SEATTLE, July 11, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/
-- Lindal Cedar Homes, a proud
partner of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, salutes the Frank
Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and its partners for their
successful efforts to facilitate the designation of eight seminal
works by Wright to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Among the buildings so honored is the Herbert and Katherine
Jacobs House (informally referred to as Jacobs 1). Built in 1937,
Jacobs 1 is Frank Lloyd Wright's
first Usonian home design. In 2018, Lindal debuted an updated,
reimagined version of Jacobs 1 - the Madison - which is available for clients to
build on their property.
Jacobs 1 is one of the eight Frank Lloyd
Wright sites awarded the first-ever modern architecture
designation on the world heritage list for the United States. The other Wright buildings
include Fallingwater, Hollyhock House, Taliesin, Taliesin West, Unity Temple, the Frederick C.
Robie House, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian
homes were based on an idea that was radical for its time: To make
cutting-edge modern architectural design principles accessible to
the middle class in the form of affordable, mass-produced
residential homes. A pioneer in the use of new materials,
prefabrication, and modern home design, Frank Lloyd Wright created custom designs for
each client, based on their budget and lifestyle. The homes were
made with natural materials such as wood and stone, and composed of
elements that could be mass-produced for maximum
cost-effectiveness. In 1937, the first Usonian home - Jacobs 1 -
was built by Wright for Herbert and
Katherine Jacobs near Madison,
WI. Wright went on to design more than 100 Usonian homes. In
the interests of economy, Wright eschewed basements, garages, front
porches, and excess ornamentation. The homes, however, are far from
drab. Wright played with light and shadow by including beautiful
bris soleil (literally "broken sun") designs against the windows.
These created geometric shadows that would expand and contract as
light penetrated and withdrew from the communal open spaces of the
homes. In addition to providing visual appeal, this technique
helped with heating and cooling the homes. (See an example of bris
soleil in this video of Hollyhock House.)
The simple yet functional early Usonian homes - with their open
floor plans, low-lying profiles, and clean proportions - served as
prototypes for the popular ranch style homes that to a large degree
defined the residential landscape of post-WWII America.
In 2018, Lindal Cedar Homes - the
world's largest manufacturer of post-and-beam kit homes - partnered
with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to resurrect the concept of
the Usonian home with its Lindal Imagine Series (LIS). LIS unites
the enduring design principles of a Usonian home with current
developments in technology, construction and design theory. The
homes were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
School of Architecture graduates Aris Georges and Trina
Lindal. While several of the designs in the series are
original, they are all, in the words of designer Georges,
"translations of the original Usonian designs."
The Lindal Imagine Series Madison home design closely follows
the layout of the original Jacobs 1 house. It embodies the elements
of Usonian design, with a sheltered entryway next to a covered
carport, and two "wings" that wrap around a private backyard. All
of the rooms have a connection to nature via large glass doors.
Light enters even the most interior spaces through clerestory
windows that are formed through the use of varying roof elevations.
Utility functions are housed in the partial basement. At 1,603
square feet, the Madison embodies
Wright's desire to create small, accessible homes with superlative
architecture and an elevated aesthetic. The Lindal Imagine Series
homes reflect Wright's belief that the buildings we live in
influence the kinds of people we become.
All LIS home designs are available to build on a client's
private build site. Lindal operates through an international
network of independent distributors to provide its home designs and
exterior materials packages to clients worldwide. Please contact
your local Lindal representative to inquire about building a
Usonian-inspired home on your lot.
For information about Lindal's entire Imagine Series' line of
homes, please join us for a free introductory webinar, presented by
designers Aris Georges and
Trina Lindal, on Wednesday, July 17. Register for the webinar
here.
SOURCE Lindal Cedar Homes,
Inc.