Frank Lloyd Wright’s Organic Principles: DECENTRALIZATION
Galesburg Country Homes, Galesburg, Michigan. 1946 – 49. Site plan. Ink and colored pencil on tracing paper, 46 5/8 x 37 1/8” (118.4 x 94.3 cm). Image courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (the Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)
Let’s jump into one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s “organic principles” that will be on exhibit at the @brillgalleryandstudio each third Friday of March, April, and May. Showings + RSVP
DECENTRALIZATION: This was the idea of dispersing the modern city across the rural landscape.
Galesburg Country Homes, Galesburg, Michigan. 1946 – 49. Site plan. Ink and colored pencil on tracing paper, 46 5/8 x 37 1/8” (118.4 x 94.3 cm). Image courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (the Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)
One of the more well known examples of this is Broadacre City. The core concept of Broadacre City is simple; dispersed the large scale cities and give each family at least an acre of land. This would advance the idea of decentralization where communities would be based on small scale, farming and manufacturing, local government, and property ownership.
Wright outlined this proposal in the 1932 book “The Disappearing City” and followed it in 1935 with a 12’ x 12’ model exhibited at the Rockefeller Center.
Broadacre City was never implemented fully but a few of his later projects reflected these ideas on a smaller scale. Two examples are, his student lead community of Usonia in New York and “The Acres” in Galesburg, Michigan. Yes, he did have more but I’m trying to keep this post short-ish :)
In 1947, a group of scientists from the Upjohn pharmaceutical company purchased a section of land to cooperatively build a community of homes. The group approached Frank Lloyd Wright about designing the subdivision, and he visited that same year, walking the land to gather information. Wright laid out lots in a non-conventional circular pattern, with the unbuilt areas to be held in common. “The Acres” in Galesburg, Michigan consists of 21 1-acre circular lots, each 114 feet in diameter. The plan was designed to have 50 acres of open land for community use that also included a three-acre pond.
What are your thoughts on leaving the big city idea behind and spreading out everyone across the United States? Impossible to implement now, but what about the ideas behind decentralization? (Leave your comment below)
These two images are the Samuel Eppstein House and the Curtis Meyer House both built in 1948 and built according to “The Acres” plan. The third and fourth images are the original plans for “The Acres” in Galesburg Michigan.
No056 #500fllwproject • Samuel Eppstein Residence (1948) • Galesburg, Michigan
No057 #500fllwproject • Lillian & Curtis Meyer (1948) • Galesburg, Michigan