The place of dining in Frank Lloyd Wright\u27s houses

Abstract

Part one of this research examines Wright\u27s speech with respect to the notion of a cosmic container, the art of the potter and its implications for the architect. Part two discusses the place of dining in Wright\u27s projects in view of the preceding analysis. The dining area is considered indexical of Wright\u27s sentience towards an archetypal mode of uniting family and fellowship like an ancient mannerbund. It is discovered that the dining table, locus of a desiring gaze meant to unite, is in Wright\u27s houses an important magnet for the organization of the interior in the relations between the parts and the whole. It is also discovered that the setting for the shared meal is a marker for the boundary between the house and the surrounding landscape; it is that which joins both literally and transcendentally by reference to the archetypal relation of nourishment between two bodies, mother and child