The architectural execution of a city or town is critical to its economic, social and cultural interaction. The ideal urban setting needs to be socially inclusive and cohesive to promote resilient and sustainable living. Contextually, when deliberating about Architecture in the United States, it is inevitable to mention Frank Lloyd Wright. Arguably, Frank Lloyd Wright was the best and most revered architect in the 20th century. His architectural career was characterized by developing more than 1000 designs and executing approximately half of them. This essay outlines a comprehensive analysis of how esteemed architectures define the frontiers of their field.
Frank Wright was strongly against city development, where he would constantly criticize the design for being cramped and crowded. Also, another re-known architecture Frank Gehry compliments this observation by stating, “Life is chaotic, dangerous and surprising. Buildings should reflect that.” (Rada 32). This is because city development was contrary to his design philosophy of organic architecture. The organic architecture philosophy utilized the natural environment for urban development, which he believed emphasized harmony, spirituality and geometric simplicity, just like typical Japanese art (Konovalova 16). Notably, his architectural work was versatile, spanning from hotels, museums, and places of worship. Some of his celebrated designs include; Usonian houses, prairie houses, Taliesin west, Tokyo imperial hotel, falling water, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (Bystrova 112). Besides being an architect and designer, Wright was also a writer and educator. This essay focuses on two of his pieces of work, that are against modern architectural design centered around city development (Wright 101-162). According to Wright, the ideal world design needs to utilize nature by integrating beauty and functionality. This is a sharp contrast to conventional architectural planning and execution.
Throughout his profession, Frank Wright was against overcrowding in cities. Contrarily, he believed sub-urban community networks could be developed in the site and vicinity of the surrounding environment and this could be the basis of the cultural identity (Moorabbin 81-96). He offset the sub-urban planning designs in the early 20th century by revolutionizing the lot layout. The lot layout was designed in a way that it divided houses into four small-sized square blocks that are covered all around by a road network. This concept was called the quadruple block plan, intended to maximize yard space without compromising privacy.
Later on, Frank Wright reinforced his quadruple block plan to the Broadacre city concept. Broadacre City is a suburban development concept that features new designs and refinements of already existing designs. The concept was to represent a 4 square mile of the community network; however, it was clearly illustrated by a 12 by 12-foot model that was presented during the Industrial Arts Exposition in the Rockefeller center.
Design
The broadacre city took a futuristic design since Wright had integrated innovative features that were way out of its time. Some of the building designs used in the model had never been seen or even imagined to be developed. Ideally, Wright wanted the community to be a socio-political scene; thereby, he intended to allocate at least an acre to each household of at least five individuals. This is because he had estimated the city’s population density to be 2.5 people per acre (Hwang 90-99). The land allocation was to come from the federal land reserves. Contrary to his anti-modern architecture, Wright was for the idea that the houses constructed could use products of modern architecture such as steel and glass. This is because they offer strong foundations and enable the residents to connect with nature which is the sole objective of organic architecture. However, the houses ought to portray their uniqueness since the landscape differs from place to place.
Additionally, the city had planned to have state-of-the-art airfields and roads to help curb traffic, a persistent issue. The model gave detailed landscaping and design of the transport network linking major towns. According to the concept, the road networks comprised a superhighway with at least six lanes, an arterial highway with outer lanes designed for trucks and tributary roads with at least three lanes. The pedestrian was confined to one-acre allocations of the population.
Seemingly, other essential amenities such as schools, hospitals, hotels, farm units, roadside markets, recreational centers, and industrial areas were incorporated into the plan. The hotels will be minimal and take cottage-like designs. However, food trucks will be advised for easier accessibility to the city’s people. Furthermore, the administrative functions were to be catered for by a communal centre. These amenities were designed to be easily accessible by road or air; they were situated within a radius of 150 miles. Moreover, the city was to be fitted with gas stations which were projected to grow into malls, restaurants, and distribution centers.
The broadacre concept planned on reinventing other urban elements to fit in their idealized features. The educational sector was one of the fields that Wright wanted to modify. He advocated for one university per county with small groups of students and no professors. Alternatively, the institution will be run by three elected officials, one elected by a scientist and the other two are elected by a philosopher and an artist. Comparatively, the other fields will be focused on industry-sponsored learning centres.
Motivation
The principle phenomena leading to the broadacre concept was the idea of decentralization. Frank Wright was an ardent believer that cities should be decentralized in functions. This is attributed to how the typical cities faced many problems such as bureaucracy, profit-centered landlords, and expensive goods (Rada 32). Additionally, the idea of democracy and organic architecture played a vital role in the experimental inception of the broadacre city. Therefore, all residential areas should have an extension of the open countryside and harmonize with the naturally existing landscape. According to Wright, democracy is not just fixated on a government; however, that should also be incorporated into society.
Freedom
According to Frank Wright’s utopian concept, democracy was interrelated with the freedom he believed the conventional cities lacked. He envisioned that through conceptualizing a scarcely populated city, the occupants could freely move and resultantly have access to their democratic values as citizens (Roulier 105-132). Symbolically, the roads and other transport networks represented freedom, while the automobile signified democracy.
Affordability
Frank Wright was extremely displeased with the landlord profiting from high renting rates. Therefore, through organic architecture, the construction costs would significantly drop and consequentially lower the rent prices (Watson 1006-1029). Contextually, Wright idealizes a community inclusive of all social classes; therefore, middle and lower classes do not feel left out.
Individualism
Frank wright believed that another way to a democratic lifestyle is through individual development. This is because democracy begins with adherence to the regulations in small group settings before scaling to the community. Ideally, after the independence of America, individualism is regarded as a win for democracy (Galbraith 47). Therefore, the broadacre city concept implements individualism by cutting off intermediaries between producers and consumers.
Equal Access to Urban Amenities
Freedom and democracy were at the core of the development of the broadacre concept. Therefore, it was essential for Frank Wright to ensure that justice and equality were considered in distributing services such as medical care and access to amenities. The equality is evident from the even distribution of one-acre land to all households. Additionally, the suggestion of one university per state depicts evidence of even distribution. Also, all other social amenities, such as hospitals, were strategically designed to satisfy everyone’s needs equally.
Rent
As mentioned earlier, Frank Wright was strongly against the payment of rent since he viewed it as high-level extortion. He was able to counter this menace by land issues to each household, who would later construct their desired residential area. Consequentially, land ownership eradicates the need for employment. Therefore, one has a range of professions he can choose to specialize in. With the residents of the city doing jobs they are passionate about coupled with minimal responsibilities creates financial stability for the people of the community.
Mobility
The design of the broadacre city will significantly impact the freedom of movement and interaction of the residents, which complements Wright’s philosophy of freedom and democracy. The mobility features are evident from exemplary road networks and airfields that were proposed.
The fate of the concept
Upon Frank Wright’s death in 1959, that was the end of implementing the broadacre concept. However, his student formed a partnership with other individuals and then bought 95 acres of land in New York to develop a cooperative community (Bauman et al. 96-109). Unfortunately, mortgage troubles prevent the group from actualizing the concept. Seemingly, there were multiple modifications of the concept but done on a small scale. For instance, many Usonian homes in California and New York borrowed from the same concept. Also, Levittown used the same idea for the mass production of homes at an affordable rate.
Conclusion
Conventionally, architecture is centered around designing and planning structures focusing on aesthetics and functionality. However, eminent architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright consider their design an art that has a social, cultural and economic impact on the surrounding communities. All architects had guiding philosophies that provided the basis for their professional work. Frank Wright’s architectural designs emphasized organic architecture, decentralized integration and democracy. These philosophies are accurately fitted in his suburban development concept called Broadacre City. The broadacre concept was intended to reduce overcrowding and offer democracy and freedom to its occupants. Collectively, both philosophies of architecture are contrary to modern architectural designs.
Works Cited
Bauman, Whitney A., Kevin J. O’Brien, and Richard Bohannon. “The dangers of building without ambiguity: Spirituality and utopianism in Frank Lloyd Wright.” Environmental Ethics and Uncertainty. Routledge, 2019. 96-109.
Bystrova, T. Y. “Concept of Organic Architecture in the Second Half of the XXth Century in the Context of Sustainable Development.” IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Vol. 481. No. 1. IOP Publishing, 2019: 113.
Galbraith, Nora. “Frank Lloyd Wright in the South: a Photographic Essay.” 2017. 47.
Hwang, Yong-Woon. “A Study on the Analysis of Design Characteristic of Works of Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona State.” Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal 27.3 (2018): 90-99.
Konovalova, Nina. “Organic Architecture of Japan.” The 2nd International Conference on Architecture: Heritage, Traditions and Innovations (AHTI 2020). Atlantis Press, 2020: 46.
Moorabbin, Hoshiar. “Architectural identity in an era of change.” Developing Country Studies 2.10 (2012): 81-96.
Rada, Jan. “American Modernist and Postmodernist Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.” 2018: 32.
Roulier, Scott M. “Democracy and Individuality: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacres and the Burbs.” Shaping American Democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018. 105-132.
The City By: Frank Lloyd Wright
The Skyscraper By: Frank Lloyd Wright
Watson, Joseph M. “The Suburbanity of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City.” Journal of Urban History 45.5 (2019): 1006-1029.
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