Arts and Crafts vs Prairie School

アーツ・アンド・クラフツ / プレーリー・スクール

Arts and Crafts comes from Craft Movements and Prairie School from Modern Architecture. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts — William Morris, Strawberry Thief, 1883 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainArts and Crafts — ウィリアム・モリス『柳の枝』1887 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainArts and Crafts — ウェッブ＆モリス レッドハウス — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Returns material and handwork to the center of design, joining every detail of daily life under one conviction.

Prairie School

Prairie School — ライト ロビー邸 1910（CC BY 4.0）Prairie School — ロビー邸の水平線（CC BY 4.0）Prairie School — パーセル＆エルムズリー〈パーセル＝カッツ邸〉ミネアポリス 1913 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

An architecture of the horizontal line answering the midwestern prairie. Deep eaves, ribbon windows, low roofs and continuity between inside and out established the first American modern house free of imported European styles.

Arts and CraftsPrairie School
Era1860s–1910s1893–1920s
FamilyCraft MovementsModern Architecture
KindStyleStyle
CuesRepeating plants / Flat contours / Density of handwork / Colors from natureEmphasized horizontals / Deep overhanging eaves / Ribbon windows / Low-slung roofs
Best used forHonesty for long-lived tools and household brands · Uniting pattern, letter and material in one storyPlanning a low suburban house to lie along the land and the ground line · Running inside into outside so garden and living room read as one space
TypeSerifs or ornamented letters that feel hand-cutWide capitals set in one horizontal line, aligned with the eaves
CompositionRepeat plants and creatures with the seams hiddenA hearth at the core, rooms divided by ceiling height instead of walls
MaterialDeep indigo, plant-dye tones, off-white; keep the texture of paper and clothRoman brick and quartersawn wood, only the horizontal joints raked
CautionA floral print alone loses the conviction. Align material, making and a structure that lasts.Applying the horizontal motif to the elevation while shortening the eaves, so no shadow falls and the lines flatten into surface pattern.

Put these two together

Craft Movements ／ Modern Architecture

IndexStyle