Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Organic Architecture: Stretch the horizontals and open from a low entry into a tall room.
- Type
- Set in Organic Architecture's manner (Repeat one geometry down to signs and furniture, adding no foreign typeface.), and let Prairie School's lettering (Wide capitals set in one horizontal line, aligned with the eaves) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Organic Architecture's material (Local stone and solid timber joined by plaster and matched metalwork.); bring in exactly one thing from Prairie School (Roman brick and quartersawn wood, only the horizontal joints raked).
- Colour
- Build on #d9d1bd, #77806a, #4d4539 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Modern Architecture, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Organic Architecture Assembling natural materials and curves without reading contours and sun produces a shell that could stand anywhere, missing the principle that unites site, structure, furniture and movement.
- Prairie School Applying the horizontal motif to the elevation while shortening the eaves, so no shadow falls and the lines flatten into surface pattern.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Organic Architecture (Style, 1900s–) and its accent from Prairie School (Style, 1893–1920s). Structural cues: Integration with terrain; Horizontals; Natural materials; Inside-outside continuity. Accent cues, used sparingly: Emphasized horizontals; Deep overhanging eaves; Ribbon windows; Low-slung roofs. Composition: Stretch the horizontals and open from a low entry into a tall room.. Type and lettering: Repeat one geometry down to signs and furniture, adding no foreign typeface.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Roman brick and quartersawn wood, only the horizontal joints raked. Mood: Intimacy, Calm, Luxury, Trust. Color: build on #d9d1bd, #77806a, #4d4539 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Organic Architecture 1900s– / Style / Modern Architecture
Refuses to treat building, furniture, material, terrain and light separately, designing them as one continuum that includes the place and the life lived in it.
- Prairie School 1893–1920s / Style / Modern Architecture
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.
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