The Franks

The video Prairie Style discussed the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He was the leader in the prairie style. The style was the product of the Midwest, which he lived. The style reflects time, place, and landscape. He believed in wide-open interiors with the fireplace being the center of the living quarters. Wright creates horizontal bands with the material, one band of brick or stone, then windows, and tops it off with a roof. The prairie houses seem to grow out of land. 

The Tomek House was created for harmony between client and architecture. The door was not put symmetrically on the house, Wright wanted to create a unique way to enter the house. The house was built with the sun in mind, everywhere inside has an unrestricted vista. The video Frank Gehry: Architecture as Art discusses his thought behind his architecture. As he works, things evolve and change because of how he feels. Gehry designs buildings to create an emotional response; he wants his designs to connect with people and their lives. He was influenced by Pop art and Japanese architecture. He believed buildings evolve over time; it is not a pure artwork, the function of the building changes. The characteristics of Frank Gehry’s work are decomposing forms, harmony between building and users, natural light, experimentation of materials, and his concern between the building and location. Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is an architectural symbol of the millennium. 

The videos are helpfully with relating to the reading because they discuss more in depth about different examples of architecture. Hearing the opinions of others and how them architects influenced other people, gave me more of a chance to actual see it and discover it. Since we had our choice in what videos to watch gave me a chance to enjoy the architecture I am interested in. By watching the videos, it gives me more emotion to the architecture than reading about it. I enjoy architecture so learning more gives me greater appreciation to the people who create it. They don’t just design the exterior; they design the interior, also. I chose Prairie Style because I enjoy Frank Lloyd Wright. I like how he creates his houses to look lower to the ground than they really are by playing with your eye. His windows I love with the lines and shapes that are very organic so they blend with the exterior landscape. I chose Frank Gehry: Architecture as Art because I enjoy how he thinks out of the box. The way he makes his buildings have movement and your eye just follows. I didn’t know much about him until I watched the video. I like how he puts his whole heart into his designs and gets so emotional about it.