One of the most iconic buildings of all time & a personal favourite since I was a child, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater has had its fair share of troubles and challenges.
Rumoured to have been sketched in 2 hours and elevated within 12, following a year of procrastination by Wright, the house was then quickly put into construction without much of a design discovery process. This process is critical to all projects, but even more critical when trying to build over a waterfall with large structural cantilevers upwards of 5m and spans of nearly double this.
Wright was trained as a structural engineer & had in-house structural engineering capabilities, yet when the contractor came to build the first cantilever, he calculated that the beam was greater than 50% under-reinforced. The Client conducted a peer review of the structure that showed similar results. It a fit of fury and ego, Lloyd Wright refused to take any feedback on board, cursing the builder, client, engineer and promptly threatened to leave. "I have put so much more into this house than you or any other client has a right to expect, that if I don't have your confidence - to hell with the whole thing." Wright got his way & the other reports were poured in with the foundations. Although it is believed the contractor double the reinforcement at his cost prior to pouring, the contractor did, in fact, fail to set any of the designed pre-cambers into the formwork & as such deflections of up to 30mm were surveyed at the time of stripping.
Originally estimated at $35,000 to build, the final house cost $77,000 and the project $155,000 with all the additional scope and the guest house. A big overrun, considering the house was not externally coated in gold leaf as first conceived by Wright. Stating this, the original sketches and final outcome were remarkably close – a testament to Wrights skill and genius.
In 1995, a structural report and survey revealed that the house was literally & ironically falling into the waterfall. Over time the major cantilevers and spans were deflecting over 180mm in some cases, due to creep and water egress but also largely due to plastic failure of the structure. Restoration and structural remediation works were undertaken in the order of $11,500,000 & completed in 2002, this includes maintaining and restoring the internal finishes to their original design, concrete upgrades, waterproofing & damp proof measures.
It now stands as a monument, tourist attraction and is revered worldwide.
So what are the lessons here:
The design discovery process should not be rushed or in 1 person’s head – no matter how strong the genius;
Collaboration could have prevented much of the structural deficiencies & should be welcomed not seen as threatening;
Peer reviews are healthy and although costly, may prevent serious oversights by the team;
Nature, in particular, running water & freeze/thaw conditions cannot be underestimated;
Great architecture is priceless, or in this case at least worth more than $12M!!
