32 Simple and Basic Design Ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright
I was recently reading an article from the September issue of 1956 House and Home and was astounded to see an interesting FLLW article with tips for the average home builder. As I was reading through the article I was realizing that those tips and advise were still just as pertinent today as it was in 1956.
The particular house the article refers to is the Zimmerman house built in Manchester, New Hampshire. The home is part of a series of homes that Wright built known as the Unisonian Homes that were low cost homes for moderate income families.
32 Simple and Basic Design Ideas of
Frank Lloyd Wright
1. Stress the Horizontals.
(a) Stretch the roof line.
(b) Keep the fascia in one straight line except for a good reason.
(c) Define a strong middle line.
2. Don't waste a big overhang on the north, and don't feel you must use the same roof pitch on both sides.
3. Keep the roof line low.
4. Don't build a whole wall and punch holes in it for your windows. Build your wall only to a sill height then rest your windows in structural courses above it.
5. Scale an entrance to its wall. Don't put a dinky, to small doorway in a big surface.
6. Don't stick a toy chimney in a big expanse of roof or it will look like an afterthought.
7. Dramatize a high ceiling by emphasizing a below standard ceiling line to fool the eye.
8. Use a dropped ceiling in the hall to make the living room ceiling seem higher by contrast.
9. Make the room seem wider by placing an important design element like these brick window columns at right angles to the room.
10. Use a glass gable without an overhang to let the sun play changing patterns on the ceiling.
11. Plan built-ins around the wall to free center space, and make a narrow room work like a wider one.
12. Break up the open plan by letting it flow around corners, so you can't see all the dining area from the living room or all the open kitchen from the dining room.
13. Make the terrace seem a part of the living room. For example (a) Carry your planting through the glass. (b) Carry your floor line through the wall. (c) Use ceiling high glass to let people see you ceiling run right past the wall. (d) Continue the ceiling pattern out onto the overhang.
14. Miter the glass in corner windows to make the corner disappear.
15. Provide a driveway big enough for off-street parking.
16. Don't landscape the grounds for expensive maintenance.
17. Give the house privacy from the street by planting, by facing glass areas toward the rear, by setting the house back.
18. Raise the planting boxes so the gardener won't have to bend; provide a hose bibs in each box.
19. Make the terrace big enough to serve as an outdoor room, or it becomes merely a path.
20. Raise the terrace slightly to get good drainage and make the lawn maintenance easier.
21. Face house toward the sun and away from stormy winds, if it is built in cold country.
22. Put everything in the kitchen within reach of the housewife. Store utensils and dishes used everyday on open shelves so she doesn't have to open cupboard doors over and over.
23. Make the kitchen tall so cooking odors can rise.
24. Keep the mess of the open kitchen out of sight.
25. Punch a hole in the roof of an inside bath ; light it from above.
26. Give the owner a huge bathroom mirror, and light it evenly all around the border.
27. Make the low "ceiling line" (in the house, actually a plate line) do double duty as a lighting trough.
28. Use natural materials that call for little maintenance
29. Use shelves for decoration.
30. Make even a small entrance hall long enough to give the living room some privacy. And make the coat closet big enough.
31. Put your kitchen at the heart of the house, even if it has to be an inside kitchen.
32. Pivot rooms around a huge fireplace and hide the heater room behind it.
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The particular house the article refers to is the Zimmerman house built in Manchester, New Hampshire. The home is part of a series of homes that Wright built known as the Unisonian Homes that were low cost homes for moderate income families.
32 Simple and Basic Design Ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright
1. Stress the Horizontals.
(a) Stretch the roof line.
(b) Keep the fascia in one straight line except for a good reason.
(c) Define a strong middle line.
2. Don't waste a big overhang on the north, and don't feel you must use the same roof pitch on both sides.
3. Keep the roof line low.
4. Don't build a whole wall and punch holes in it for your windows. Build your wall only to a sill height then rest your windows in structural courses above it.
6. Don't stick a toy chimney in a big expanse of roof or it will look like an afterthought.
7. Dramatize a high ceiling by emphasizing a below standard ceiling line to fool the eye.
8. Use a dropped ceiling in the hall to make the living room ceiling seem higher by contrast.
9. Make the room seem wider by placing an important design element like these brick window columns at right angles to the room.
10. Use a glass gable without an overhang to let the sun play changing patterns on the ceiling.
11. Plan built-ins around the wall to free center space, and make a narrow room work like a wider one.12. Break up the open plan by letting it flow around corners, so you can't see all the dining area from the living room or all the open kitchen from the dining room.
13. Make the terrace seem a part of the living room. For example (a) Carry your planting through the glass. (b) Carry your floor line through the wall. (c) Use ceiling high glass to let people see you ceiling run right past the wall. (d) Continue the ceiling pattern out onto the overhang.
14. Miter the glass in corner windows to make the corner disappear.
15. Provide a driveway big enough for off-street parking.
16. Don't landscape the grounds for expensive maintenance.17. Give the house privacy from the street by planting, by facing glass areas toward the rear, by setting the house back.
19. Make the terrace big enough to serve as an outdoor room, or it becomes merely a path.
20. Raise the terrace slightly to get good drainage and make the lawn maintenance easier.
21. Face house toward the sun and away from stormy winds, if it is built in cold country.
22. Put everything in the kitchen within reach of the housewife. Store utensils and dishes used everyday on open shelves so she doesn't have to open cupboard doors over and over.
23. Make the kitchen tall so cooking odors can rise.
24. Keep the mess of the open kitchen out of sight.
26. Give the owner a huge bathroom mirror, and light it evenly all around the border.
27. Make the low "ceiling line" (in the house, actually a plate line) do double duty as a lighting trough.
28. Use natural materials that call for little maintenance
29. Use shelves for decoration.
30. Make even a small entrance hall long enough to give the living room some privacy. And make the coat closet big enough.
31. Put your kitchen at the heart of the house, even if it has to be an inside kitchen.32. Pivot rooms around a huge fireplace and hide the heater room behind it.
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So practical and straightforward, not to mention livable and beautiful! Thanks, James, for posting this (still) very timely advice.
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Wow, this is awesome article. Your content is very informative and useful for me. I really appreciate your explanation about design building here. Thanks for sharing.
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