Color!

It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been very busy and many exciting things have been happening with the project. I got copies of the relevant volumes of the Complete Works of Frank Lloyd Wright by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (the 1980s version, not the 2010 version) and it has been a treasure trove. Plans, elevations, details, sketches and more that I've never seen before. Now I have wonderful drawings of all the sides of all the sculptures (except what's in the Winter Garden), and I've found out some of the colors.

I had seen the sketch of the elaborate balcony decoration and saw that a note said it was to be inlaid with red glass. My suspicion was that the decorative concrete pattern that covers most of the Belvederes was supposed to have some as well. As I was leafing through the book, I happened to stop on the pages covering the Avery Coonley House and there, in color, was a sketch of exactly what I was looking for, just mislabeled as for the Coonley House instead of Midway Gardens. And believe me when I say that there was absolutely no way I was mistaken. It showed red glass inserted into the concrete and it also showed that some of the concrete was to be painted black. I've applied it to the model and I have to say that over a large surface the effect is really surprising. I honestly can't say my opinion at this time, but it does fit and makes the plain concrete seem rather bland by comparison.

Another color revelation is a bit of a leap of faith, but only a small one. For the sketch for the so-called 'totem pole' figure holding its mugs of beer, there were indications that parts of the figure should be painted (and when I finally get to that, it will be) but it was originally supposed to have a light pole attached to it. The surprise was that the light pole was supposed to be gilded. Therefore, I don't think it's a terrible stretch to think that all of the pinnacles at Midway were supposed to be as well. I'm going to give it a try.

Nothing has been happening on the FLW Foundation front. I'm beginning to despair of ever having access to their treasure trove, but I do have some new venues to explore. I recently purchased a book on all of Wrights windows called Light Screens: The Complete Leaded Glass of Frank Lloyd Wright. The author, Julie L. Sloaan, is an expert on stained glass and has done extensive restoration work on historic stained glass. I'm going to contact her after I have the windows for the Midway Gardens Club done. Thanks to her book, which replroduces some sketches in color, I found out that the windows are all done in red, black, white, and clear glass. This seems to be consistent throught the work.

Speaking of books, I finished Anthony Alofsin's Frank Lloyd Wright: the Lost Years. It took a long time to finish, and was a bit intense in places, but was seriously mind-blowing and wonderful. He has a different perspective on Wright and his decoration than Kruty, and it was great to get a fresh look at Midway Gardens. I want to contact Mr. Alofsin as well.

I've also started work on one of the murals for the Garden Club. While murals were completed for the Tavern on the other side of the Gardens, it looks like nothing was ever done for the walls of the Garden Club. Since something was surely meant to be there, and since I don't want to design something myself, I've decided to use the murals from the tavern, but put them on opposite walls and reverse them. It's not a perfect solution, but will at least make them look somewhat different from those in the Tavern. I've got measured drawings, photos, and colored pencil sketches for these. All three differ from one another, and I'm picking and choosing a bit, but the final result is far more accurate than anything anyone else has done, and I'm pretty excited about that.

As always, comments are very welcome.



So much needs to be done here, but I like how the mural is coming along. It's realy fun and adds so much to the space. I can't wait to finish the doors as well, which are kind of a mess right now. They will be stained glass when finished.



Here is the view with the glass imbedded in the concrete. It's a neat effect. The poles at the top are supposed to be gilded, but I think they look silver-have to play around with that some. You'll notice there are some rudimentary sculptures above the entrance. They will be Sprites when they're done, but God only knows when that will be. I've been struggling with them for a while and they are getting nowhere, but I'll figure it out and I already have some ideas to help.

Doors

The doors into the Garden Club have been causing me a great deal of grief. They are unique and trying to get their proportions correct has been a nightmare. I'm working on them a lot more right now and I can't believe the problems they're causing. Most of the trouble comes from the fact that they are obscured by curtains in the one historic photo I have. This isn't too big a problem for the doors, but it makes this tricky for the side windows. When I first drew them, I had assumed that the side windows were just rectangles. However, looking at some of the drawings in Kruty's book, it seems that there is a vertical sliver to the side of each door that has an angled top, continuing the slope above the door. So far, I haven't been able to make it work, but I'll get there.

Another thing I'm curious about with these doors is what the glass was like behind those curtains. I had always assumed it was clear, but in Julie L. Sloan's book there is an illustration showing some elegant art glass in the doors and the aforementioned vertical panels. I have a feeling these were never included, whether by design or just as a cost cutback. However, since my Midway Gardens is the ideal Midway Gardens, I'm going to include them.

The wall these doors are in has a mural on it in the photograph. This is actually a photo of the Tavern, which was on the other side of the building. The Midway Garden Club was it's mirror image, though the room was a somewhat different configuration. We don't have any photos of the interior of the room, but I think it's safe to say it was very similar to the Tavern. We do know, however, that the Tavern was the only room where the Wright designed murals were actually installed. I'm sure the Midway Garden Club would have had some as well, but we have no information on these and they may never have been designed. I'd really like to put something there, even if it's just over the door. I don't want to do an exact copy of what was in the Tavern, but I want it to be an accurate Wright design. The Tavern had two murals-one at the door and one at the cigar stand. I think I will use the cigar stand mural, make it fit the entrance wall (the overall dimensions are nearly identical) and possibly reverse it just to make it look a bit different. I think this would be preferable to nothing, which is my only other option.



I decided to make the wall base black in this room. I was looking at some of the Tavern photos and in one of them the base looks like it's actually shiny, like it was lacquered. It definitely looks sharp with the yellow brick and once you get the red white and black windows in place, the room will really pop.

On a totally unrelated note, I got in touch with a professor who worked on a model of Midway Gardens back in the day. He wrote me with an incredibly kind offer of help and his email got me jazzed up about this project like I haven't been in a long time. I'm really excited to see where this will go. Thanks Bruce!

Belvedere Finished?

The last few months have been very instructive. I had feared that I would lose some of my momentum on this project, and I did. It was a result of several factors, but probably the biggest one was the mess that was the Belvedere top. It's incredibly complex and, perfectionist that I am, I couldn't get everything to line up the way I wanted it to. I ended up having to create a new model that was just of the top, play with that for ages, and then insert that into the existing model. Along the way I had to rearrange the columns at the top several times and I finally realized that the way they were drawn and the way they were built were different. I decided to go with the way they were built and this seems to work pretty nicely. Another problem was that the way I had been drawing the decorative metal edge along everything was somewhat wrong (the angle of the upper part was too steep) and had to redesign that and then replace it everywhere it already was. I also have been spending a lot of time making the brick joints nicer where it meets any of the decorative concrete. This process is slow going and tedious, even for me, but it makes the joints look nice and crisp so it's worth it.

Unfortunately I do not have any drawings from Taliesin, but I am still trying to get them. It's been a very interesting process and even though it hasn't been successful (yet), I've learned a lot. After all, it isn't every day you deal with a major private archive.

On a more hopeful note, I just purchased a copy of Light Screens: The Complete Leaded-Glass Windows of Frank Lloyd Wright by Julie L. Sloan. It's an expensive, out of print book and I gambled that it would have some new info on Midway Gardens in it. I was right! There isn't a lot, just a few drawings, but they are far more than I had before. This gives me the proper window design for the Restaurant/Bar areas as well as a design for the doors to those rooms. I had no idea that the doors and their sidelights were art glass. In the photos they are shown with curtains. Was the art glass installed? Who knows, but in my version it will be. I'm trying for an 'ideal' Midway Gardens; something between what was built and what was drawn, hopefully with the best of both worlds.

The other drawings puzzle me a great deal as they show windows I am totally unfamiliar with. Are they somewhere else in the building or were they just alternate designs that were never used? I'm pretty sure the latter is the case for at least one of them, but I have no idea for the others. Problmatically, many of the glass designs shown in the photos are not included in the published drawings. However, I know a whole lot more than I did two days ago, which is always exciting.

Interestingly, it looks as though the windows were only done in three colors. They look as though they were made primarily of clear glass and all the accents were in red, white, and black glass. Coincidentally, red is the only color I have been able to bring myself to use thus far, so I'm not too far off. I know Kruty says that Wright did use green and blue as well (specifically in some of the light fixtures) but I think it was pretty sparing. It will be interesting when I finally get to the murals in the bar-I think it will change my color sensibility for this project and may let me use a wider variety of colors.

Speaking of murals, I'm really tempted to try and do some sort of 'City by the Sea' mural in the octagon above the Belvedere, but I'm not sure what that would look like. Wright ended up creating a mural by that name for the stage surround at Taliesin West, and I've considered adapting it for the Belvedere. However, it would be an adaptation and I don't know that there is enough design there to adequately cover that much surface area. I'll worry about that later.

Here are some images of what I've been up to. Sorry it isn't the massive progress from the beginning of the year, but it's not bad either. I rather doubt I'll get back to that level of productivity again, but I do hope that I'll never go this long without blogging again.

Belvedere Top

I apologize that it's been a while since I last posted. My work has been very busy lately and for a while I hit a bit of a road block with the model. Getting everything on the top of the Belvedere to line up has been a real nightmare, even though it really shouldn't be. Partly I'm my own worst enemy as I keep trying to make everything perfect. While there is a time and a place for this, until I get to reference the actual drawings for the building, everything is guesswork at this point anyway, so it shouldn't matter so much, right? I guess I'm trying to convince myself with that sentence, but it isn't working. Ah well, at least I think it looks good as it is.

Here are a few shots I did of the top of the Belvedere. I created all the intricate columns and I think the effect is very nice. I'm not sure how accurate they are, but I can say that they are at least close to what was there. Again, hopefully I'll get drawings and be able to be more precise. Enjoy the pictures, and please feel free to leave comments!

Just Problems

Shortly after I posted my last entry, saying how much progress I was making over the weekend, I noticed something that completely halted the process. I realized that the first floor was one brick too short and that the second floor slab needed to be thicker. I began fixing this only to realize that the extra brick needed to be below the 'wainscot' trim. Of course, this realization was only after I'd added the brick at the top of the wall. Things are a mess, but it will get sorted out. I'm really glad I made the layers otherwise this would take ten times as long.

Solving Problems #2

This weekend has been very productive so far, and I've made a lot of progress on the South Arcade as you can see from the picture. I'm very pleased with how it is coming along. The side facing out is almost finished (at least three bays worth) and I'm hard at work on the side facing the Summer Garden. I've even begun a little work on the terraces of the Summer Garden itself. I'll post some of that when I've finished the second floor railing, which should be soon.



One of the problems I had to solve for this view was what to do with the small decorative concrete panels that cover the upper part of the Belvedere. The Wendingen drawings show them coming down the side Belvedere, but it also shows that the wall with the big arch (just visible between the first pair of pillars on the second level) is supposed to be stucco. I don't have any good drawings or photos for this detail, so I had to make something up. I decided to return one concrete panel onto the stucco surface. It may not be accurate, but I think it's clean at least.

Something that is going to solve several problems (and maybe make some new ones as well) is a new book that I just bought: Frank Lloyd Wright The Lost Years, 1910-1922: A Study of Influence by Anthony Alofsin. If you click on the cover below, you'll be sent to Amazon where you can purchase a copy if you wish.



This book has several drawings and photos of Midway Gardens that weren't included in Kruty's book. I'm especially excited about a drawing of the decorated top of one of the towers. It shows the design that is printed in the Wendingen, but is a bit different from what's been built. It's also different from some sketches included elsewhere. They contradict each other, which doesn't make my life any easier, but its fun to have the options and get to see all that detail spelled out for me.

Lastly, it took me a while to figure out what the 'capitals' of the pillars on the second level should look like. In my web searches for this project I came across a wonderful page with all sorts of images I'd never seen before on Steinrag's webpage http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhRtS180mb.htm. One of the pictures shows this colonnade close up. You should really check it out-the page is fantastic.

Discoveries

Creating this model has been a learning experience for me, both about Frank Lloyd Wright and Sketchup. I haven't made much visual progress since my last post because I've been figuring things out about each of them.

There are a few things I've realized about Midway Gardens. One of them is the efficiency of the layout. Even though it is a vast, sprawling building, getting someone their hot food efficiently would have been no problem. If you look at the plan (and I'm sorry that you can't view the Wendingen on this blog, but I think it's still under copyright and I'm kind of fanatical about that) you will find several boxes with an X drawn through them. Most of these are within walls and I'm pretty sure these were dumbwaiters. They are all in pairs and can be found near the Belvederes and within the Winter Garden. Food for the outdoors would be brought in from a series of ramps that led to subterrenean kitchens. It looks like you'd get your food hot at Midway Gardens.

Another neat detail I noticed is that the second floor railing on one side of the perimeter Arcades is taller than the other. I couldn't figure out why it was drawn this way on the sections and elevations (consistently, too) but after examining some of the photos, I realized that each railing ended in a different location and connected to a different element. Who would ever think to do such a thing? It's subtleties like this that make the building, and this process, fascinating for me.

As for Sketchup, I had been very worried that my computer was going to get to a point where it could no longer handle processing the model. Doing a little internet research was truly enlightening and I spent a good chunk of the weekend putting everything in components (all the stuff that wasn't already one, that is) and putting everything on a layer. One article I read referred to people 'graduating' to layers, and that's what it feels like-what a difference! But doing this has only made me realize how lacking my Sketchup skills are and what a newbie I am. But as I said, this is a learning experience.

Once I've made some more visual progress, I'll post more pictures.

New Images

Here are some of my latest images of Midway Gardens. As you can see, I've added the balcony over the main entrance to the Belvedere. I think it looks nice and the door definitely breaks up the wall in a necessary way. However, I have no idea if the door is accurate or not. My rule of thumb for areas I don't know about is to keep it as simple as possible. If I don't have information on an element, I try and make it similar to something already there. If that's not possible, I simplify it to the point that it won't interfere. This was a highly finished and well-thought-out building. It isn't my place or desire to put my own stamp on it.



Adding the big glass door to the balcony really lets a lot of needed light into the second level of the Belvedere. Even though it is a very open space, that end was looking rather dark.



I'm including this last one to show what a mess the model actually is. This is the side I haven't been showing you and you can see how incomplete it is. But this view is one of the most important to me. If you look back at my 'Solving Problems #1' posting, there is a photo of this view (reversed since it was the other side of the building). Unfortunately the photo is pretty seriously cropped on the left side, but even still I consider this to be one of the greatest architectural photographs ever taken. Even after looking at it hundreds of times, it still takes my breath away and I feel that it sums up all that was best in Midway Gardens in a single image. I really want to convey this with my model, though I don't know how I'm going to be able to match it due to the dimensions of my computer screen. I'm sure I'll figure something out though.



Note: I almost forgot, I've made the blog public. Invite your friends.

Progress and Changes

Today I got an email from Paul Kruty in response to some renderings I'd sent him. He was very helpful and encouraging and let me know that I could get copies of the drawings for Midway Gardens from the Getty Institute. I called them and was informed that I would need to get permission from Taliesin before they could send me anything. I've since contacted them, and that is where the process stands at the moment.

I'm also looking into what my options are for rendering. As I've mentioned, IDX Renditioner is a good product but it just isn't going to cut it for me. I'm currently looking into Twilight Render, which looks pretty cool. It apparently uses the same process as Kerkythea, which I haven't tried but greatly admire. Like IDX, it is used within Sketchup but it also can make rendered videos, which is probably my ultimate goal with this. It costs $99, which is cheap considering its functionality, but I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll keep everyone posted.

Challenges

Midway Gardens is one of the most complex buildings Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed. In many respects, having this be my first serious reconstruction was a folly, biting off more than I can realistically chew. But I actually didn't start with Midway Gardens, I started with the Darwin Martin house. I was online and found the HABS drawings for it, printed them out, and started scaling things. It was fun at first, but I never got further than most of the basement plan. There were a few reasons for this. First, the Darwin Martin house is still standing, and its magnificent, comprehensive restoration is nearly complete. This made a virtual reconstruction less interesting and less important. The sense of discovery wasn't there. Second, even with the HABS drawings, there was a huge amount of information about the house I didn't have. The house is famous for the number and variety of designs of the windows, and I simply didn't have those. I also didn't have photos of most of the smaller rooms. Who knew if what I was doing would be 'right' or not?

Midway Gardens is different in that the need for absolute accuracy isn't as essential. Even with all the information at my disposal, who knows if this is the way it actually was? This makes me more willing to be bold and use my own judgment. After all, at this point, is mine any better or worse than anyone else's? Besides, if I find other drawings or photos, I can always modify the model to make it more accurate. I've said before, I want this to be as accurate as I can make it, but no matter how perfect it is, it will only be an approximation of reality.

This project is more exciting than the Darwin Martin house because it is a building that is long gone. It appears to me before my eyes as something totally new, something that I have the privilege of seeing before anyone else in over 80 years. That alone is enough to keep me coming back every day to do more work on this project. Also, I feel that I do have enough information to make the exterior and major spaces of the interior. Once my model is done, you won't be able to peek into the kitchens or bathrooms, but you should be able to walk from Cottage Grove Avenue through any of the major spaces and end up in the Summer Garden. That's my goal at least.

I knew starting this that there would be challenges, and there are various elements that scare me. These are as follows: the decorative concrete panels on the exterior, the Sprites, the stained glass windows, the four statues in the Winter Garden (especially the woman holding the sphere), and, maybe more than anything else, the pilaster capitals in the Winter Garden.

I am happy to say that the first item on this list, the decorative concrete panels, have been completed. The smaller ones have been done for some time and are visible in some of the renderings I've posted, but the larger ones I just finished. I'd say I spent between 3 and 4 hours on them, but I personally think they look great and are pretty accuarate as well. Hope you enjoy them.

Stairs

I just realized that I talked a lot about the stairs going up into the Belvedere yesterday but never showed them. Here they are:


Base


Top

In terms of scale, remember that the staircase is only 2'-6" wide. Put that in relation to all the other tight corners and you can see why I'm so concerned about the top of the belvedere. (Sorry you can't see down the stairs very well-the IDX shadows can get kind of dark.)

I like these views because they give you some idea of what is going on in the Belvedere as well. The octagonal atrium is a pretty neat feature. Those big walls were supposed to be covered with a mural called 'The City by the Sea'. There would be two different versions by two different artists, one for each of the Belvederes. Apparently they were painted, or mostly painted, but Wright was so unhappy with them that he had the covered over. He was going to design his own version, but it was never installed. Later on, he made a version that was put around the stage at Taliesin West. It is a mass of geometric shapes and similar to the murals that actually were installed in the Tavern.

Right now I'm working on the roofs over the entrances to the Belvedere. I think I've finally gotten the pitch correct and I'm finally figuring out how the eaves will work. From there I'm going to start on the balcony over the front Belvedere entrance, and start filling in the second floor. I love all that I've gotten done, but I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself with all the work on the upper part of the Belvedere. Hopefully I'll have some cool new images to post soon!

Status Update

Here are my latest renderings. I got a lot done over New Year's but I've been spending plenty of time correcting things as well. I decided that the front and side entrances were too narrow and increased themy by half a brick on each side. This was to make the sculpted panels at the front fit properly between the brick piers. I also decided to move the urn located on the knee wall insde the front entrance. Kruty shows that the wall was built as a simple L angle, but if you look closely at the Wendingen plan, you can see that it looks like the wall is actually a T shape. I debated on how to show it, but since this is an 'ideal' Midway Gardens, I decided to make the change. In my opinion it looks much nicer, giving the urn it's own space and also giving the plants more light.


Before


After

Something I am not at all sure about is the staircase up to the top of the Belvedere. Kruty mentions that it was very narrow (and I made it a claustrophobic 2'-6") but I have no idea what it looked like at the bottom or the top. Making it as simple as possible seemed like the best idea, so it's pretty bland, but does break up the wall a little bit. At the top, I wasn't sure how close to the balcony railing to bring the wall surrounding the stair opening. It ends up being frustratingly close to the edge. I'd prefer it to either intersect the railing or at least have enough room to shuffle between the two. There is neither. Then again, I am reminded of two instances I've encountered with older buildings where clearance wasn't a priority. If you have ever climbed to the top of Brunelleschi's dome in Florence, you know that the balcony around the drum of the dome is so narrow you almost have to shuffle sideways. And the same is true if you've even been to the balcony atop Biltmore's main tower. Wright wasn't all that concerned with head clearance, so why should he care about the ability to manoever around tight spaces? Even though it is unfinished, the top of the Belvedere looks like it will be very cramped indeed, and though the designer in me may not like it, that doesn't mean it wasn't actually built that way.

Stained Glass Problems

Now that part of the second floor of the Belvedere done, I have the opportunity to create my first Wright stained glass window. While I don't have good photos or drawings of what these tall narrow windows were supposed to look like, I had enough info in other places to make an educated guess. They seemed to be nothing more than a grid of squares, some of them colored. I decided to make the colored portion red, and I think it looks very festive. Here is what it looks like in Sketchup:



One of the things I like about how the model looks in Sketchup are the colors. The brick is the pale cream color I wanted (it's a standard Sketchup color called 'lemon chiffon') and I got a really nice bright red for the glass (color A06 and I played with the transparency). This is all great until you put it in IDX renditioner.



Part of the problem here is that the window is mostly in shadow, but the colors are a little off. This is going to be a problem with any renditioner and I've noticed that IDX has a tendency to either intensify or dull colors. Here, as in all my renderings, the brick is more yellow than I'd like (I can never tell how bad it is. On my home computer it isn't that yellow, but at work it looks like a lemon.) and the red is a little dull. This only becomes a real problem when we go inside.





See how dull the image is in IDX? And see how the red glass doesn't let light pass through it at all? I have to admit, I'm pretty disappointed. I did some research, and it is apparently impossible to do stained glass like I imagined with IDX renditioner. On the IDX design forum, they addressed this and apparently it won't be a feature of IDX any time soon.

http://forums.idx-design.com/index.php?topic=129.0

This means that I am ultimately going to have to find another renditioner. I'm disappointed as I like IDX's ease of use. But art glass was an extremely important design feature at Midway Gardens and I just can't imagine making the renderings without it looking realistic. I have a vision of the low sun coming in through the wall of stained glass doors in the promenade and casting their colors around like a cathedral. It will be wonderful, but I can't do it with IDX Renditioner.

In the mean time, I am still going to play around with IDX. One of the things I'm going to have to adjust is the reflectivity of the yellow brick. On the inside image of the windows, see how the right one has a yellow glow to it? That's light reflecting off the brick outside. I'm not too worried about it at this point, though.