Frank Lloyd Wright and Organic Architecture

Some of the best examples for organic architecture come from Frank Lloyd Wright's work, and although other artists such as Vittorio Giorgini, Kendrick Bangs Kellog and Toyo Ito have also brought excellent representations of that harmonious relationship that architectural structures can have with nature, Mr. Wright is still considered the Father of Organic Architecture for one simple reason: He was the one to initially define such term. Frank Lloyd Wright along with his Fallingwater Residence (among others) opened the eyes of thousands of students, colleagues and designers. Through his work we can see that anything was possible in his mind, and independently from the catastrophes that some of his buildings have gone through throughout time, his work is a part of history that remains today and maintains the right to be preserved. The term "usonia"--and eventually its adjective "usonian"--was also brought by Wright to personally describe his own views on American landscaping, and to differentiate North American architecture from the rest of the world. Frank Lloyd Wright also adopted many concepts from oriental architecture (specifically Japanese architecture), which contributed to that contemporary style to many of his greatest projects.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

According to Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, on his note from the first of the 23rd volume of the magazine Quarterly "Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona", "Frank Lloyd Wright loved challenges. Whether it was designing for a complicated site or using materials in new ways, he was often his most creative when encountering new horizons." (5). Perhaps one of the reasons that Wright loved the state of Arizona so much was because of the challenges that building in the middle of the dessert might bring, and this is an idea that was also incorporated into his teachings at the different institutions that he taught at and at his very own at Taliesin West and East. Nature is probably one of the most challenging factors for any architect, engineer and contractor, since it is needless to state that there are an infinity amount of occasions when nature is able to impede us to work through it for the preservation of our natural resources. Well, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the first ones to actually ask himself, what would exactly happen if we integrate pure stone with cacti, or steel and our surrounding plants without affecting their growth nor their future contribution to Earth? The answer is in almost every structure that he put his pen on, and organic architecture is still a concept that we apply on the most useful compositions of today's architectural society. 

Organic architecture could almost be considered as the basics of any project, as long as the architect's process is able to adapt to any type of surroundings around the territory where the construction will be performed. The main objective is to admire it all as a whole, and to not create obvious statements through this last relationship. We want to solidify architecture and nature, instead of presenting a sense of independence between them. 

The Serrano Residence by Octavio and Diego Serrano is one of the closest examples that we currently have in our portfolio to represent our ideologies on organic architecture.