Louis Penfield House [1955]

Designed for a famously tall client, Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Louis Penfield House is a thorough play of proportions and a notable (if one of the grandest) members of his Usonian house portfolio that saw Wright cast his mind to a sustainable new house model for future living. Characterised by modest budgets, native material use, large glazed sections, clerestories, cantilevers and carports – Wright built 50+ of these houses across the United States, often on unremarkable, inexpensive land. Withstanding, he took pride in connecting the structures with the landscape, always softening the plenum between the house’s interior and exterior through careful orientation and elevation, together with a material palette that drew directly from the surround.