Fallingwater
Every year, thousands of visitors make their way into the forested Laurel Highlands of south-western Pennsylvania to see Fallingwater – a house that seems to grow directly from the rock and water beneath it.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, designed in 1935 for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh, remains one of the most acclaimed works of modern architecture and continues to inspire a sense of wonder almost 90 years after its completion.
“Every time I walk down to that iconic view and look back at the house over the waterfalls, I have this intense sensation of awe, of wonder. The hair still stands up on my neck,” says Justin Gunther, director of Fallingwater. “This house establishes Frank Lloyd Wright as one of the leading architects in the world.”
Gunther oversees the property on behalf of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the non-profit organisation entrusted with its care since 1963. Set within the Bear Run Nature Reserve, a protected landscape of streams, forest and trails, the house remains inseparable from its environment. “The landscape all around us is one that’s been conserved for over a hundred years and is a very vital part of the legacy of this region,” he says.
“Wright’s idea of organic architecture is where the natural world and human habitation are harmonised.”
The home was commissioned by Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, owners of Pittsburgh’s largest department store, as a retreat where they could find renewal in nature. Wright responded with his philosophy of “organic architecture,” where buildings harmonise with their settings through form, material and orientation. “Wright’s idea of organic architecture is where the natural world and human habitation are harmonised. And to really accomplish that, what Wright does is he takes direct inspiration from natural forms, natural features and the landscape,” says Gunther.
At Fallingwater, this approach is most strikingly realised in the bold concrete cantilevers that thrust out over the waterfalls below, echoing the surrounding rock ledges. The house itself seems to cascade with the terrain, stepping down the hillside like rushing water. The stone floors are created from Pottsville sandstone quarried from the site, while the steel-framed glass walls open to expansive views of the forest beyond. Every material reinforces the bond between the house and its setting.
The interior details, from the built-in furnishings to custom light fittings, reflect Wright’s deep interest in interior design as an extension of architecture. “Creating the open plan, removing those partitions away from the living spaces, he created one flexible place for entertaining, for working, for socialising,” says Gunther. Wright also layered symbolic meaning into the spatial experience. “He brings together the four elements of the universe – earth, air, fire and water – by crossing them on axes in the centre of this space,” he says. For Gunther, the most surprising detail is the small hatch leading directly from the living room to the stream below. “It creates this physical connection between inside and outside. You really get all of your senses engaged,” he says.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Fallingwater marks a turning point in architectural history – redefining what a modern house can be through its technical daring while also advocating for living with the land. Ninety years later, it is still fresh and exciting. “One thing that always surprises me about Fallingwater is that I can always see something new that I hadn’t seen the day before,” says Gunther. “It’s why it can be this great tool to teach people about how we can live harmoniously together with nature to build responsibly … I think it’s just the wonder of this place, the intense innovation and imagination of it. That’s really, really inspiring.”
Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright.
