"Bring out the nature of the materials, let their nature intimately into your scheme." Frank Lloyd Wright, 1908

Cutting or shaping metal after it is manufactured is what Frank Lloyd Wright considered to be workability. Working metal at SAMARA includes the copper fascia intended to be primarily ornamental in both shape and color. But not entirely since the copper fascia also protects the underlying Philippine mahagony wood from the elements of nature.

A more subtle kind of workability of metal is the way Mr. Wright cut steel for taking advantage of its properties of strength or rigidity as he referred to it. At SAMARA, we see Wright's use of cut steel in the pipes extending up through the brick wall to the cantilevered lower roof of the terrace.

The hidden use of thin, vertical columns of steel between the concrete floor and the upper roof in the living room, and between the foundation and the lower roof in the main bathroom and the nursery, is not apparent from inside or outside of the house.

This innovation in construction was only apparent at SAMARA during the time of construction. However, this innovative use of steel columns can be exposed by examining Wright's drawings of SAMARA and through movie film taken by the owner during the early stages of construction.

Wright "worked" the steel pipes and thin steel columns of SAMARA to create and extend consistent straight-line effects throughout the house. Mr. Wright considered this form of architecture to reflect, and therefore be more suitable to, the personalities of his clients, Dr. and Mrs. John Christian.

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