Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater Eco Home Unites Architecture and Nature

Overview of Fallingwater

The Fallingwater is an incredible house merged with nature that was designed by world-renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. The house served as a private residence and a weekend home for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family. The home design is one of Frank's most acclaimed designs that integrate his philosophy of nature and architecture combined. It was also one of the most interesting buildings of the time and continues to be an architectural marvel. Located in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, the home still stands and is a tourist attraction that people can take tours of and admire. The natural beauty of the Bear Run Nature Reserve is still kept perfectly intact, and it shows what a great understanding and appreciation Frank had for nature. The home is set on top of water and rock formations that were created by a continental shift 300 million years ago creating the Bear Run landscape which consists of many layers of sandstone which is now called Pottsville sandstone. Also included are shale and limestone. The water eroded the limestone and shale which created the stream that is called Bear Run, and that stream also creates waterfalls including the one that the home is almost miraculously built upon.

Geological Features and Historical Context

The Bear Run stream joins up with the Youghiogheny River before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico and also merging with the Monongahela River, Allegheny River and the Ohio River which later joins the Mississippi River. You'll notice that the rock formations create a set of steps that the waterfall cascades over and that the house sits upon. A home like this would be a feat to design even today which is why it's so impressive that it was designed so beautifully almost a century ago. Frank was also sure to preserve the plant life and forest surrounding the Fallingwater which is just as stunning now as it was back when the house was first built almost a century ago. Edgar Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright formed a great friendship and a business relationship while working on this house. They both loved to challenge ideas of conventional architecture and the boundaries of what that held. Edgar wanted his home to not just be in nature, but to be a part of nature, and his son Edgar Jr knew of Frank from studying his work, so he introduced his father to Frank's work too.

Organic Architecture and Public Accessibility

This home is the epitome of Frank's organic architecture as the home sits proudly on the waterfall as if the home itself is part of the rock formations. Even the interior lends itself to its natural setting with stone floors and corner windows that make it appear as if the home continues out into the surrounding forest. It creates continuity with its natural surroundings making it appear to be one with nature. Around 1952 the Fallingwater became accessible to the public and continued to be a public resource. When it first opened for public tours in 1964, they saw 29,792 visitors in the first season. Even today visitors are more than 180,000, and there have been over 5.7 million people who have visited the home over the years. The site is well maintained and preserved with daily maintenance and housekeeping so that it can last for future generations to see. Frank Lloyd Wright's career lasted over 70 years which is impressive, but his works still live on thanks to the preservation of buildings like this one. This is a perfect example that anything can be possible in architecture and home design and that all it takes sometimes is some good imagination and the will to see it all through.