Continuity in architecture is based on the act of creating a design of a building as a monogamous structure; in continuity there shall be no difference noticed between the walls or the ceilings of the building, as all is connected creating a scene of aesthetic harmonization.
In his paper: Excerpts from an American Architecture, Frank L. Wright defends the act of architectural continuity using multiple other ideals as his reference to be able to showcase his line of thought and how he got convinced with an architectural ideology like continuity.
He starts his demonstration by talking about how the idea instinctually gripped his mind and psyche, leaving him helpless but to elaborate on it with his designs. From his perspective it was the only path to arrive at what he called natural or organic architecture: a type of architecture that has true compatibility. From that he started developing a sense of how “Plasticity” could be achieved, he started understanding that continuity could be the path of giving a design its holistic artistic presence, by not forming it in the form of boxes but instead an interconnected piece of art, to which he says “Let walls, ceilings, floors now become not only party of each other, but part of each other”.
L. Wright, has also in the beginning faced the problem of dealing with the realistic world of engineering; which -in the beginning- did not have the ability to technically support his ideas, as engineers were too reliant on “posts and beams” to be able to finalize their calculations; they were reliant on the same thing L. Wright was trying in a sense to get rid of. This problem was ultimately solved by the usage of the cantilever in architecture, and the representation of his ideas became possible instead of being ideas in the brain of a dreamer.
L. Wright then proceeds to elaborate on how interior design fits into the concept of continual architecture; erupting the action of actually removing the barrier between the interior and the exterior. Stating that there shall be no more a distinction between both, instead the exterior can come inside and vice versa. He demonstrates this by saying that the room itself is supposed to come through and represented as a vital part of architecture; even goes on to say that if the design of the room is not viewed as architecture in itself, then there is no architecture in the contemporary sense.
Here he also starts using the basic idea of form and function to explain the complexity of his ideas, saying that architecture from his point of view is not only form follows function, but the interior itself is to be expressed and cherished. The form does not only follow its function, but has to also strongly follow the design of the interior as something with vitality and not secondary; becoming his way to unify both form and function.
It is important to note that from L. Wright’s perspective, this integration of the interior and the exterior is what created a definite distinction between an architectural design and a pure artistic sculpture. Ancient building or forms were all based on the concept of building a sculpture that is just hollowed out to be utilized internally. Now he was able to take that away from architecture, and look upon the interior as an integral part of the design.
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