Examining the Position of Wright’s Fallingwater in the Context of His Larger Body of Work: An Analysis Using Fractal Dimensions

Abstract

Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the world’s most famous architects, produced several masterworks in his career, possibly the most celebrated of which is the Kaufmann House, better known as Fallingwater. One of the common arguments historians make about this house is that it is unique in Wright’s oeuvre, as it is not similar to other designs he produced in the three major styles that dominated his career: the Prairie, Textile-Block and Usonian styles. In this paper, the derived fractal dimensions (D) using the standard architectural variation and application of the box-counting method are developed for the elevations and plans of Fallingwater. Using the measurements derived from a set of 15 Prairie, Textile-Block and Usonian houses, this paper tests whether Fallingwater is indeed an outlier in his body of work, as some historians suggest. The results indicate that, contrary to the standard view, Fallingwater has D measures that are broadly similar to those of his other styles, and on average, Fallingwater has formal parallels to several aspects of Wright’s Usonian style.