The Massaro house is a beautiful and exquisite home located in an intoxicating location on Petre Island on Lake Mahopac in upstate New York. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1950’s but wasn’t actually commissioned until 2007 when Joe Massaro, the owner, discovered five original sketches of a home that Frank Lloyd Wright had suggested. Massaro then hired a Wright Scholar, Thomas A. Heinz, to finish the design and build the home exactly the way Wright intended it to be, from only a floor plan, a section view, and three elevations.
The 5,000 square feet, single-story, four-bedroom home was constructed from glass, concrete, and mahogany wood on an interesting land plot. One of the most famous characteristics of Wright’s designs is that he incorporates the land in a unique and interactive way. The Massaro home has many dramatic features, including the 28-foot cantilevered section that juts out over the lake, giving the illusion that it is floating on water due to its elevation. This home is believed to have the largest cantilever Wright ever designed, even larger than that of Falling Water, one of his most well known pieces. In addition to the cantilevered section of this home, there are two large boulders that the house was built “out of.” The largest, Whale Rock, is 12 feet tall and 60 feet wide, forming an exterior to the entry and an interior wall. The smaller rock too forms interior walls that line the kitchen counter and the bathroom wall.
There has been quite a bit controversy over many of the features Wright suggested. He designed the home to have interesting triangular grid skylights as a ceiling detail. The details are made as a single cement entity, and extend over the kitchen and dining area of the home. Many people thought that this was an undeveloped design concept, arguing that they should have been flat rather than domed. Scholars and architects also argued that there were too many issues with the amount of fireplaces in the home, that they capped six of them, helping with ventilation problems in the space. Other internal qualities were affected as well. Heating and electricity, too, had to be altered because of the time period in which the building was designed verses being constructed. Though a few miniscule things were changed, the main designs and central concepts were still based around Wright’s original sketches.
Overall, the Massaro house successfully captures the essence of the surrounding environment and utilizes it in a unique and sophisticated way. It incorporates the beauty of the land through ways such as the 28 foot cantilever over the lake, the two large boulders that essentially become an important and useful design feature, and the triangular skylights that allow natural light to enter and be manipulated to increase the sensibility of the space.
2 comments:
what do you think the implication of one designer beginning the process and another ending it have on the building and its reception as a designed object? what do you speculate might be the challenges and opportunities that result from such an approach? clearly wright is revered in design canon...how is it that this building makes sense in his greater career?
wright's houses often are OF THE SITE rather than on it...and it seems this one is no exception...why is that critical to the house and the way humans interact with it? how do you explain the specifics of wright's design moves...and the later designer's interventions on the work? how does this come together as one building? be more precise with your analysis.
good entry! Everything you said was great! I think you could elaborate more on how natural light is used because that seems to be pretty important to talk more about. Tell how each designer is different and if there were anymore changes to the design, if you havent already mentioned them. Tell how the house is part of the landscape more. I like how you related it to Falling water.
Post a Comment