Why Frank Lloyd Wright’s windows look like this

Natural light was an obsession — and he worked hard to let it in.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes included many distinctive features, from the brick and cedar materials to the open floor plan. But one of the most distinctive features might be the windows — which reflected his broader philosophy of natural light.

As the above video shows, Wright considered natural light an important part of the house that deserved highlighting, both in the windows used and in the way the rest of the house showcased that light. The Pope-Leighey house in Alexandria, Virginia, is a particularly good showcase of the way these windows made natural light an integral part of the home.

Further Reading:
Steven M. Reiss’s book about the Pope-Leighey House is an invaluable resource for learning about the house, but it also gives a peek into the development process of a Frank Lloyd Wright home.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Natural House details the philosophy behind his Usonian homes, as well as more about his view of organic architecture.

John Luttropp’s model of the Pope-Leighey house is astonishingly accurate, and you can play around with it and download it for free.

[Vox]

Looking at windows just scratches the surface of Wright’s obsession with his home. The mortar on the fireplace is thicker horizontally than vertically to create an impression of parallel lines. And for the same reason, every flathead screw is carefully twisted so it has a horizontal line as well. Thanks for watching. —Phil

[IKEMENOsakaman]

Out here in Maricopa County Arizona, the older locals say that Frank Lloyd Wright was testifying at a lawsuit trial in downtown Phoenix and one attorney asked him if he was the Greatest Architect in the World to which he replied "Yes." It was a long drive back to his Scottsdale home and, by the time he arrived there, his wife had heard some drive time radio disk jockeys joking about his testimony on the air. When confronted my Mrs. Wright about his blatant show of arrogance, Mr. Wright replied, "Sweetheart, I was under oath."

[Dr-Peppy]

I still cannot believe this man was building houses like this in the 1920s he was so ahead of his time

[WDSimp]

One thing that I know by way of my Grandfather, who was very much inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, was that window placements in these sorts of houses were often designed with the seasons in mind. Putting smaller windows up higher and under overhangs results in the sun shining directly in during the winter months, when the sun is lower, and then the direct sunlight would be blocked off during the summer months when the sun is higher. This all means that the house is naturally warmer in winter and naturally cooler in summer. It's all really quite extraordinary.

[Delvis]

Frank Lloyd Wright’s work still looks modern. What an achievement!

[adhitiyadwi]

Penetrating lights trough holes on the wall is indeed is a very magnificent and organic form of art in architecture. As a person who works in this field i sometimes spend so much times in Sketchup (the app they used in the video) just to admire the pattern of the shadow created by the technique. Really bring sense of time and place and life to the building.

[aleenaprasannan]

They are called Jaalis in India...Perforated high windows, some even elaborately carved are such an integral part of a lot of traditional architecture. A lot of Indian palaces have elaborately carved privacy windows on upper floors meant for inhabitants to watch processions and festivals in the street while keeping their privacy and security. In South India where the traditional architecture called Naalukettu which is very different from North India, the same concept can be seen, as decorative horizontal wooden trails covering the sides of entire height of second floor up to the gabled roofs.

[ryanleethomas]

Phil Edwards is really out here doing VRay daylight accuracy checks on 3D designers online. This is the commitment to the investigations I really appreciate.

No stock videos, no generalized commentary, nitty gritty - truly interesting topics. Kudos!

[brianarbenz]

You feel his presence inside his homes. Through his design features, he lives on.

[khalilahd.]

I just watched a documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright and his talented design. He truly was a visionary and I love that his work still lives on 💛

[benwhite]

I've lived in a house for the last two years that is like a cave. It's trapped in other houses and the way the light travels in, it's always super dark. Wright has got a point that light is an essential component to building design. A problem that can't just be solved with fixtures.

[Ratok]

I'd be lying if I said I liked his designs, but his use of light was genius. I love all the ideas he combined in his work, like the open floor plan, no curtains, ground heat, minimalism and a general uniqueness in expression and attempt at integration with nature. It all just falls a bit through for me on the execution.

[billvojtech]

A lot of old architecture, before central heat and air conditioning, used window placement and overhangs that took into account the angle of the sun at different times of the year to bring in heat in the winter and exclude it in the summer. Once central heat and AC became common and fuel was relatively cheap, less attention was paid to orienting the house to the sun.

[BluesGuitarPlayer]

I had to see a plastic surgeon as a teenager in Kettering, Ohio who's office was a Frank Lloyd-Wright building. It was amazing inside!

[chadialhajkadour]

The first time I heard of Frank Lloyd was back in the 90s, it was an article about the waterfall house in the Arabic edition of scientific American, and ever since I'm in love with every design I've seen.
Years later I moved to the US and living in Wisconsin his home state.
Frank Lloyd is undoubtedly one of the greatest architects of all times, if not the greatest of them all!

[paulybeefs]

0:42 The technical names for these clerestory windows are "brontosaurus", "log-on-a-pig" and"rabbit-behind-a-stump" windows. Also featured are the equally stunning "updside-down brontosaurus", "updside-down log-on-a-pig" and "updside-down rabbit-behind-a-stump" windows.

[SleepyPossums]

I create models like this for work - you would be astonished at how incredibly precise we can make any aspect of the model, including lighting.

Most of the time clients just use this tech to make their buildings look pretty at sunset, but I hope we can get more people like FLW who really appreciate how a building integrates with its surroundings.

With current tech he would probably be even more masterful.

[Nonrandomsttu]

Vox getting into architecture? man, y'all won a new subscriber if you continue with this content.

[pssurvivor]

Houses in the Indian state of West Bengal traditionally had those perforated windows at the top of the room, i always found them charming as a kid

[evanlucas]

If you're looking for more of this special design, look up one of Wright's most famous designs; Falling Water. It's this beautiful small house right on the edge of a waterfall. It blends so beautifully with the falls and the surrounding hillside. There's tons of windows and decking that pull occupants outside while also bringing some of the outside in.