Frank Lloyd Wright House Opens Toshiko Mori Addition
The 7,775-square-foot, glass-paneled pavilion is an addition to Wright's largest Prairie Style house in existence.
Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 3/19/2009 12:00:00 AM
Northeast view of Toshiko Mori's Visitor Pavilion at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House
Igniting the envy of designers everywhere, New York-based architect Toshiko Mori recently completed her profession's dream commission: an addition to a Frank Lloyd Wright house. And it's not just an ordinary Wright structure—if such a thing exists—but the sprawling Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, NY.
Southeast view of Toshiko Mori's Visitor Pavilion at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House
Mori's Greatbatch Visitor Pavilion, a 7,775-square-foot, glass-paneled space for exhibition galleries, also serves as the new entryway to home, which is the master architect's largest Prairie Style house still in existence. The addition is part of a $50 million restoration of the 32,000-square-foot complex, which returned five buildings to their original 1907 condition.
Interior facing Martin House, Toshiko Mori's Visitor Pavilion at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House
Mori, also currently represented in the Fashioning Felt exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, is principal of Toshiko Mori Architect and an architecture professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
Interior of Toshiko Mori's Visitor Pavilion at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House
All photos by Biff Heinrich
A beautiful addition!
I am curious to know how the building was received by the profession
and by the public. I was a summer intern with Taliesin Architects at
Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona in the mid-90''s. I remain deeply
grateful for the opportunity but I have always rejected the Wright
inspired works that they produced. Mr. Wright was a master at
manipulating space in his own unique way. Every attempt I have seen
to mimic his style fails largely because it wasn''t a style. If he had
continued working coherently his theories would have also continued
to evolve.
This is a very bold addition. I do not believe Mr. Wrights work would
have evolved in this direction but I believe he would prefer this over
another Wright inspired style knockoff. This project appears to capture
the spirit of his work but through Mori''s unique perspective.
Brad Gavigan - 2009-03-24 12:06:00 EDT
I am curious to know how the building was received by the profession
and by the public. I was a summer intern with Taliesin Architects at
Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona in the mid-90''s. I remain deeply
grateful for the opportunity but I have always rejected the Wright
inspired works that they produced. Mr. Wright was a master at
manipulating space in his own unique way. Every attempt I have seen
to mimic his style fails largely because it wasn''t a style. If he had
continued working coherently his theories would have also continued
to evolve.
This is a very bold addition. I do not believe Mr. Wrights work would
have evolved in this direction but I believe he would prefer this over
another Wright inspired style knockoff. This project appears to capture
the spirit of his work but through Mori''s unique perspective.
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