Fallingwater is one of the world’s most famous structures—Wright’s gentle nod to the International style, a summer home for wealthy clients, built atop a waterfall. In 1991 AIA members voted it the “best all-time work of American architecture." The preservation of the signature cantilevered balconies has proved costly and intensive.
Fallingwater is one of the most inventive houses of Frank Lloyd Wright's long career and one of the twentieth century's most celebrated icons. Placed above a waterfall in a deep ravine known as Bear Run, its horizontal cantilevered floors and terraces soar free of apparent support above the cascades and pools of the stream. Walls are avoided almost entirely, the sense of shelter provided by the overhangs and by screen-like windows detailed to enhance the buildings vertical and horizontal rhythms. Within the house, the effects of dappled light, surrounding foliage and tumbling water exemplify Wright's attitudes towards integrating architecture and nature.
