Measuring the geometry of nature and architecture: comparing the visual properties of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and its natural setting

Abstract

Purpose

Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house Fallingwater has been the subject of enduring scholarly debate centred on the allegedly clear parallels between its form and that of its surrounding natural setting. Despite these claims being repeated many times, no quantitative approach has ever been used to test this argument. In response, this paper uses a quantitative method, fractal analysis, to measure the relationship between the architecture of Fallingwater and of its natural surroundings.

Design/methodology/approach

Using fractal dimension analysis, a computational method that mathematically measures the characteristic visual complexity of an object, this paper mathematically measures and tests the similarity between the visual properties of Fallingwater and its natural setting. Twenty analogues of the natural surroundings of Fallingwater are measured and the results compared to those developed for the properties of eight views of the house.

Findings

Although individual results suggest various levels of visual similarity or difference, the complete set of results do not support the claim that the form of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater exhibits clear visual similarities to the surrounding landscape.

Originality/value

In addition to testing a prominent theory about Wright's building for the first time, the paper demonstrates a rare application of fractal analysis to interpreting relations between architecture and nature.

Citation

Vaughan, J. and Ostwald, M.J. (2022), "Measuring the geometry of nature and architecture: comparing the visual properties of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and its natural setting", Open House International, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 51-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/OHI-01-2021-0011