The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Bay Bridge that never was

Curbed San Francisco ^ | December 8, 2017 | Brock Keeling and Alex Bevk

[buwaya]

A little joke I think.

[left that other site]

I wouldn’t trust that unless it was made of Rearden Metal!

[Robert A Cook PE]

But he is so highly regarded by the “experts” in architecture.

Yet his signature house was characterized by being over-budget, not-really-what-the-owner-wanted, plagued severe water and humidity problems, falling trusses and failed major structural members requiring MASSIVE rebuilding money after only a few years, and an uncomfortable open too-humid interior.

Textbook awarded? Certainly. But a good house? Terrible home.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Terribly inefficient formwork and construction to create those irregular inconsistent curves and bends. Extremely over-expensive.

Could it have worked? Maybe. But why the extra expense for the glory of the architect, and not the users?

[Nifster]

His housing designs were visionary

[Nifster]

Yup

And the Marin Civic Center

[PAR35]

Given the poor quality engineering that came out of his shop, I doubt that the bridge would hold up very long. Wright was an artist, but his projects don’t have a great batting average.

[ChildOfThe60s]

FLW little known? That is some ignorant “journalist”.

[Bobalu]

I had forgotten the civic center...

FLW was a great designer...way ahead of his time.

[Kozak]

Frank Lloyd Wright was a “ little known architect”?

[Larry Lucido]

“Is this what this is all about, our project in Indonesia?” asks Takagi. “Contrary to what you people may think, we going to develop that region, not exploit it.” McClane slides out of the stairwell as Gruber leads Takagi into another room. “I believe you,” says Hans to Takagi,”I read the article in Forbes!

[kosciusko51]

That sounds like Fallingwater.

[Katya]

exactly, his designs are aesthetically pleasing but didn’t necessarily hold up over time and space. There are plenty of structures built roughly the same time periods as many of his houses that have required much less reinforcement and rehabilitation.

[Larry Lucido]

Frank Lloyd Wright was a “ little known architect”?

Maybe not as well known as this guy. But he could hold his own!

[vladimir998]

“Looks like the bridge from Die Hard”

How on earth did you remember that?

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Thanks, but I doubt it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Our retirement house, built in 2002, is FLW inspired.
Our Minneapolis architect flew down to the Lake of the Ozarks and walked our property. His inspiration allows good late afternoon sun.
We put in a geothermal heat/cool cycles and it works well (and cheap)...

[cornfedcowboy]

Frank Lloyd Wright had no grasp of structural loads. It was a good thing his design wasn’t built.

——————————
Architects never do.

[Axenolith]

He didn’t need to, you just design things and let the engineers and contractors worry about that crap :-)

[Sam_Damon]

Welp, here’s some more background in an interactive graphic.

(You may have to activate Flash in your browser for this page.)

http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/2011/0923/fallingwater_interactive/fallingwater_interactive.html