Quick, Fetch Me A Pencil...

摘要

The most famous piece of concept design in the whole of architecture took place, of course, one morning in 1937. That was when Frank Lloyd Wright, having previously not committed a single line to paper, drew up the complete design for the house known as Fallingwater in the length of time it took his clients, Edgar J and Liliane Kaufmann, to drive to see him: about two hours. There were several witnesses to this astonishing act of architectural bravado, so it appears not to be a complete myth, even if the story shows distinct signs of embroidery. As related by his disciples, the design just poured out of Wright's head, and he talked as he drew, wide-eyed underlings handing him a stream of freshly-sharpened pencils. He was talking to himself, mainly, describing the narrative of the design, where the members of the family would be, how the house was going to relate to the stream in the wood. He named it, signed it, and handed over the drawings to his assistants to finish as he strolled out to meet his clients with the immortal words: 'Come in, EJ. We've been waiting for you.'