Today in 1867, Frank Lloyd Wright was born.
He was one of the preeminent architects of his time, designing striking, one of a kind buildings, from houses to office buildings to museums… to gas stations.
This was part of a project that Wright developed for years and years, called Broadacre City.
He thought that the way cities had sprang up was bad for the individual and for the community, that people didn’t have enough space or enough autonomy.
He came up with a community plan where each household had an acre of land where they could live, grow food and do whatever they wanted to do.
Wright figured people could stretch out more because they could use cars to get from place to place.
And when they did go out, the buildings in Broadacre City were designed to be community gathering places, right down to the service stations where they got their cars tuned up and topped off their gas tanks.
The Broadacre City design was never built, except for the gas station.
It’s known as the R.W. Lindholm Service Station in Cloquet, Minnesota.
It cost $20,000 to make at a time that most stations cost five; but this one’s got a cantilevered roof, an observation space on the upper deck, and above the space to work on four cars: skylights.
Many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings are protected today; some have been demolished.
And other designs were never built, though now they’re being brought to life in virtual reality.
Designboom reported on the 3D rendering work that made it happen.
We can’t live there, but maybe our metaverse avatars can?
Lindholm Oil Company Service Station (FrankLloydWright.org)
Three unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright houses are brought to life as digital reconstructions (designboom)
