case study about design of falling water by frank lloyd wright

1. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
CASE STUDY OF FALLINGWATER
SUBMITED TO ARCH.GULALI KHAN
NAME: TEHREEM SAHER
CMS ID: 18395
DATE:10-OCT-2012

2. FALLING WATER BY FRANK
LLOYD WRIGHT:
A set of scaled drawings of the house were completed
several years ago by L. D. Astorino, an architectural firm
located in Pittsburgh.

3. • William Allin Storrer describes Falling water as "the best-
known private home for someone not of royal blood in the
history of the world." Perched over a waterfall on Bear Run
in the western Pennsylvania highlands, the rural retreat
constructed for Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., has also been
called the fullest realization of Wright's lifelong ideal of a
living place completely at one with nature. Reinforced-
concrete cantilever slabs project from the rocks to carry
the house over the stream. From the living room, a
suspended stairway leads directly down to the stream. On
the third level immediately above, terraces open from
sleeping quarters, emphasizing the horizontal nature of
the structural forms. Wright himself described
Fallingwater as "a great blessing --one of the great
blessings to be experienced here on earth.“

4. MAIN FLOOR PLAN:

5. Most of the house's floor space is devoted to the stone-paved
living area with its various activity spaces. A high
proportion of the living space is outdoors in the form of
terraces, loggia and plunge pool below the living room..

6. • Fallingwater is
constructed on three
levels primarily of
reinforced concrete,
native sandstone and
glass. Soaring
cantilevered balconies
are anchored in solid
rock. Walls of glass
form the south
exposure, and a
vertical shaft of
mitered glass merges
with stone and steel to
overlook the stream.

7. FIRST FLOOR PLAN:

8. SECOND FLOOR PLAN:

9. THIRD FLOOR PLAN:

10. PRESPECTIVE DRAWING:

11. SECTION OF FALLING WATER:

12. ELEVATION:1

13. ELEVATION:II

14. ELEVATION:III

16. HISTORY:
• Almost forgotten at age 70, Frank Lloyd Wright was given the
opportunity to re-emerge on the architectural scene with his
design and construction of three buildings. His three great works of
the late 1930s--Fallingwater, the Johnson Wax Building in Racine,
Wisconsin, and the Herbert Jacobs house in Madison, Wisconsin--
brought him back to the front of the architectural pack.
• wanted the house located on the southern bank of Bear Run,
directly facing the falls. He had told Wright that was his favorite
aspect of the Bear Run property.
• Once Wright had decided the location of the house, he had the
obvious problem of building it there. The location of the north
bank of Bear Run was not large enough to provide a foundation for
a typically built Wright house.

17. DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION:
Beyond this issue, there were also the clients' needs that
had to be met. The Kaufmanns planned to entertain large
groups of people, so the house would need to be larger
than the plot allowed.
Preliminary plans were issued to Kaufmann for approval
on October 15, 1935,[15] after which Wright made a
further visit to the site and provided a cost estimate for the
job. The final working drawings were issued by Wright in
March 1936 with work beginning on the bridge and
main house in April 1936.

18. COST:
• The home and guest house cost US$155,000,[19][20]
broken down as follows: house $75,000; finishing and
furnishing $22,000; guest house, garage and servants'
quarters $50,000; architect's fee $8,000.
• The total project price of $155,000, adjusted for
inflation, is the equivalent of approximately $2.4 million
in 2009.[21] A reflection of the relative cost of the
project in its time is that the cost of restoration alone in
2002 was reported at $11.4 million.

19. USEOF HOUSE:
• Fallingwater was the family's weekend home from 1937 to
1963. In 1963, Kaufmann, Jr. donated the property to the
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. In 1964, it was opened to
the public as a museum. Nearly six million people have
visited the house as of January 2008. Despite its location in a
remote corner of Pennsylvania (two hours' drive from
Pittsburgh), the house (according to the informational
pamphlet distributed on the grounds) currently hosts more
than 150,000 visitors each year.[20]
• Kaufmann, Jr. years later said, "He [Wright] understood that
people were creatures of nature, hence and architecture
which conformed to nature would conform to what was basic
in people. For example, although all of Falling Water [sic] is
opened by broad bands of windows, people inside are
sheltered as in a deep cave, secure in the sense of the hill
behind them."

20. STYLE:
This organically designed private residence was
intended to be a nature retreat for its owners. The
house is well known for its connection to the site;
it is built on top of an active waterfall which flows
beneath the house. The fireplace hearth in the
living room integrates boulders found on the site
and upon which the house was built — ledge rock
which protrudes up to a foot through the living
room floor was left in place to demonstrably link
the outside with the inside.

21. • Bear Run and the sound of its water permeate the
house, especially during the spring when the snow
is melting, and locally quarried stone walls and
cantilevered terraces resembling the nearby rock
formations are meant to be in harmony. The design
incorporates broad expanses of windows and
balconies which reach out into their surroundings.
The staircase leading down from the living room to
the stream (mentioned above) is accessed via
movable horizontal glass panes. In conformance
with Wright's views, the main entry door is away
from the falls.

22. • On the hillside above the main house stands a
four-bay carport, servants' quarters, and a guest
house. These attached outbuildings were built two
years later using the same quality of materials and
attention to detail as the main house. The guest
quarters feature a spring-fed swimming pool which
overflows and drains to the river below. After
Fallingwater was deeded to the public, three carport
bays were enclosed at the direction of Kaufmann,
Jr., to be used by museum visitors to view a
presentation at the end of their guided tours on the
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (to which the
home was entrusted). Kaufmann, Jr. designed its
interior himself, to specifications found in other
Fallingwater interiors by Wright.

23. REPAIR WORK:
• The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy conducted an
intensive program to preserve and restore Fallingwater.
From 1988, a New York City-based architecture and
engineering firm was responsible for the materials
conservation of Fallingwater. During this time the firm
reviewed original construction documents and subsequent
repair reports; evaluated conditions and probes; analyzed
select materials; designed the re-roofing and re-
waterproofing of roofs and terraces; specified the
restoration for original steel casement windows and doors;
reconstructed failed concrete reconstructions; restored the
masonry; analyzed interior paint finishes; specified interior
paint removal methods and re-painting; designed repair
methods for concrete and stucco; and developed a new
coating system for the concrete.

24. Given the humid environment directly over running
water, mold had proven a problem. The elder
Kaufmann called Fallingwater "a seven-bucket
building" for its leaks, and nicknamed it "Rising
Mildew". Condensation under roofing membranes was
also an issue, due to the lack of damp proofing or
thermal breaks.
Falling water's structural system includes a series of
very bold reinforced concrete cantilevered balconies;
however, the house had problems from the beginning.
Pronounced deflection of the concrete cantilevers was
noticed as soon as formwork was removed at the
construction stage.