Wright and Le Corbusier

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Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.
Wright designed according to his desire to place the residents close to the natural surroundings. He felt that a house should be a natural extension of its surroundings and not just positioned on a site. Wright designed his buildings so its layouts and features could merge with its surroundings rather than merely resembling a rectangular box on a lot. Wright stated, “A building should appear to grow easily from its site and be shaped to harmonize with its surroundings.” His main objective was to demonstrate how people can be harmonious with nature. He called this Organic Architecture. Wright felt the relationship between the site and the building, and the needs of the client where very important. In contrast to Wright, Le Corbusier displayed industrialization rather than nature. ...

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...erior images show that both buildings highlight the horizontal, are free of ornamentation, and define volume rather than mass. . The architectural style of both Wright and Le Corbusier was to be achieved through standardization, which meant the separation of building elements into independent systems. These included the tendency to create spaces that flow together, rather than being compartmentalized to a particular function. Interior images indicate that both buildings have eroded the box for a space that flows without partitions between them. Additionally they shared attributes include a trend toward simplification of form, the elimination of unnecessary and decorative elements, and a marriage of form and function.

Works Cited

See Curtis, p. 257
See Le Corbusier, pp. 4, 6, 164.
Sarah Jones, Building Utopia: Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, 2008

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