"When asked what was his best design, Frank Lloyd Wright would frequently reply, 'The next one.'"

Subtle methods to force the eye away from the square, box-like features of construction abound in Wright's houses and are probably the single most distinctive feature of his houses.

For the exterior of his own Oak Park home, built in 1889, Frank Lloyd Wright combined a narrow space between a rather high earth-toned wall and a massive shake covered triangular gable to make the house look much wider than the actual structure.

On the inside of his own home, Mr. Wright utilized, as he had done sixty years later at SAMARA, hidden corners, special ceiling treatments, and the infusion of Nature to remove the sharp box-like features of rooms and their divisions.

The cantilevered decks with their collection of Oriental art and "winged seed" designs in the clerstory windows of SAMARA draw attention upward, break the ceiling lines, give additional depth to the upper ceiling, and create visual space which actually tends to hide a portion of the ceiling.

The use of tall glass doors and windows combined with short brick walls outside the enclosed living space provides: an expansion of the living space beyond the enclosed area; a focus of the eye to the top of nearby Nature and the sky; and, a mystery about what view lies beyond the brick walls. The overall effect is to expand the rooms to the outside and draw the eyes away from the room corners.

Divisions between rooms at SAMARA are muted. Rather than having doorways, there are large openings with both well defined hard surface walls and subtle, mitered glass corners. The hard surface walls of the fireplace mass and the entry hall closet allow the eye to travel to open spaces beyond, hiding the room corners.

The steps leading down into the living room give additional depth to the room and help to define the entrance foyer and dining room areas which are located on higher levels of the house. The inside mitered glass corner between the living and dining areas both defines the space as well as opens the space to the outside terrace and beyond.

Overviews of Construction Innovations
[ Nature of Materials ]   [ Building on a Unit ]   [ The Owner's View ]   [ Building the Wright Way ]
[ Historical Perspectives ]   [ Manipulating the Spaces ]   [ Oriental Influence ]