Integrated: Fallingwater

Fallingwater has a structural system based on the logic found in the surrounding rock walls, their erosion and inhabitation, to create space. The masonry core supports the cantilevered reinforced concrete trays which extend the user into the outdoors. The connection between the stone core and outdoor extensions is where the interior spaces form and the stone is sculpted and supplemented by a system of built-in wooden amenities to integrate function and movement. The trays relationships to each other creates interaction within the architecture itself while also removing the user from the architecture allowing them to engage with nature from the perspective of a squirrel amongst the trees.

Fallingwater's reaction to the landscape creates dynamic relationships between form and space, which can be engaged by the user. The creek which runs beneath the home is accessed by a suspended stairway which respectfully skims the water allowing one to sit and dip their feet in the cool water. The space beneath the home which used to be the only active layer on the site now acts as an integrated layer of the function and space of the architecture. In the main room the rock which forms the foundation of the building (and the rock which the Kaufman's used to picnic on) protrudes through the floor becoming the hearth for the fireplace, which in Wright's philosophy was the heart of the home. Unlike Corbusier's Domino House, even KTA's Loblolly house which can be represented and understood in blank white space, Fallingwater could never be imagined without its context, it would not be complete. Fallingwater is an integrated feature of its environment and the environment is an integrated part of the architecture and its experience.