JAILCD2025-008: Frank Lloyd Wright's Study of Fireplaces in Homes -The Significance of Living Spaces and Fireplaces as Housing Changes over Time-

Abstract

In the past, our ancestors lived around fire. The Latin word "focus" means fireplace, suggesting that the center of our gatherings was always fire. Frank Lloyd Wright was also an architect who was interested in spending time around fire and always wanted to feel close to fire. Wright said that "the fireplace is the center of the entire living room and the building itself," and designed more than 1,000 fireplaces in his lifetime. Wright's career as an architect is broadly divided into three periods, and the style of the houses changed depending on the era in which he designed. However, it is noteworthy that fireplaces were always incorporated into the design regardless of the change in the era. In this study, we will similarly conduct four analyses of Wright's 17 houses studied, namely 1. fireplace placement, 2. traffic flow plan, 3. living room line of sight, and 4. detailed analysis of fireplaces, to gain new insights into how Wright's residential style evolved throughout his 70-year career as an architect and how the living room and fireplace became important as the center of the building accordingly. From these analyses, we can conclude that 1. the placement of the fireplace went from being an independent box to being integrated into the living room, and then being dismantled along with the living room, thus contributing to the destruction of the box, 2. the living room changed from a passing point to a destination in the traffic flow plan, and 3. the fireplace was designed to face the people and space in the living room. Ultimately, we learned that Wright wanted to face the fireplace toward the living room, while planning the placement of the fireplace in accordance with the transformation of living room spaces over the years.