Forget everything you learned or heard so far about green homes, forget about costly projects and endless budget overtakes – you haven’t experienced the real deal yet. Practically, you don’t know anything about green culture and green buildings unless you put foot in a Frank Lloyd Wright house before. Born a century and a half ago, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most prolific American architects, as well as an interior designer, writer and educator, who sketched over 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works. Pretty popular back in his times, he was also recognized, post-mortem, in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as “the greatest American architect of all time.”
Eager promoter of the organic architecture, Wright believed in a new era of sculptures and designs that were not only durable, eye-catchy and comfortable, but also harmless to nature and its wild life. What does this has to do with today’s green structures and homes, you might ask? Well, almost everything as, conscious or not, many architects today follow into his footsteps and promote sustainable living and buildings, with power efficient utilities, natural lighting and zero wastes.
If you are willing to start a project of green housing on your own, you might want to take a few things into consideration, and what better way to learn, if not to step into one of Wright’s creations, the Malcolm Willey House in Minneapolis. This is only one of its late works, but it’s a vivid house, full of history and a real bliss to watch.
The house was built by Nancy Willey, Wright’s wife, in 1934 and later restored to perfection by Steve Sikora and Lynette Erickson Sikora. This was the architect’s most famous and pretty affordable project, as well as a small one, a prototype to his later Usonian homes. Also, Wright’s Usonian project was later declared as the typical American house, a home “for the common people.”
When the actual owners purchased this house in 2002, it was already scared by many generations before and filled with kitsch elements, including a pumpkin-colored plastic laminate. However, the Sikoras spent over 6 years and numerous thousands of dollars to restore to its perfect, almost natural state the Malcolm Willey House. During the renovations, the Sikora husbands understood the master’s preference for natural, durable materials which will last in time unwashed.
The house was later restored making full use of materials like cypress, plaster and regional brick, while using the shade provided by four mature burr oaks to cool the house in a natural way, without too much usage of modern air conditioning.
Moving on to the decorations of the house, most of them were kept untouched by time too, a living proof being the kitchen which is fully equipped with functional vintage appliances that stand out for the relative simplicity of the 30’s years. One of the best features of the house, as well as a trademark signature used by many modern architects after, the wall of doors, stands out in the living room. The wall was made by French doors covered with glass, a pioneering and quite exquisite feature in 1934, lives room and background for the beautiful garden, by creating an airy and natural lighted pavilion.
Another well appreciated feature of the house comes out from the master bedroom, in the shape of the corner windows that sing out, expanding the room in space and offering it a more luminous touch.
By taking knowledge of these features of Wright’s vintage house, you might want to start building your own dream green home and exploit some of the ideas the architect put into his wonderful work.
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