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.