Fallingwater House at Pennsylvania
“Widely considered Frank Llyod Wright’s greatest masterpiece, Fallingwater hangs over a waterfall and its cantilevered design echoes its surroundings. The house was built near the community of Ohiopyle for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. in 1932. It is now open to the public.”
-Quote from PENNSYLAVANIA by Whitecap Books Ltd pg 52
This is a spectacular place with waterfall, greens, forests, clean air…amazing. I really like this. Imagine this was built in 1932 and yet now in 2011 it is still timeless and the architecture is still very nice and modern looking. I stayed in a Temple in Thailand for a month. Our house was built over a river. So you hear the sound of calming water 24 hours a day. Very soothing. I really loved staying in that temple so much. This house reminds of that place. Tsem Rinpoche
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Wow… living a house with waterfall, greens, forests, clean air is everyone wish. Waterfalls are wonders of nature that humans have adored since ancient times. The sight, sound, and feel of waterfall have a positive impart on our mind. The beauty of waterfalls everywhere has been immense sources of inspiration for many such as thinkers, writers, philosophers, travel lovers and so forth. Sitting beside a waterfall and listening to the sound of waterfalls makes us happy.
Well truly a masterpiece by Frank Lloyd Wright in terms of architecture and this designed Fallingwater has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. He believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, and he truly appreciate their abundant beauty. Great work Frank Lloyd Wright.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Wow… Completed in 1939?
Really?
So modern looking and spectacular!
I do have the same thought, Rinpoche. To be able to live here and dedicate oneself to Dharma practice. Although I do not have any experience living in solitude before, but staying at this house definitely a plus point for me. Fingers crossed! By the way, just recently I saw Venerable Zawa Rinpoche has posted a nice place in US ( in the state of Arizona) too, quite secluded in a way and surrounded by mountains. I hope when Rinpoche returned, Rinpoche will have such a wonderful place for retreat too.
P/s: A little search on this, I found that this house designed in 1935 by renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) for the Kaufmann family. Ever since then, it has turned into a museum and managed by a group of people with a website dedicated to it, @fallingwater.org.
This is great, I love seeing new places and discovering the world. I believe that we must go to unique places out of our comfort zones. The imagination and creativity behind these places are amazing and wonderful.
Thank you for the sharing, this is truly a masterpiece in terms of architecture.
Amazing architecture, having a house above the waterfall. Indeed a great place to stay , living in a forest and so close to the nature. A very calming environment which I think many would like this house.
Fallingwater hangs over a waterfall which is of the most spectacular works by the celebrated American architect Frank Llyod Wright. His works have been nominated as World Heritage sites. Internationally renown for pushing the limits in architecture Considered one of Wright’s greatest masterpieces and one of his most recognizable works, He championed organic architecture, or the belief that buildings should live in harmony with the environment. It was connected with nature in a very intimate way
Fallingwater, a home built over a 30-foot waterfall in southwest Pennsylvania, is a National Historic Landmark now. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this amazing master-piece.
This really looks like a very nice place to live in. Simple and peaceful. I think it’s quite good to live in the forest where we can avoid the hectic and stressful lifestyle. The mind is able to think and focus better. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this simple and beautiful place to live in. _/\_
This is truly a masterpiece in terms of architecture. I would love to live in a house like this as it was built was so much passion and it was built in the forest, in tune with nature. Frank Loyd Wright is indeed an amazing “artist” and created many architectural masterpieces. Honestly, before this blog post, I have only heard about Frank Loyd Wright via a Simpson’s episode about Apu leaving the Kwik-E-Mart.
Beautiful architecture, serene, fresh, soothing & refreshing (sounds of water cascading beneath), natural. A great home to relax, unwind, contemplate….
Just to share that Angelina Jolie gave a birthday surprise gift for Brad Pitt last December by taking him to ‘experience’ the Fallingwater House. It is also Brad Pitt’s favourite house. There is a nice picture of the couple against the house in winter snow.
From http://www.paconserve.org/brad-angelina.htm –
Angelina Jolie Takes Brad Pitt to Fallingwater
for His Birthday
Just before 3 p.m. on December 7, Brad Pitt got his birthday gift from Angelina Jolie as the most famous couple in the world arrived in snowy Mill Run, Pa to tour Fallingwater.
“He’s so hard to buy for,” Jolie told Fallingwater’s staff members during their visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterwork.
“Brad said he had wanted to experience Fallingwater ever since he took an architectural history course in college,” Fallingwater’s Curator of Education Cara Armstrong said. “He and I talked quite a bit about design and art. He was incredibly well informed about architecture.”
The couple took a two-hour private focused tour of Fallingwater, led by Armstrong, who described the couple as “very gracious and very engaged in the house. As we say in the midwest, you could tell their mothers raised them right.”
“Brad said he had a visual sense of Fallingwater but experiencing it in person, hearing the sound of the waterfall cascading under the house and smelling the wood from the fireplace, was better than anything he could have imagined,” Armstrong said. During their visit, both Pitt and Jolie commented on the beauty of the winter landscape of the Laurel Highlands, where Fallingwater is located.
I have always loved this house from Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright is one of my favourite Architects of all time. I collect many of his books because I love looking at his houses, or houses in general.
Wright always said that, “Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
My other favourite quote from Wright, “Freedom is from within.”
Wright had always believed that architects should be poets and he was also philosophical.
Other than America, Wright’s architectural works can also be seen in Japan. Although many of the buildings are dwindling now. Wright had a great fascination with Japan.
Japan is the only nation outside of America in which Wright lived and worked, but his imprint there has been endangered by the loss of those with firsthand knowledge, and the casual destruction of historic buildings, documents and artifacts. In 2005, marking the centenary of Wright’s first visit to Japan in 1905, the nonprofit Wrightian Architectural Archives Japan (WAAJ) was founded to ensure that his legacy of innovative, organic design would live on.
A true master piece indeed, from a master of architecture.
Music has Bach, Mozart or Verdi; architecture has Frank Lloyd Wright.
It is said the man had a huge ego, but every single one of his project was about the project, not about his ego. I think he just knew what to do and used his personality, charisma and sometimes power to get his vision done without compromise. He did what had to be done and bruised a few egos on the way, so who had an ego problem there?? Uuuuhhh…..
Frank Lloyd Wright was an out-cast most his life, not accepted by the mainstream of architects, not recognized even. He transformed his office into a school (TALIESIN) where students would move in and live into the community, part of the curriculum of studying architecture was cleaning duties, cooking duties, and also music and singing. Those that graduated from this school found it sometimes hard to find a job, because most of the “established” architects dis-regarded FLW’s work and methods and tried to under-mine his work.
Regardless of the views from the “intelligentsia”, FLW was revered by numerous architects that would follow his footsteps and become famous on their own ground, such as Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler or John Lautner.
FLW published the drawings of many of his houses and they became the blue-prints for an incalculable number of houses throughout the USA. When we look at his early work we find nothing remarkable about it, because it was copied widely 20, 30 years later and even today! And so we got used to it. But some of the owners of his early houses had to face bad-mouth comments from their neighbors, some even moved out of houses that have now become landmarks…
This house was built as a week-end house for the parents of one of his students, and it was FLW would decided to install it ON the waterfall, and created something rather un-expected from the client. The client loved it nevertheless and never parted from it until it became a place for all to visit.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this master-piece with us!