LEGO Architecture Robie House Instruction Manual

Robie™House
ChicagoIllinoisUSA
Booklet available in English on
Heft in deutscher Sprache erhältlich auf
Livret disponible en français sur
Folleto disponible en español en
Folheto disponível em português em
A füzet magyarul ezen a honlapon olvasható: Architecture.LEGO.com
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© Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust
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Contents
Frederick C. Robie™House................................................................................ 5
The design and construction of Frederick C. Robie™House...... 6
From 1910 to today...................................................................................................12
Frank Lloyd Wright ..................................................................................................14
Facts about Frederick C. Robie™House..................................................15
A Word from the Artist ....................................................................................... 176
The‘ScaleModel’line–LEGOArchitectureinthes........
References...............................................................................................................
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FLWFDN
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FrederickCRobie™House
Frederick C. Robie
™
House, completed in 1910, is widely considered to be Frank
Lloyd Wright’s most accomplished Prairie style work. This architectural style, the
first that was uniquely American, is characterized by dominating horizontal lines,
banded rows of windows, and spacious and open interior plans. The exterior is
dominated by gently sloping roofs and building materials in line with Wright’s
ideas on the nature of materials: brick, wood, steel, limestone, and concrete
stucco, the last-named being used to cover the massive expanses of soffits
under the cantilevered porches.
Homes like these were designed to offer their owners great vistas from the
many windows and balconies. Open spaces on the first and second floors of
the interiors of the homes were intended to continue to the outside through
these windows. The relationship between architecture and nature—one of the
most important influences on Wright—is emphasized throughout the open and
flowing design of Frederick C. Robie™House.
“We of the Middle West are living on the prairie. The prairie has a beauty of
its own and we should recognize and accentuate this natural beauty, its quiet
level.” Frank Lloyd Wright
FLWFDN © 2011
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In 1908, Frederick C. Robie, a young and ambitious Chicago businessman,
decided he wanted to build a “sturdy, functional and strikingly modern” home
for his family in Hyde Park, an elegant Chicago neighborhood and home to
the campus of the University of Chicago.
Robie wanted a house with an abundance of light and great views of the
surrounding neighborhood, yet one that also maintained his family’s privacy.
He didn’t like small confining rooms and thought that flowing spaces were
essential in a well designed home. In Frank Lloyd Wright, he found an architect
who not only agreed with these ideals, but who could transform them into a
unique physical expression.
“From the first we had a definite community of thought.” Frederick Robie,
on meeting Frank Lloyd Wright.
The actual site itself helped determine Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas and plans.
Measuring 18 meters (60 ft.) by 55 meters (180 ft.), the corner lot was three times
as long as it was wide. These dimensions led Wright to think of the home in
terms of long, narrow rectangles. The home therefore consists primarily of two
long and narrow “vessels,” each similar in shape to the hull of a ship, one set
on top and slightly off-center of the other. When viewed from above, the two
vessels are easy to see; however, from the street, each blends into the other,
forming what looks like a single, continuous horizontal structure.
Exterior drawing (FLWFDN ©2011)
Thedesign&constructionofFrederickCRobie™House
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Floor plan drawings (FLWFDN ©2011)
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To further emphasize the horizontal lines of the house, the horizontal joints of
the red-orange, iron-spotted Roman bricks were filled with a cream-colored
mortar and the small vertical joints were filled with brick-colored mortar. From
a distance, this complex and time-consuming process creates an impression
of continuous lines of horizontal color and minimizes the appearance of
individual bricks.
Robie House was one of the first residences to incorporate steel beams directly
into its design. These strong beams in the ceilings and floors were necessary
to create the cantilevered balconies, which appear to be suspended in mid-air.
As the steel beams also carry most of the building’s weight, the exterior walls
have little structural function, which in turn allowed Wright to fill them with large
numbers of doors and windows. More importantly, the steel structure eliminated
the need for internal structural columns and walls, thus underlining the overall
open plan favored by both Wright and Robie.
“Both Mr Wright and myself were highly in accord on every line to the last inch.
And we agreed that there should be no deviation whatsoever from these
specifications.” Frederick Robie, on working with Frank Lloyd Wright.
The brickwork (FLWFDN) The entrance (FLWFDN)
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The entire building fills approximately 841.9 m2(9,062 square ft). The front door
and main entrance are partially hidden on the northwest side of the building
beneath an overhanging balcony in order to create a sense of privacy and
protection for the family. The entrance hall itself is low-ceilinged and dark,
but the stairs to the second floor create a sense of anticipation as the visitor
moves upward. Once upstairs, the ‘light filled’living and dining rooms create
a sharp contrast to the dark entrance hall, making the living areas seem even
more spacious.
The ground floor of Robie™House was designed for general everyday use, with
a billiard room, playroom, and service areas. The first floor contains a kitchen
and guest room as well the home’s formal areas, including the living and dining
rooms. These two rooms are separated by a central chimney mass, but the
spaces are connected along their south sides, and the chimney mass itself has
an opening above the fireplace through which the rooms are visually connected.
The second floor contains the private family spaces: three bedrooms surrounding
a central hall. The first floor features a long balcony that stretches nearly the
entire length of the home.
When clients like the Robies hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home,
they received more than just a house. Wright typically also provided designs
for furniture, lighting fixtures, wall hangings, rugs, and, in some cases, even
dishes. With Robie he worked with and supervised George Mann Niedecken to
Dining room (FLWFDN) Kitchen (© Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust)
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Living Room (FLWFDN)
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