Considering the vast size of the building, that it was built during a transitional point in Wright's career and life, and that it was one of his most complicated spaces, it is astonishing that so little has been written about Midway Gardens. Kruty's book reconstructs the building in words and images, letting it live again. I intend to contact Prof. Kruty as soon as I have enough done that I feel it would justify his attention. Hopefully he will be able to give me valuable imput.
Unfortunately, the book is hard to get a hold of and has been out of print for several years. If you want a copy, be prepared to shell out a good deal of money for it. I had been curious to read the book for a long time, but it wasn't until I was able to get a copy for around $70 on ebay that I felt I wasn't being ripped off. Most copies sell for around $120 for one that isn't in very good shape and can sell for over $200 for a good quality edition. However, it contains photos and drawings that can be found nowhere else, including the only published second floor plan. If you are interested, it is definitely worth it.
The second book I am relying heavily upon is the Wendingen edition of Wright's work. It has many photos of Midway Gardens (most, if not all, of which are in Kruty's book, but they are reproduced much larger) and also has a large format plan. It is not the same plan in FLW&MG, which Kruty drew himself, and has more detail to it. What Prof. Kruty drew tried to approximate what was actually built, whereas I am trying to create Midway Gardens as it should have been.
Unfortunately, there are no dimensions on the plan. While Kruty provides a scale for his plans, it is difficult to reconcile the two. However, Kruty noted in his book that the floor of the Winter Garden (the indoor restaurant) was made out of black and white floor tiles that were laid in 2'x2' squares. By comparing photos of the interior with the grid shown on the floor plan, I realized it was the same number of tiles. This gave me the scale I needed. In order to measure everything else, I inserted the Wendingen plan, elevations, and sections into AutoCAD. I scaled the plans based on the floor tiles and then scaled everything else based on the plans. This enabled me to measure as necessary.
In doing this I have found numerous inconsistencies between the plans and elevations/sections. Just looking at the plan you find that there are different amounts of steps on one side of the building as the other. I do not believe this was actually the case. Also, many things do not line up, causing me plenty of problems.
Lastly, as I mentioned in the last post, I am using Sketchup to create my model. While this is not necessarily the best modeling tool out there, it is extremely easy to use and it's free. It also makes rendering the model very simple as I have installed IDX Renditioner, which lets me make renderings directly from Sketchup. The effect is not photo realistic, but that may be more due to user ignorance than anything to do with the program. The renderings I've done so far are realistic enough to give an excellent idea of what the building was like, which is my ultimate goal.
Note: While I would love to post the Wendingen plan and elevations, I have not found them anywhere else on the internet and am not sure that they are in the public domain. If I find out they are, I'll put them up.
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