat Roofs / The Fireplace People / The Philippine Mahoganies
Visit these other Benton SAMARAQuest Teams
Grade 3 / Grade 4 / Grade 5 / Grade 6

Return to the Benton SAMARAQuest Main Directory

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Copyright © 1998   All rights reserved.
The John Christian Family Memorial Trust, Inc. and LEARNING ASSOCIATES
Latest revision September 30, 1998