Could this house be built today?

[bbinacan]

I doubt it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Water

[Ptah]

1. It would be done better.

From the link:

"The study indicated that the original structural design and
plan preparation had been rushed and the cantilevers had
significantly inadequate reinforcement. As originally designed by Wright,
the cantilevers would not have held their own weight.<11>"

[XemaSab]

2. Why do you think that?

:shrug:

[bbinacan]

7. See comment #3. n/t

[XemaSab]

11. Ah yes

n/t

[Captain Hilts]

3. Wetlands laws and codes about living in places with black mold would kill it. nt

[XemaSab]

13. Theoretically

you could clear-span the creek and avoid ACOE consultation.

[crispini]

4. Why not?

there are plenty of modern architects doing equally radical things, you just don't hear about the residences they do as much. for example:

[Gabi Hayes]

6. John Muir had a little crick running through his cabin in Yosemite

"Here was the absolute manifestation of the divine, where they could celebrate God in nature." We were in a cool, shady grotto filled with bracken fern and milkweed, as picturesque a place as fans of the drifter who would become America's most influential conservationist might wish. Although no structure remains, we know from Muir's diaries and letters that he built the one-room cabin from pine and cedar with his friend Harry Randall, and that he diverted nearby Yosemite Creek to run beneath its floor. "Muir loved the sound of water," Gisel explained. Plants grew through the floorboards; he wove the threads of two ferns into what he called an "ornamental arch" over his writing desk. And he slept on sheepskin blankets over cedar branches. "Muir wrote about frogs chirping under the floors as he slept," Gisel said. "It was like living in a greenhouse."

Read more: http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:UFsbY2Gni1oJ:www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/yosemite.html+muir+yosemite+cabin+creek&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us#ixzz0SSGlT3Pb

[XemaSab]

12. There's a business in Dunsmuir, California (totally coincidentally)

where there is a creek running under the building.

In the winter there is plexiglass covering the opening, and in the summer there's a metal grate so the water can be used for cooling the building.

[Rick Myers]

5. YES

Plenty of similar designs, done well...

[whyverne]

8. All I can think of when I'm there is "How did they heat it?" n/t

[Arctic Dave]

9. If I remember correctly a Japanese architect built a house that is

similar to Falling Water. I will have to look it up in an old architectual digest magazine. Both houses are incredibly designed.

[bemildred]

10. That would depend on where you try to build it. nt

[WillowTree]

14. Sure, but not for the approx. $150,000 that it cost when it was built.

The driveway would cost that much today.

[KoKo]

15. Neat Article...thanks! I gave you a recommend...but there are weird folks

unrecommending.

[bbinacan]

16. Thanks. n/t

[blogslut]

17. There's a Wright house in my hometown

The setting isn't a beautiful but, as per his philosophy, it blends with the Caliche rock and flat terrain of the Texas High Plains:




What impresses me most are the built-ins: