Studio Render Inc.Architecture, Politics and Philosophy

Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

Location: Madison, Wisconsin

Client: Herbert and Katherine Jacobs

Year Built: 1936
Historically speaking, in this case pre-1940’s, building took into account many factors that the technology of today has let us overlook. Factors such as building orientation, using local materials and designing to minimize expensive excess, to name a few. Architects specify tile that comes from Italy, steel that must be expensively procured, shipped and attached, and designing HVAC to overcome bad design so that everyone is comfortable. The question is why we have gone away from responsible designing and building techniques; because we are used to taking technology and what we are able to get for granted. Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright were known for using site materials for construction and being “Organic Architecture”. That doesn’t mean they are sustainable structures, but many are very good examples of what could be done easily in today’s society to maintain environmental sensitivity.

An example of one of these structures is the Jacobs House by Frank Lloyd Wright which is dated 1936. The house was commissioned by Herbert and Katherine Jacobs in the hopes that they could get a Wright home at minimal cost. Wright called this design a Usonian house, which stood for United States of North America or “a dwelling “of and for” the United States.” This type of design was based on the promise of an affordable, beautiful home for a Democratic America. These homes were designed in a way that space was not wasted and the spaces were placed to maximize efficiency. The “core” consisted of the kitchen, laundry and utilities, which in turn when grouped together, piping was reduced. Spaces then built off of the core and usually spread out in an “L” configuration. Other notable aspects of these homes were typically a concrete floor slab with gravity heating and sandwich partitions to reduce on cost. With that said, this “economical” home was to be efficient in all manners.

The Jacobs House was specifically and purposely designed to keep costs low while retaining an artistic feel. The following is a breakdown of the successful environmental issues that are addressed by the design.

· This dwelling is broken into a private and public facade. The public face is on the Northern side and only has small clerestory windows as means of fenestration. These windows allow natural light to bleed into the Northern spaces; people gravitate to spaces that have natural light coming from more than one direction. The private face of the home is on the Southern side and maximizes natural light with ample windows and glass doors. This area is covered by a large overhang that in the summertime will shade and resist the summer sun from overheating the spaces while the winter sun amply heats the spaces comfortably.

· Wright achieves a public and private breakdown in the floor plan as well. The public wing, located on the west side, contains the living room, which is about 1/3 of the square footage, as well as the core of the home. Having the living room orientated to the southwest allows the room to become bright and cheery which is the prime location for a space that will be used the majority of the time. The east wing contains the private areas of the bedrooms, study and shop. Sleeping to the east allows the morning sun to make its way into the spaces and becomes pleasant spaces in the morning hours.

· The home has 2 entries off of the East facade and both are sheltered entries which aids in the ability to keep exterior conditions from affecting the interior. One entry actually has a thermal break, 2 sets of doors to entry a main space, which gives a chance for the outdoor conditions to be “trapped” in a space before entering the actual living spaces.

· In an attempt to minimize piping in the home, Wright grouped the bath, kitchen and laundry in a central location.

· The “L-shaped” home has benefits beyond the floor plan. A long narrow structure will allow sunlight to reach father into an interior and therefore making artificial lighting less needed. This shape also allows for more privacy due to the fact that rooms are not clustered together.

· The home was built on a concrete slab that contained gravity heating, which means hot water pipes are run in the floors and by means of gravity the heat rises out of the floor and aids in conditioning the spaces. Since heat rises this is an optimum location to heat.

· The home has an interior fireplace which helps in heating the spaces by means of thermal storage inside the masonry walls. It is located in the largest room, living room, which would be the hardest space to condition.

· The walls, besides the Northern Masonry walls near the entry, are constructed of a sandwich type process. Storrer (1993) “The dry wall uses horizontal recessed 3-inch redwood battens with 9-inch pine boards screwed on to a core of vertical pine boards.”

· It has been said that Wright used bricks on the home that were deemed “substandard” from the Johnson Wax Building in order to lower the costs of the masonry walls.

FLOOR PLAN
When looking at the dwelling as a whole one may not notice those aspects and that is what makes this home such a success. There are ways to design a home so that the owner does not know what makes it work, just as long as it does. That is what creates a market for Architecture and when you do it well, clients come back for more. About ten years after moving into the home the Jacobs asked Wright to design them a new home on account of wanting more space. Wright responded with yet another and more efficient design for them. The question then asks, if Frank Lloyd Wright was able to improve on a good design for the same client back during the depression era, why can’t the designers of today do at least as much as Wright did? The house was made for minimal price but was able to offer so much in good design and environmental responsibility. The technology of today seems to be more of a burden than an advantage; Architects of today must realize these opportunities and get back to good design, instead of building the most decorated box.

CREDITS
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns Buildings Construction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Great Buildings Online. Retrieved October, 2004. Website
www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Jacobs_House-Madison.html

Wright in Wisconsin. Retrieved October, 2004, from BedZED. Website: www.dgunning.org/architecture/Wisc/jacobsI.htm