#architecture study

photo study!

So. It's the last day of July and I unfortunately only got to do one post for world watercolour month this year but here ya go.

The prompts were numbers 26 + 31

Study of Gordon House by architect Frank Lloyd Wright

I’ve gone down a bit of a Frank Lloyd Wright obsession rabbit hole lately. Trying to copy a reference as closely as possible in Minecraft is one of my favorite ways to learn about how architecture works. It makes me feel a bit like I’ve seen the building in person, even though it’s hundreds of miles away.

Gordon House, constructed in 1938, is one of the last of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes, and the only one of his buildings in Oregon. “Usonia” refers to the United States—it was FLW’s term for his style of distinctly American architecture, designed to function with the natural environment and intentionally moving away from traditional European styles and shapes. It’s considered one of the aesthetic origins of the ranch-house style, which was popular in the 1950s in the American west.

Usonian houses are usually one story and designed for a typical middle class family. The flat roof style and large cantilevered overhangs help the house passively heat and cool itself, though don’t ask me how that works. The front of the house is usually more private, with horizontal banks of windows placed high on the walls to allow light in without public visibility. Wright often designed big, fancy homes for rich clients to pay the bills, but he was most passionate about designing, practical, affordable, and comfortable housing for normal people. Incidentally, he actually coined the term ‘carport’ to refer to the overhanging roof structure where you can park your car. I grew up in New England, where carports aren’t really a thing, but where I live now in the midwest I see them pretty much everywhere.

I didn’t do anything with the interior of this one, because I couldn’t find any good references for the real thing. But my favorite part of FLW houses is that when you visit them, you can really tell that they were designed with intention—the way the light moves through them, the way the space flows together. Houses that are meant to be lived in. I’m planning to do a few more of these as long as my fixation holds out, and I’m hoping Minecraft can help me capture the feeling of actually moving through some of these incredible spaces.

Reference images used:

03/16/2022 - Architecture study

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has a really cool Flickr feed. The shot I used as the basis for this study is from a set of images highlighting the brutalist architecture of the swimming pool of the town of Bodø.

A Future Illuminated will be a collaborative, illustrated children's book series that explores the various types of love that can be found throughout Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Each book in the series will follow one of the many love stories — from platonic to romantic and familial to enduring love for humanity — that can be found in Les Mis.

With period-accurate fashion, dialogue directly from the brick, and child-friendly language and descriptions, A Future Illuminated is sure to have something for everyone.

——

A James has been writing for five years, including involvement with two film projects.

C Edwards has been creating art for five years, unveiled an art exhibition in 2020, and will soon be directing a stage production of Les Misérables.

Image descriptions under the cut.