9781422271834

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

PLATE 2 Frank Lloyd Wright studio plaque

Architects must reconcile two demands that are not always compatible. On the one hand, they must construct a stable functioning structure involving technical expertise combined with an intimate knowledge of different materials and methods—what might be described as the science of structure. On the other hand, they must be able to construct a three-dimensional object imbued with pleasing characteristics; visual satisfactions that will appeal to the users but that in themselves are of little or essentially no practical use. (This is the artistic or, more formally, the aesthetic dimension.) The subject of aesthetics is difficult to quantify, even though it encroaches into so many areas of human life. It is concerned with the Abstract: degrees of beauty and ugliness, satisfaction of the senses, attraction, and repulsion. When the particular object is a painting, a sculpture, or a piece of music, it is possible either to enjoy it or simply to walk away. With architecture, that is not so. It stands there, a large lump of usefulness, be it

creative intelligence that few possess and even fewer have been as convincingly able to demonstrate. It is, of course, such qualities as these that are essential to genius in any sphere of human endeavor, and architecture is one of the most complicated and demanding in arriving at satisfactory, much less inspiring, solutions. It holds a unique position in the so-called fine arts—sometimes described as the “Mother of the Arts”— in that it is the only one that is indispensable to any developed society. Every civilization is partly defined and recognized by its architecture, and throughout history individual architects have contributed significantly to the quality of life within their own societies. It is important, therefore, in view of the subject of this book, to give some consideration to the nature of that contribution.

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