“And Thou America”
Can buildings increase democracy?
Frank Lloyd Wright’s answer was “yes!”
If you visit Taliesin West, outside of Scottsdale, AZ, the entire visit is organized around the idea of “organic” architecture illustrated by this iconic building — a combination of home, studio, and school.
Taliesin West from the Prow Pool. The triangular shape echoes the mountains behind.
The four tenets of Organic Architecture as defined by Frank Lloyd Wright:
- space
- site
- materials
- democracy
It’s that last tenet that captured my imagination on our recent visit.
The very first stop on our audio tour, Whitman Square, provided the clue to “reading” the buildings we were about to enter. Wright selected quotations from Whitman as an introduction to Taliesin, an idea as much as a physical presence.
Etched into the red stone rock are these words from Walt Whitman addressed to America, ending with this stanza:
“Give me O God to sing that thought
Give me or him or her. I love this quenchless faith in thee.
Whatever else withheld, withhold not from us
Belief in plan of thee, enclosed in time and space.”
The lofty, transcendental, language of Whitman’s poetry, which aspired to an art as large as God, was a perfect inspiration for Wright. He was influenced by his mentor Louis Sullivan who wanted to be the “Whitman of American Architecture” and read Leaves of Grass aloud to Wright many years earlier. As a result, Wright chose to carry a copy of the book with him where ever he went.
The idea of democracy that Whitman championed in his poetry is made visible many ways at Taliesin. American democracy was open, rooted in nature, and not bound to either tradition or boxes, the traditional shape of European buildings. Wright’s spaces instead responded to the wide open landscape, using a “compression and release” technique at entrances to interior spaces.
The challenges to democracy that America faces today are quite different from the ones that confronted Whitman and Wright. But when we know how they drew inspiration from their context, we can do the same for our own.
Low ceiling at the entrance is example of “comression.” Light walkway is the release.”
The long, low, windows brought the desert landscape into the drafting studio.
This is literally the light at the end of the tunnel above. Note the iconic geometric forms. I see echoes of the Froebel blocks Wright played with in his youth as well as the Lincoln logs his son invented.
One of the most inspiring facts of Wright’s biography that I learned in this visit was that Wright began building Taliesin when we was 70 years old! Much of his best work (the Guggenheim Museum, for example,) was designed here. He had weathered tragedy and scandal that almost ended his career. Yet here in the desert, his spirit came alive again. I hope the renewal of elderhood and the renewal of democracy might once again join forces in our time .
Has this glimpse into one of Wright’s most famous buildings and artistic philosophy touched anything in you? Does it call you to speak your own word to America today? Do you have a source of “quenchless faith” in America? What role do elders have to play in the renewal of democracy?
Shirley, I am not American, but I am a close neighbour, affected by some degree by what is happening there. I understand that some historical buildings are going through a change that is not welcome by everyone because it changes the meaning of the original intent. I hope the one you are describing will stay intact in its original form!