A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, 1996.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Desmond, John Michael
Other Authors: Stanford Anderson.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11235
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author Desmond, John Michael
author2 Stanford Anderson.
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Desmond, John Michael
author_sort Desmond, John Michael
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description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, 1996.
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spelling mit-1721.1/112352019-04-10T15:31:50Z A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities Desmond, John Michael Stanford Anderson. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning Architecture Urban Studies and Planning Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (p. 583-601). Vita. This dissertation undertakes a comparative and developmental analysis of Frank Lloyd Wright's community scale planning projects executed in the wake of Broadacre City during the decade of the Second World War (1938 - 1948). These include the Sun-Top Homes built in Ardmore Pennsylvania, the Usonia I project for East Lansing Michigan, the Pittsfield Worker Housing project designed for western Massachusetts, the master plan for Circle Pines summer camp in central Wisconsin, and three partially built circular lot subdivisions, Galesburg Country Homes near Galesburg Michigan, Parkwyn Village in Kalamazoo Michigan, and Usonia Homes in Pleasantville New York. Through this study of seven planning projects Wright's thinking can be seen moving from a tradition of viewing the settlement as a 'constructed whole' to a design philosophy that approached nature as an a-priori, all embracing context. In these works he explored the relationship of the natural to the manmade by inventing patterns which allow neither the site nor the geometry of the plan to assume cognitive priority. One's perception of the relationship between the individual and the group comes to be crossed with one's perception of the character of the landscape in ways that extend an American hermeneutical tradition of self and landscape into the modem era. Building on the method of Emerson, and especially on the explorations of Thoreau and Whitman, Wright sought to redefine the ever-present tension between the individual and the democratic group in terms of a symbolic interaction of self and landscape that lies at the heart of the American myth of nature. His involvement with self, with nature, and with perceptions of community as indicated here suggests an alternative to traditional American suburban models, as well as to the European inspired hOUSing ideas coming into this country in the post-war period. by John Micahel Desmond. Ph.D. 2005-08-18T12:00:00Z 2005-08-18T12:00:00Z 1995 1996 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11235 34777595 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 604 p. 56369493 bytes 56369245 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Architecture
Urban Studies and Planning
Desmond, John Michael
A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title_full A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title_fullStr A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title_full_unstemmed A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title_short A clearing in the woods : self & city in Frank Lloyd Wright's organic communities
title_sort clearing in the woods self city in frank lloyd wright s organic communities
topic Architecture
Urban Studies and Planning
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11235
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