The extensive use of transparent floor-to-ceiling glass has greatly opened the connection between indoor and natural environment. Two clearly expressed horizontal plates form a roof and a floor, between which is an open living space. The edge of the floor is defined by exposed steel members painted pure white.
The house is raised to 5 feet 3 inches (65,438+0.60 meters) above the floodplain by eight steel columns with wide flanges, which are connected to the sides of the floor and ceiling. The plate end extends beyond the column support, forming a cantilever. The third floating board is an additional terrace as a transition between the living area and the ground. The house enters through two sets of wide steps, which connect the ground to the terrace and then to the porch.
Smith found that the large open exhibition hall at the turn of the century fits his feelings about the industrial age very well. Here, he applied the concept of barrier-free space, and people can use it flexibly.
The interior seems to be an open room, and its space fluctuates up and down around two wooden blocks. One is the wardrobe cabinet, and the other is the kitchen, bathroom and fireplace block ("core"). The larger fireplace kitchen core seems to be a separate house, nested in a larger glass house.
This building is essentially a big room full of independent elements, which provide subtle differences in an open space, suggesting but not specifying areas for sleeping, cooking, dressing, eating and sitting. Very private areas, such as toilets and machinery rooms, are surrounded by the core.
The drawings recently published by the Museum of Modern Art show that the architect provided details of the ceiling, allowed to add curtain tracks, and divided the privacy of the open space into three "rooms".
Smith applied the concept of this space and made some changes in his later buildings, most notably his masterpiece Crown Hall on the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology. The concept of single room can be freely used or divided in any way, and can flexibly adapt to changing uses. It has no internal support, is sealed with glass, and is supported by the smallest structural frame located outside. This is an ideal choice for architecture, which defines Miss's American career.
Farnsworth residence is his first building to realize this ideal completely, and it is the prototype of his vision of modern architecture in the technological age.
history
1945 Eidis Farnsworth commissioned Ludwig Mies Vandero to design a modern building for her weekend vacation. She bought a piece of land on the Fox River from Robert R McCormick, the owner of the Chicago Tribune.
Van der Rohe, the general contractor and architect of the building, started construction on 1950. At the end of the construction, there was a serious contradiction between the client and the architect. The reason is that after the completion of the project, the bill from Van der Rohe was as high as $74,000 ($2,065,438+648,000 in 2002), with an overrun of $ 1.56 million.
Fansworth thought it was the architect's problem, so he filed a lawsuit against Van der Rohe. However, his lawyer proved that the overspending was actually approved by Farnsworth, so the court ruled that Farnsworth lost the case and asked him to pay all the expenses. This incident left the building unfinished, and the work left by Van der Rohe was completed by william dunlap and some local workers.
1968 The local government decided to build a highway bridge on the Fox River near farnsworth. Farnsworth took the government to court, but lost again. Noise from the south of expressway and tourists disturbed her quiet life.
1972 farnsworth sold the building to British businessman Peter Palombo and settled in Italy. Palombo removed the fence of farnsworth's house and added some sculptures.
In 200 1 year, the Illinois government intended to buy from Palombo with a bid of 7 million dollars, but the transaction failed in early 2003 due to the financial crisis of the state government. In the same year, Palombo handed it over to Sotheby's for auction. In February of that year, the National Trust Fund for Historical Protection bought it for $7.5 million and opened it to the public as a tourist attraction.