From Bauhaus to Our House Thoughts

The last time in class, we discussed the book "From Bauhaus to Our House". I enjoyed the discussion. It was interesting to hear the thoughts of the rest of the class of today's architecture.

As some of you may know or remember (maybe), I am studying to be a Civil Engineer. In that since, I find architecture interesting. The engineer must work with the architect to build what the architecture envisions for a building, bridge, or any other structure.

While reading the book I couldn't help but wonder why America at the time (early 1900's) allowed foreign architects to decide what the future of Architecture in America would be. Learning who Frank Lloyd Wright was and what he has done as an architect made me wonder even more. His projects were interesting and dynamic. Below is a picture one of his most famous projects, Falling Water.



The foreign architects that found refuge in America after the first and second world wars brought with them their ideas of how architecture in the world should be. They had what is called as the International Architecture view. They wanted nothing to do with fancy, dynamic buildings full of color and fancy furniture. They wanted square, white or gray, machine made buildings to support the "working" people. This so called vision caught the eye of the American people then and these architects were given positions in prominent universities like Yale and Harvard. This gave way for I see as a brain washing of what these "White Gods", as the author of the book refers to them as, thought of what architecture needed to be. Because of this, we have this "modern architecture" all around us. It filled America because its buildings were cheap and easier to build. To me, a sense of creativity was lost. Our buildings are mundane and plain. Below are two examples of this.







However this reality may be, I have noticed a push to return to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. We have Green buildings today that incorporate the building surroundings that Falling Water does. The buildings are creative and dynamic and have their own personality

I hope that the creativity in our buildings and in the arts in general will not fall into a one-way track of thinking, but will come out of the box and share their creativity with the rest of the world. By doing so, our lives will be enriched. Whatever your talent is, share it! Don't be afraid to take a stand and go against what has been done for the last century. What's been done in the last century concerning architecture in America was a step in the wrong direction as far as creativity, expression, and functionality are concerned.