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Frank Lloyd Wright is the greatest
ever American architect.
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Buildings like the
Guggenheim Museum,
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the Johnson Wax building,
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00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,840
and Fallingwater are masterpieces
that redefined what was possible
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00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,480
and became famous the world over.
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But I think the true nature of
Frank Lloyd Wright's genius
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has become lost, buried under tales
of his tempestuous life,
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or made into the stuff of
coffee table books.
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I'm Jonathan Adams,
an architect from Wales,
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and my 30-year career has taken me
all over the world.
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Throughout it all,
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Frank Lloyd Wright has been
a constant touchstone.
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Now, I'm going to travel
across America
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to get to know Frank Lloyd Wright's
greatest buildings for myself.
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I want to understand how they were
conceived, how they work,
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and how they make us feel.
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Most of all, I want to explore
the underlying philosophy
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that all these buildings share.
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Frank Lloyd Wright called it
organic architecture.
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And today, 150 years after
his birth,
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I think it puts him back
at the heart
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of modern architectural thinking.
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In a career that spanned
seven decades,
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Frank Lloyd Wright built
over 500 buildings.
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And the one he's best known
for is his final one -
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the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
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The Guggenheim isn't just something
that's beautiful to look at.
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All his life, Frank Lloyd Wright
strove to create buildings
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that expressed an idea
of how we should live
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and understand the world.
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I'd like to have
a free architecture.
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I'd like to have architecture that
belonged where you see it standing,
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and was a grace to the landscape
instead of a disgrace.
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And the letters we received
from our clients
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tell us how those buildings
we built for them
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have changed the character
of their whole land,
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and their whole existence
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is different now than it was before.
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Wright's own life was turbulent,
involving financial ruin,
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adultery, and tragedy.
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Through it all, he stuck to a
personal creed based on hard work,
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a love of nature, and a fierce
independence of thought.
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They sound like thoroughly
American ideals.
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But I think to understand
what really shaped Wright's ideas
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and the man himself,
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you have to begin the story
far away from America,
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and closer to where I come from.
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Frank Lloyd Wright's Welsh roots
are no secret.
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He was proud of them
and spoke of them all his life.
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His mother, Anna Lloyd Jones,
was born in 1838
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near Llandissilio in West Wales.
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Their family was large and devout,
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and at their chapel, they practised
a radical brand of Christianity
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known as Unitarianism.
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All his life, Frank Lloyd Wright
would draw inspiration
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from this freethinking
spiritual inheritance.
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Unitarianists see God
in anything and in all things.
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We often talk of the wonder, the
awesomeness, the magnificence of...
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of nature, and of the world that
we're all a part of.
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We've always placed a huge emphasis
on the individual's freedom
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to choose and to pick and to decide
for themselves
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where their understanding of God
and of human nature lie.
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Unitarianism fit in
with the people here,
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the people who were everyday,
hard-working, low-paid people
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looking for that freedom
and for that spirit of liberalism.
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It might have been the search
for religious freedom
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that took Anna's family
away from Wales.
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In 1844, the Lloyd Jones clan -
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parents, children, aunts,
and uncles -
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left home, bound for a new,
freer life...
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in the new world.
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The family sailed to New York
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and then, with pioneer spirit,
set off westward to find a new home.
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What they were looking for
was something familiar,
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something like the land they knew
and understood.
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Finally, they came upon
their new Wales.
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Wooded, gently sloping land
near Spring Green, Wisconsin.
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To Frank Lloyd Wright,
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this place would become
a lifelong spiritual touchstone,
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known simply as The Valley.
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The valley that they chose
to live in
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became so identified with them
and their purpose
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and their way of living
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that some people called it the
Valley of the God Almighty Joneses.
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They didn't really want
to become Americans, you know?
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They wanted to be Welsh...
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..on American soil.
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It was into this world that
in 1867 Frank Lloyd Wright was born.
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It was here, too,
that his values were shaped.
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Throughout his childhood,
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Frank would spend his summers
here in the valley,
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labouring on the farm,
living a rural life,
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and hearing the Welsh language
of his aunts and uncles.
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For the rest of his days,
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he would look back on those summers
as a kind of paradise.
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Frank's mother encouraged
his early ambitions to build.
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After studying engineering
at a local college,
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he left home to seek
an architectural apprenticeship.
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As luck would have it,
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the nearest city was one of
the most exciting places
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in the entire world
for an aspiring young architect.
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Chicago.
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New styles of building
were being created here...
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including the skyscraper.
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Before long, Wright's youthful
energy and talent landed him a job
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with the city's leading architect.
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And it was in Chicago, too,
that he found his first love.
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Catherine Tobin, known as Kitty,
was just 16 when they met.
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00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,520
Within two years, they were married,
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and had a child of their own
on the way.
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00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,000
Frank Lloyd Wright was a young man
in a hurry.
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Borrowing money from his boss,
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he bought a plot of land here in
the respectable suburb of Oak Park.
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The place where, it was said,
the saloons ended
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and the steeples began.
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And it was here that he first built
a home for himself.
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It might be difficult for anyone
looking at this today
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to see it as anything
other than a slightly quirky
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00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,560
gable-fronted suburban house.
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It's only when you put it alongside
all of the other houses
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00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,000
of the same period, here or
anywhere else in the Western world,
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that you realise
just how strange it is.
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00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:05,840
Take this massive symmetry.
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It's highly classical, but stylised.
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You can see the faint outlines
of the triangle pediment
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of a Greek temple, with the two bays
at the bottom
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instead of columns
supporting the weight.
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It's classical discipline
applied to a small cottage.
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The upper part of the house conveys
a huge sense of weight and sanctity.
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So you might expect the inside
to be pokey and dark.
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But what you actually find
is the opposite.
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The rooms all flow,
one into another.
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It must have been a huge surprise
to people back in the 1880s.
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This is open-plan before the idea
of open-plan really existed.
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Perhaps this is where it began.
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The free flow of Wright's design
reflects an idea of family life,
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learned in the Unitarian value
of his childhood -
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honest, equal, and communal.
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00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,680
He even inscribed these values above
the hearth, clear for all to see.
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00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,920
In its open spaces
and its open spirit,
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00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,840
Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park home
was his first step
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towards a new kind of architecture.
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Over the next few years,
Wright's career took off.
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His house attracted the attention
of curious neighbours,
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and commissions flowed in.
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00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,920
He would eventually design
over 50 houses for local clients.
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00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,440
Many, like his own, subtle
experiments with traditional forms.
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By now, Frank and Kitty
had six children.
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Wright was in his late 30s, and
more than ready for his big break.
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But when that came,
it was a bolt from the blue.
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Every Sunday, Frank Lloyd Wright
and his young family
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would walk a half-mile to worship
at the local Unitarian church.
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It wasn't the kind of building
that he really approved of.
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It was vaguely Gothic
with a pretentious spire.
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And then, one night in 1905,
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it was struck by lightning
and it burned to the ground.
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Never slow to see his chance,
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Wright proposed a new building
for the site.
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It was unlike anything
seen before in America.
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00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:08,520
Wright's plans for the new building
cast aside all traditional styles,
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as he seized the chance
to express his own spiritual
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and architectural beliefs.
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Gone would be ornament,
arches and the showy spire.
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What emerged instead
was Unity Temple,
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the world's first
truly modern building.
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Few people even today
would guess that this is a church.
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The building doesn't even have
an obvious way in.
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The very material the Unity Temple
is constructed from
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seems unsuitable
for a place of worship.
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These walls and every detail
of the exterior
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are made from solid, unadorned,
reinforced concrete.
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Wright's justification was that
it was cheap -
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a utilitarian material used for
low-grade engineering structures.
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The impoverished church committee
was persuaded to go along.
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00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,360
But Wright's real reason
for using concrete
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was that it was a new and exciting
technology with unlimited potential.
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It put Frank Lloyd Wright
just where he wanted to be -
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00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,360
on his own at the frontier
of architecture.
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If the exterior of Unity Temple
expressed an idea of the divine,
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it was in austere geometric forms.
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00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,440
But the space that those forms
created on the inside
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was among Frank Lloyd Wright's
most beautiful
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and spiritually uplifting rooms.
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The sanctuary of Unity Temple
is a perfect square.
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Golden light streams in
through coloured glass
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in the coffered ceiling...
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while ornament and structure
combine to unite the whole.
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This building is unique.
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It is hard to figure out
how to even get into the sanctuary.
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And when you find it, it just
opens up and it's a gem of a space.
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I love the intimacy,
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this capacity to worship
while in community with one another,
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being able to see one another.
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It's the most important part
of the building for the most of us.
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Wright based the distinctive
interior layout of Unity Temple
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closely on the Lloyd Jones family
chapel back in Wales.
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00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,280
But his new building's
overall radicalism
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was still too much for some
in its congregation.
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00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,200
It's said that they prayed for ivy,
and were happy when ivy came.
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00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,880
All the while that Unity Temple
was taking shape,
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00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:45,400
Frank Lloyd Wright was busy
designing houses.
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By now, he had his own
architectural practice,
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00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,600
and his designs had become
far more daring.
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Pointed roofs had started
to flatten out, as windows widened.
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00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:02,840
Cellars and attics vanished,
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00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,400
and houses spread out,
low to the ground.
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00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,680
Wright was inspired
by the vast open spaces
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that stretched away beyond Chicago.
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00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,400
The buildings even became known
as prairie houses.
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00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:24,920
He brought this early vision
to perfection with the Robie House,
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a gorgeous steamship of a building
with windows like prows.
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It sailed through
an open green landscape,
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00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,000
a vessel of the Midwest prairie.
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00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,720
The Robie House looked as modern
and powerful
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00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,600
as the Great Lakes steamers
that docked in Chicago.
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00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,720
It was an impressive feat
of engineering.
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00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,680
The huge projecting roof was
Wright's most daring to date.
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00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,400
Inside, too, Wright
used this building to experiment,
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00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:08,040
creating a sense of drama
around the simple act of entering.
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00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,080
You come into the Robie House
through the front door,
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00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:14,760
which is actually at the back,
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00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,360
and you find yourself
in this low, dark lobby,
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00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:22,120
which pushes you towards
this flight of stairs.
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00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:25,880
And as you climb the stairs, you get
glimpses of light at the top,
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which lead you upwards
and build a sense of anticipation.
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00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:30,960
But then, you're forced to turn.
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00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,840
And you turn again, and then
there's another few steps
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00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:41,160
which lead you up,
and one final turn...
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00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,960
and then you're released
into this fantastic wide room,
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00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,720
surrounded by windows
and bathed with natural light.
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00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,400
Wright liked to call
conventional houses boxes,
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00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,800
and their rooms boxes within boxes.
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00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,960
In the unlimited free flow
of the Robie House,
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00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,520
to use his own phrase,
he destroys the box.
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00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,320
One final thing about the
Robie House that's true
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00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,720
of almost all of Wright's houses -
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00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,720
if you commissioned one,
you didn't just get the building,
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00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,400
you got the furniture too,
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00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,400
which Wright designed,
along with a list of dos and don'ts.
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00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:33,840
Curtains and blinds were out,
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00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,120
as were paintings on the wall
and ornaments.
242
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:39,760
Wright had astonishing self-belief,
243
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,320
almost to the point
of being overbearing.
244
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,240
He called interior decorators
inferior desecrators.
245
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,080
It wasn't unusual for former
clients to arrive home
246
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,320
to find that Wright had made
an unannounced visit
247
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,160
and rearranged all their furniture.
248
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,200
In the case of the Robie House,
249
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,640
he even designed a dress
for Mrs Robie to wear here.
250
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,600
Frank Lloyd Wright,
now in his early 40s,
251
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,760
was riding high
and creating a real stir.
252
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,560
But increasingly he was chafing
against conventional family life
253
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,520
in a polite suburb.
254
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,200
He himself started to see
255
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:26,560
that the world was a lot bigger
than Oak Park,
256
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,600
and at a certain point
he realised he was interested
257
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,560
in looking much further forward.
258
00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,640
How did he become
someone to be reckoned with?
259
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,960
Well, one way to do that
is to dress differently
260
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,200
and to go out more and...
261
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,400
to have girlfriends, I suppose.
262
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:53,080
I think that was the start
of what one might call
263
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,720
almost anti-social behaviour.
264
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,360
Wright's unconventional conduct
crossed a line
265
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:07,880
when he began an affair
with the wife of a client.
266
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:15,080
Mamah Cheney
was a feminist, a freethinker.
267
00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,280
The ideal partner for a radical man,
268
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,320
albeit a mother of two.
269
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,240
When their relationship
was discovered,
270
00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:26,520
Wright took decisive action.
271
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,760
Closing down his studio,
272
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,160
he abandoned his family, and
together with Mamah fled to Europe.
273
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,120
When the couple
returned a year later,
274
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,320
it was to set up home together.
275
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,080
Wright knew they wouldn't
be welcome in Oak Park,
276
00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,360
so he began building a new house
on land owned by his mother.
277
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,960
It was in the one place that for him
represented safety,
278
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,680
community and integrity.
279
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,560
The valley of his childhood.
280
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,400
He even gave his new house
a centuries-old Welsh name...
281
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,040
Taliesin.
282
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:33,760
Taliesin sits on the brow of a hill.
283
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,680
As Wright liked to point out,
284
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,200
its Welsh name actually means
"shining brow."
285
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,840
It's been compared to
an Italian villa
286
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,320
or even to a mediaeval
Welsh farmstead.
287
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,160
A fortified state built at a time
when he needed to feel secure.
288
00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:00,080
But Taliesin is very
much more besides.
289
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,760
More than any other building,
it embodies Wright's ideal
290
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,720
of how architecture
and nature should coexist.
291
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,600
I said that Taliesin sits on a hill.
292
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,600
Frank Lloyd Wright would have
taken pleasure in correcting me.
293
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,440
He preferred to say that it was of
the hill, that it graces the hill,
294
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,800
that the hill and the house
are improved by each other
295
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,280
so that they become a unity.
296
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,320
Taliesin I learned a lot from.
297
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:36,360
The way that he marries
his buildings with the landscape
298
00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:38,840
and the way...their juxtaposition
with each other
299
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,880
and the way that spaces flow
through them.
300
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:45,320
It sort of
comes out of the landscape.
301
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,400
It's constant and it's green hills
and trees and grass and such.
302
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,920
I remember being
unbelievably impressed.
303
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,600
Wright summed up the philosophy
that lay behind Taliesin
304
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,320
in a simple phrase -
305
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:03,720
organic architecture.
306
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:07,240
It's a memorable expression,
307
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,000
but just what is it
that makes a building organic?
308
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,640
Well, here he used local materials.
309
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,000
Stone, sand and timber
sourced from nearby.
310
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,720
What's more, the same materials
are used inside and outside,
311
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,360
so that interior and exterior
flow together.
312
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,640
Windows are low and linear,
313
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,920
so that when you are seated inside,
314
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,920
you have a continuous view
through tree tops,
315
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,960
as if you're elevated,
floating among them.
316
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:48,760
But it's important to say that
for Wright, organic architecture
317
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,560
didn't just mean
using local materials
318
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,400
and blending a building
into a landscape.
319
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,000
What he meant was that
the philosophy of the building,
320
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,840
what it says about
how we should live, would,
321
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,760
when blended with the character
of the site,
322
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,400
give rise naturally and organically
to its unique form.
323
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:16,080
In this case, a building
that belongs to its hill
324
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,560
and could never be built
anywhere else.
325
00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:29,880
Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney
lived happily at Taliesin,
326
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,000
for all that local newspapers
dubbed their house a love bungalow.
327
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:37,880
Wright was defiant.
328
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,080
Around a building
he carved the Welsh symbol
329
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,240
that represented
his Unitarian family motto,
330
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,760
truth against the world.
331
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,080
But the dream of this new world
wasn't to last.
332
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,920
Taliesin, like almost
all large houses of its time,
333
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,960
was built to be run by servants.
334
00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:13,520
But Wright's liberal principles
meant that here they lived
335
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:19,920
on the main floor with everybody
else, not in some pokey garret.
336
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,760
Treat your servants as your friends,
Wright had written.
337
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:30,400
In 1914, a new servant
was taken on at Taliesin...
338
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,720
Julian Carlton,
a butler and all-round help.
339
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,880
One day in September,
when Frank Lloyd Wright was away,
340
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,480
the unimaginable
happened at Taliesin.
341
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,600
While Mamah and her children
were sitting down to lunch,
342
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,400
Julian Carlton ran amok.
343
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,440
Using petrol,
he set fire to the house.
344
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,760
As its terrified residents fled,
he attacked them with a hatchet.
345
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,160
Seven people died here,
346
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,840
including Mamah Cheney
and her two young children.
347
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,080
Taliesin was all but destroyed.
348
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,400
The seemingly senseless slaughter
made national headlines.
349
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,680
Julian Carlton refused to speak
about what he'd done.
350
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,520
He starved himself to death
in jail two months later.
351
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,560
Mamah Cheney
was buried in the valley,
352
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,840
in sight of the ruins of Taliesin.
353
00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,320
The years after the calamity
were turbulent ones
354
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,280
for Frank Lloyd Wright.
355
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,040
He had gone from the happiest time
in his life
356
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,520
to the time of deepest despair.
357
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,440
He threw himself into
the rebuilding of Taliesin,
358
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,680
but much of the decade
he spent working abroad.
359
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,520
When he returned to America,
it would not be to the Midwest,
360
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:42,360
scene of his previous triumphs
and his greatest tragedy.
361
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,720
Instead, he turned to a new horizon
362
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,040
and an extraordinary new phase
in his work.
363
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:06,520
Wright received five commissions
to build houses in Los Angeles.
364
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,360
The biggest and boldest of them was
designed for a wealthy LA couple,
365
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:12,440
the Ennises.
366
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:29,720
If Taliesin is of the hill, the
Ennis house really is on the hill.
367
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,560
This is a fortress.
368
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:36,520
It's a mysterious interior place
that sits proud in its landscape.
369
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,960
Is it organic?
370
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,200
It's a building
that perfectly suits its city -
371
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,920
the ambition and boldness of LA,
372
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,520
and the bright sun
that shines here all year round.
373
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,040
For Frank Lloyd Wright,
now 57 years old,
374
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,400
the Ennis House
was a creative rebirth.
375
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,320
The design was inspired by the
ancient forms of Mayan temples.
376
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,920
But to build it, Wright devised
a brand-new construction method.
377
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:26,400
The entire house was made out of
patterned concrete blocks.
378
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,160
27,000 of them,
all manufactured on-site.
379
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:32,760
As the building rose,
380
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,400
steel rods were threaded
between them for support.
381
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,120
Wright liked to say that he was
weaving here rather than building.
382
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,240
I think you can see what he meant.
383
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,040
You have the steel rods
running along these joints,
384
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,680
interleaving the warp and weft,
385
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,560
and then the concrete blocks
that form the finish.
386
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,840
He also said he wanted to elevate
an unloved building material,
387
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,600
the humble concrete block,
into something much more beautiful,
388
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:04,600
and he certainly succeeded.
389
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:21,200
Entering the Ennis house feels like
stepping into an adventure.
390
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,440
The forbidding exterior really gives
you no idea what to expect.
391
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,040
Inside, the house is made from
exactly the same concrete blocks
392
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:37,440
as outside.
393
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:43,120
But whereas the exterior
is solid and massive,
394
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:48,320
these columns create a series
of intriguing interlinked spaces.
395
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,920
This really is...
It's an incredible space.
396
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,480
Being inside
this rock-like structure
397
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,080
makes you feel as if
you're in a complex of caves.
398
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,720
It's a really powerful sense
of mystery.
399
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,720
No idea how far it extends
or where you're being taken.
400
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,760
I think that's what
must have made it
401
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:19,640
such an exhilarating place to live.
402
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,000
There's a timelessness and drama
to the Ennis house,
403
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,440
and it's no surprise that
it's proved a favourite
404
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,880
with Hollywood film-makers.
405
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,280
It's been featured in horror films
and thrillers,
406
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,360
and most famously...
407
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,640
..in the seminal 1980s
science-fiction film Blade Runner.
408
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,280
I wanted to see you.
409
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,440
The sheer originality
of Wright's creation
410
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,080
means it can fit easily into
any world of the imagination.
411
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:05,360
It's remarkable, given how instantly
recognisable this building is.
412
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,760
The Ennis house was a triumph
for Frank Lloyd Wright.
413
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,640
But as the 1920s drew to a close,
414
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,000
storm clouds were once again
gathering.
415
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,600
Wright had found a new love.
416
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,960
Olgivanna Milanoff was Montenegrin,
417
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,160
a professional dancer
and some 30 years his junior.
418
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:46,160
Their relationship
became mired in scandal.
419
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,440
Business suffered
and worse was to follow.
420
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:58,720
The Wall Street crash of 1929
decimated American architecture,
421
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:00,560
and for three years
Frank Lloyd Wright
422
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,600
had not a single commission.
423
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,600
Always a spendthrift,
he was finally flat broke.
424
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:12,840
Now in his mid-60s,
425
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:16,360
Wright was coming to be seen
as yesterday's man,
426
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,280
a talent who had faded away.
427
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,480
Some simply assumed
that he was dead.
428
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:41,400
Then, at Taliesin,
something remarkable happened.
429
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:46,600
A plan was hatched that would
define Wright's later life.
430
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,120
It was ingenious but simple.
431
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:53,840
The legendary Frank Lloyd Wright
would offer apprenticeships.
432
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,280
The Taliesin Fellowship was born.
433
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,400
The fellowship did a lot of things
for Wright.
434
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:09,640
It provided him with young men
and women
435
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:15,880
who wanted to learn and who were
very happy to work in the garden,
436
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:17,440
in the farm.
437
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:22,640
They were building,
they were cooking, cleaning,
438
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:27,960
and most of them had the money
to support Wright
439
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,080
in a way that he couldn't
possibly otherwise have managed.
440
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,960
Mr Wright said, "This is not
a school and I am not a teacher.
441
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,960
"You are here to help me
with my work,
442
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,720
"and if you get something
out of that, that's good."
443
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,560
You were really here to help him,
444
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:50,160
but, you know,
when you're helping a master,
445
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:55,000
unless you're just totally immune
to it, your life gets changed.
446
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,720
It's as though there was like
a real magician, not a fake,
447
00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:04,000
and that magician made things happen
just by being there.
448
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,400
But in the huge drafting room
at Taliesin,
449
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:20,200
real architectural work
was in short supply.
450
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,240
All Wright and his apprentices
could do was to draw and dream.
451
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,480
Then at last a commission came in.
452
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,440
The result would relaunch
Frank Lloyd Wright's career
453
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:36,680
and take it to new heights.
454
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:45,120
In 1933, a wealthy
Pittsburgh businessman,
455
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:49,000
Edgar Kaufmann, decided to rebuild
his holiday cottage
456
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,040
deep in the Pennsylvania woodland.
457
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,840
As chance would have it, his son
was an apprentice at Taliesin.
458
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,680
Wright and Kaufmann met
and the deal was done.
459
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,960
The story of the origins
of Kaufmann's new house
460
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:14,880
has the quality of a legend.
461
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,960
Frank Lloyd Wright visited and
surveyed this very challenging site
462
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,680
and he'd had detailed maps
of it drawn up.
463
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,360
But afterwards, months passed
with no sign of progress.
464
00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,680
Then, at Taliesin one day,
the phone rang.
465
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,160
Mr Kaufmann was in the area.
466
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:39,000
Could he call by and look at
Frank's plans for the new building?
467
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,840
Wright sat down in his drafting
room, and in just two hours,
468
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,920
set down an astonishing vision.
469
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,280
What he had designed has been called
470
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,720
the greatest house
of the 20th century.
471
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,560
Fallingwater.
472
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:12,080
80 years on from its construction,
it still takes your breath away,
473
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,320
looking fantastically modern
and yet timeless.
474
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:31,440
This really is a phenomenal sight.
475
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,840
I've been looking at buildings
for a very long time now
476
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,840
and I've not seen anything
quite as thrilling as this.
477
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,600
Fallingwater. That's the one
quintessential building, to me.
478
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,240
It's the way it's situated
in its landscape,
479
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:53,720
the way it occupies a space which is
much bigger than its physical size.
480
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,000
In our minds it's a vast city
of horizontals and verticals.
481
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,440
In that one building,
he created modern architecture.
482
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:16,480
Now the fundamental call that Wright
made was also the most daring.
483
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,120
Edgar Kaufmann had expected that
his new house would be sited
484
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,280
somewhere around here
looking back at the waterfall.
485
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,520
Nobody anticipated that Wright
would site the building
486
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,840
directly on top of the fall itself.
487
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:30,520
And yet that one inspired decision
488
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:34,400
led directly to this extraordinary,
floating,
489
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,800
almost dreamlike building
that we see today.
490
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:45,560
The huge slab of rock from which
the water drops was echoed by Wright
491
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,760
in Fallingwater's extraordinary
projecting terraces.
492
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:56,080
The effect is to harmonise
the building with its setting.
493
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,920
Something conspicuously man-made,
494
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:00,880
yet in sympathy with nature.
495
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,960
Inside too,
every detail of Fallingwater
496
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,920
responds to the natural world
in which it is set.
497
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:17,800
The floor is polished stone
498
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:21,320
and evokes the rippled surface
of the river below
499
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,600
just before it goes over the falls.
500
00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:31,720
The long lines of windows
lift you into the tree tops,
501
00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:36,120
while the vibrant chairs and rugs
are like birds or flowers,
502
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,320
bright splashes of colour
in the deep canopy.
503
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,720
There's a wonderful
feeling of security here,
504
00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:51,200
of being in a shelter in the wild.
505
00:40:56,360 --> 00:41:01,280
There's even room at Fallingwater
for a staircase that leads nowhere.
506
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:07,720
Just down to the water
where you can stand and contemplate.
507
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,560
After barren years, Fallingwater
was Frank Lloyd Wright's
508
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,720
most spectacular success,
509
00:41:30,720 --> 00:41:34,640
and a vindication of his lifelong
architectural philosophy.
510
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,760
No other building of Wright's
more clearly expresses
511
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:43,120
his personal idea of organic design.
512
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,040
The waterfall on its own
was undoubtedly beautiful,
513
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,160
but it's enhanced by this vision
of a building
514
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:50,640
that seems to have grown out
of the rocks and trees
515
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:53,320
while still pushing technology
to its limits.
516
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,200
Very few buildings anywhere
from any time in history
517
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,680
express an uplifting idea
of humanity's place in the world
518
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:03,080
like this one does.
519
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,640
While Fallingwater was being built,
520
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,200
work was progressing rapidly
on a second breakthrough project.
521
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,520
The site could hardly
have been more different.
522
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:43,680
A flat industrial lot on the
outskirts of a dull Wisconsin town.
523
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,880
The commission didn't sound
inspiring, either.
524
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,360
An office building
for a cleaning products company.
525
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,000
But, once again,
Wright worked his magic.
526
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:05,800
When you look at it today,
527
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,200
the Johnson Wax building is straight
out of vintage science fiction.
528
00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:11,000
Even on a grey day like this,
529
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,960
it still fills me with a sense
of joyous possibilities.
530
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:24,920
It's when you step inside, though,
531
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,480
that the genius of the building
fully reveals itself.
532
00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:36,680
Wow, what an awe-inspiring room.
533
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:45,760
The great workroom of the
SC Johnson building
534
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:50,080
has been called the greatest room
in all American architecture.
535
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:53,120
And you can see why.
536
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,600
Wright's answer to the dreary
surroundings was simple enough.
537
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:02,320
No windows.
538
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:07,360
Instead, he created
an artificial interior world
539
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:12,680
that is itself as inspiring
and uplifting as a wild landscape.
540
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:20,360
Delicate light enters through
patterns of Pyrex tubes,
541
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:25,280
while huge otherworldly columns
leap up to the skies.
542
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:39,440
The beauty of Wright's design
was clear for all to see.
543
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,880
But back in the 1930s,
544
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,920
the technical challenge
of turning vision into reality
545
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,760
was making some people
distinctly nervous.
546
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,640
These extraordinary columns
were like nothing
547
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,880
the local building
control officers had ever seen,
548
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:56,120
and so, before construction
could begin,
549
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:59,600
they insisted on testing one
under a full load.
550
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:02,800
Wright, as confident a showman
as he was an engineer,
551
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:06,280
was happy to oblige,
and to invite the press along.
552
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,760
Six tonnes of sandbags
were loaded onto the column.
553
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:16,200
The officials were satisfied.
554
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:21,320
But Frank Lloyd Wright
had a point to prove.
555
00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:24,360
Ten tonnes went on, then 20.
556
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,640
And finally, 60 tonnes.
557
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:33,480
Wright strode up to the column,
kicked it, hit it with his cane.
558
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:38,360
It was only when the wooden props
holding the column upright
559
00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:41,640
were removed
that it finally crashed down.
560
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:47,520
There was so much weight on it
561
00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:51,080
that a sewer 20 feet underground
fractured.
562
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,080
The strength and ingenuity of
Wright's columns
563
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,760
allowed him to create
a vast cathedral-like room.
564
00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:08,200
It embodied his lifelong Unitarian
belief in the sanctity of nature
565
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,240
and the sanctity of work.
566
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,400
It's called the great workroom
for a good reason,
567
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:21,280
it's a great place to work.
568
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:25,280
When you're working here, it's like
working in a glade of trees.
569
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:35,480
With the sun streaming down through
the glass tubing in the ceiling,
570
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:39,840
and creating these wonderful vistas
of a sense of outdoorness.
571
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:41,840
It's an incredible place to work.
572
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:54,360
The twin triumphs of the Johnson Wax
building and Fallingwater
573
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:58,600
ushered in a new period of
creativity and success for Wright.
574
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,280
It's been said that American lives
have no second act.
575
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,720
Well, here was one,
576
00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:10,840
perhaps bigger and bolder
than the first.
577
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:28,320
By now, Frank Lloyd Wright
was 70 years old and life was good.
578
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,080
His home was still Taliesin,
579
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:35,160
now standing proud once more in the
Wisconsin Valley of his childhood.
580
00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:39,640
He was happily married to Olgivanna,
581
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,160
but there was one thing about life
at Taliesin
582
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,320
that she could no longer bear.
583
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:51,200
The long frozen winters when
temperatures plummeted to minus 20
584
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,280
and snow settled for months on end.
585
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:03,520
And so, in 1937, a convoy set off
from Taliesin
586
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,360
in the depths of December.
587
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:11,680
The cars were packed with
provisions, the tools of the trade,
588
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,400
and the entire Taliesin Fellowship.
589
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:20,920
From now on, winter would be spent
at a new home in the sun.
590
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:34,520
The parched Arizona desert
was the most extreme environment
591
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:37,760
that Frank Lloyd Wright
had ever built in.
592
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:41,960
It would test his philosophy of
organic architecture to the limit
593
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:45,440
and result in a kind of building
never seen before.
594
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:05,840
Taliesin West is such a unique
and beautiful place.
595
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,920
It was designed and constructed
over seven years,
596
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:11,520
and it was loosely based
on a diagram
597
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:13,720
that connects the various angles
of the building
598
00:49:13,720 --> 00:49:17,720
to geological features and to
prominent hilltops on the horizon.
599
00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:20,800
It's like a piece of free-form
architectural jazz.
600
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,600
Taliesin West
was constructed entirely
601
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,160
by members of the Fellowship.
602
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:38,000
Building supplies were hard
to come by in the desert,
603
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:42,520
so Wright improvised, turning to
the boulders that littered the site.
604
00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:47,960
I love this material.
605
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:50,480
Wright called it desert masonry.
606
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,000
And I bet that anyone who studied
here during those years
607
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,000
could take me straight
to their section of the wall,
608
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,320
and that they would recognise
their own boulders,
609
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,440
almost as if they were
personal friends.
610
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:07,280
The massive walls of Taliesin West
611
00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:11,320
seemed to grow out of the
desert floor itself.
612
00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:15,160
But on top of them,
Wright placed canvas.
613
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,880
It was so delicate,
it had to be replaced each year,
614
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,080
as if pioneers were making camp.
615
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:30,440
Inside and outside
were never more happily merged.
616
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:32,840
It was a kind of natural
air conditioning,
617
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:36,520
a building that worked with its
environment and not against it.
618
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:40,160
It was actually green architecture
before that phrase even existed.
619
00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:49,840
The open, airy world of
Taliesin West
620
00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:53,640
created a relaxed,
communal way of living and working.
621
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:00,160
Today, it's home
622
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:04,080
to the Frank Lloyd Wright
School of Architecture,
623
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:08,880
a place where students
still work and live together.
624
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,240
The allure of Frank Lloyd Wright
lives on.
625
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:19,080
When you see the level of freedom
and experimentation they had,
626
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:23,800
that it was not concerned
with a particular style
627
00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:25,960
or keeping things as they are,
628
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,160
but actually into challenging and
questioning what architecture means.
629
00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:33,240
And I think that's what we really
can take away
630
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:37,480
from the experience
of being in his legacy.
631
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:02,280
The years passed
632
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:04,920
and Frank Lloyd Wright
approached the age of 90.
633
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:11,040
He was now the grand old man
of American architecture,
634
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:14,080
lauded by his peers
at home and abroad,
635
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:18,240
interviewed on television,
a household name.
636
00:52:18,240 --> 00:52:22,400
I understand that last week,
in all seriousness, you said,
637
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:26,440
"If I had another 15 years to work,
I can rebuild this entire country,
638
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:28,200
"I could change the nation."
639
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:29,880
I did say that...
640
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:31,320
and it's true.
641
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:37,040
He continued to work tirelessly,
designing a Unitarian church...
642
00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:40,120
..a skyscraper...
643
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:42,880
..a synagogue...
644
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:47,040
..and, as ever, houses.
645
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:03,640
But in the self-proclaimed capital
of American architecture,
646
00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:05,640
he had failed to make any mark.
647
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:09,920
With his final masterpiece,
648
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,960
Frank Lloyd Wright
would change all that.
649
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:28,840
There is a wonderful picture of him
six months before he died
650
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:31,240
on top of the Guggenheim Museum,
651
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,520
and he's looking
on top of the world.
652
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,960
I think that's a very apt
metaphor for him.
653
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:42,840
I think Frank was having
a lot of fun saying,
654
00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:46,640
"Here it is, take it or leave it,"
you know?
655
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,560
"I'm the boss here,
this is what I'm giving you."
656
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:56,680
The evolution of the Guggenheim
is fascinating,
657
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:59,920
and it's a great illustration
of how Wright worked.
658
00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:04,280
So much in his late career was there
in embryo in his early days,
659
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:07,880
but his philosophy and his
imagination never changed course.
660
00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:13,480
Here he turned to an old,
unbuilt design
661
00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:16,760
that featured a ramp
for cars to drive up.
662
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:19,760
First, he turned it upside down,
663
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:23,640
so that the building
was wider at the top.
664
00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:28,560
Then, he turned it inside out,
putting the ramp on the interior.
665
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:34,160
The result became one of the most
famous buildings in the world.
666
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:49,240
The Guggenheim Art Museum
was Frank Lloyd Wright's
667
00:54:49,240 --> 00:54:51,680
poke in the eye for New York City,
668
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:55,960
and the people he called
the "Glass Box Boys",
669
00:54:55,960 --> 00:55:00,160
the modernist architects and critics
who had no time for his work.
670
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,120
Into their landscape
of soaring vertical lines,
671
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:09,560
glass, and right angles, he smuggled
a low, curvaceous newcomer...
672
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:12,840
..and it stole the show.
673
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:26,240
Inside, the Guggenheim
was the logical culmination
674
00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:29,400
of Wright's lifelong desire
to open up interiors
675
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:31,920
and create a free flow of space.
676
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:38,880
It's a building with just one room
and one path to follow.
677
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:41,920
Some people prefer to start
at the top.
678
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:44,920
Others, like me,
would rather begin at the bottom.
679
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:46,760
But once you're on your way,
680
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:49,360
Frank Lloyd Wright is leading you
every step you take.
681
00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:55,440
In traditional museums,
682
00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:58,280
you're sometimes not sure
where you're going,
683
00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:00,160
whether you missed a room,
684
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:04,120
or if there might be better art
hiding just around the corner.
685
00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,480
Here, everything is open.
686
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,280
You can see where you're going,
how far you have to go,
687
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:11,440
and the artworks that await you.
688
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,920
You're drawn naturally up the path.
689
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:17,320
And after looking closely
at the painting in front of you,
690
00:56:17,320 --> 00:56:21,800
you can turn away and relax to an
open vista, the movement of people,
691
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:24,920
and glimpses of artworks
on the walls.
692
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:27,160
You're not just looking at art,
693
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:30,360
you're getting a lesson
in the act of looking at art.
694
00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:41,000
Back in the 1950s, however,
695
00:56:41,000 --> 00:56:44,760
many people thought that Wright's
design for a circular art museum
696
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:46,760
was little short of madness.
697
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:50,560
The sloping walls, they said,
698
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:53,160
would mean
that paintings leaned backwards.
699
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:58,840
The windows would allow in
too much or too little light.
700
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:03,120
And as for Wright's choice
of colour,
701
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:05,360
that was better not mentioned.
702
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:13,040
In the end, that un-Wright-ian
thing, a compromise, was reached.
703
00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:14,760
The colour was off-white,
704
00:57:14,760 --> 00:57:17,720
the paintings were fixed on brackets
off the wall,
705
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:21,120
and daylight was mixed
with fluorescent light.
706
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:33,400
I'd say I like the building more
707
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:38,040
because I don't really try
and fight it any longer.
708
00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:41,480
What we like to say
to one another is,
709
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:43,720
"We're a circle
in a world of squares."
710
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:48,960
It was a bloody expensive building,
711
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:53,280
but you see the unbelievable joy
and astonishment,
712
00:57:53,280 --> 00:57:55,560
particularly first-time visitors,
713
00:57:55,560 --> 00:57:58,840
and that doesn't come through
so often in today's world.
714
00:58:10,400 --> 00:58:14,640
Frank Lloyd Wright
died in April 1959,
715
00:58:14,640 --> 00:58:17,840
six months before
the Guggenheim Museum opened.
716
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:23,400
His life had encompassed
a huge swathe of history.
717
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:27,400
Born in the wake of
the American Civil War,
718
00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:29,120
the son of a pioneer,
719
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:33,000
he died a television personality
in the Space Age.
720
00:58:36,760 --> 00:58:39,560
He had changed architecture,
not just in America,
721
00:58:39,560 --> 00:58:42,640
but around the world.
722
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:45,120
Frank Lloyd Wright was laid to rest
723
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:48,920
in the one place
that meant most to him -
724
00:58:48,920 --> 00:58:53,080
the valley of his childhood,
among his ancestors.
62136
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