Frank Lloyd Wright built in his Passion for Radiant Heat “Bachman Wilson” House Moved; Heating System is First Order of Business Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for radiant heat—for its comfort and invisibility—is well known among architects. However, it was his flair for open designs that were “in harmony with humanity and its living environments”—a philosophy he called “organic architecture”—for which he is best recognized. Among his most famous designs are Falling Water, a magnificent home in rural Pennsylvania, the Dwight D. Martin House and the Price Tower. Wright’s Bachman Wilson House was originally built in 1954 along the Millstone River in the National Historic District of the Borough of Millstone, NJ. It was one of his “Usonian” style homes—a distinctly American style house that was available and affordable to all, yet with an open floor plan. Wright designed Usonian homes to be built by just four tradesmen: a plumber, an electrician, a mason and a by Rachel Ruhl Account Manager/Writer Common Ground carpenter. He brought the Bachman Wilson House to life with only concrete block, concrete, glass and mahogany. An architect/designer team—Lawrence and Sharon Tarantino—purchased the house in 1988. They restored it meticulously. The Hillsborough Township, NJ-based firm of Tarantino Architect has led the restoration of numerous other Frank Lloyd Wright houses. In August of 2011, Hurricane Irene hit the Northeast like a runaway freight train. The Tarantino property received six feet of river water through the home, damaging it extensively. In order for the Bachman Wilson House to live on as a historic monument, it had to be moved. The Tarantinos decided that selling the house to an institution willing and able to relocate it was the best option for its preservation. Following several years of research for a potential buyer, they sold the home to Crystal Bridges Museum in 2013, which would turn it into a year-round, historical exhibit. In April of 2014, Wright’s masterpiece was carefully disassembled. Each section was laboriously inventoried, labeled and wrapped for transit. Two giant shipping containers made the 1,235-mile trek, delivering the entire house—in pieces—to teams at the new home-site at Crystal Bridges’ 120-acre property in the Northwestern corner of Arkansas. Director of Operations, Scott Eccleston, orchestrated its reassembly. The home’s front façade, with concrete block and mahogany trim, has a nearly fortress-like appearance that ensured privacy from the street in its original suburban location. Inside, 14-foot-tall, floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows tower over the open floor plan with red concrete floors, imprinted to show the grid work pattern that Frank Lloyd Wright used to design his homes—another architectural facet Wright loved to incorporate. Even though Wright designed the home in 1954, it was wildly futuristic at the time. Aside from modern aesthetic characteristics, the Bachman Wilson House is equipped with green building components, such as passive solar through abundant use of natural light, and in-floor hydronic radiant heat. The museum team used the same methods Frank Lloyd Wright used in the original design for the reconstruction process—even down to using the same nail and screw holes. 10 ICM/March/April 2016
ICM March-April 2016
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