Thursday 27 May 2010

Robie House restoration project wins award!

Robie

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, whose “digital” dining room is pictured above, has just won an award for the creators of its digital restoration.

_quote The digital restoration of Wright’s Robie House, created by zünpartners, received the Webby Award for Cultural Institutions. The recreation of Robie House’s interior spaces allows visitors to explore the home as envisioned by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1910, the year construction was completed. The Web site is designed to engage visitors in the restoration process help encourage donations required for its completion and provide an interactive educational demonstrations…
    “The most dramatic effect is the restoration of Wright's lighting scheme. Reproduction period light bulbs were sampled for an accurate color and glow. Special attention was given to recreate the pattern of the grill which serves as a light screen on top of the sconces which, when lit, illuminate the adjacent wall. The composition of different fixtures and lights is a wholly unique Robie House experience.
The Robie House sparked a revolution in residential architecture whose influence still reverberates today. Designated by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 10 most significant structures of the 20th century, this American treasure is celebrated as one of Chicago’s most important works of art. Robie House, more than any other structure, demonstrated Wright’s genius and brought him acclaim from both the United States and abroad. In its precision-like arrangement, the home continues to be recognized as one of the most important buildings of the 20th century, a building that propelled the modernist movement in architecture.
View the award-winning digital restoration at: http://www.gowright.org/robie/

4 comments:

the drunken watchman said...

You ever actually sat in a chair like that without pitching headlong into your soup?

I did once, and concluded it was a clever psychological ploy to deter diners from lingering on.

Typical example of form over function, makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at them.

Luke H said...

Drunken watchman, I came here to say the same thing.

the drunken watchman said...

Luke, btw....

great example of how memes are spread. Beer, wine, architecture, jeans, long hair in hippies ... yak about it enough, sheep will bleat in accordance, no matter what product is being promoted.

From what I can piece together, Libz say that taste is inherent in humans, and (I think) PC says that Frank's work epitomises inherent appreciation of the quality of work like his.

I say, Frank, how does it feel to fall in your soup, you pretentious idiot? (if in fact he designed those stupid chairs)

Luke H said...

Drunken watchman, last time I checked, Libz has no opinion about taste being inherent in humans - the closest we would get to that is promoting no public funding of the arts. Taste being inherent in humans is an Objectivist idea, I believe.

I also don't think Frank was a pretentious idiot; it is just that those chairs and the table look particularly uncomfortable and awkward to use. I can imagine elbows regularly hitting the table lamps, for example. Classic example of form over function, as you say.