Robie House Roof

A dramatic twenty foot cantilevered roof shades ribbons of art glass windows below creates privacy and seamlessly connects the interior and exterior.

Robie house roof.

The steel i beams make the roof cantilever possible while the detailing of exterior brickwork reinforces the horizontal emphasis by tooling the horizontal joints in a matural mortar and leaving vertical joints flush in a brick colored mortar. Robie house location plan section elevation characteristics interiors details. Text description provided by the architects. Robie house s horizontal lines low pitched roof and incorporation of natural materials mimic the midwestern landscape.

The servants bedrooms occupy the space above the garage. The basis of the composition is a long two story block with apparently symmetrical porches each featuring a sloped roof at each end. On the first floor of the south facade. Inside the typical warren of rooms is discarded for a light filled open plan centered around a main hearth.

One of the most striking pieces of the furniture designed by wright for the robie house is a sofa with extended armrests echoing the cantilevers of the exterior roof of the building which effectively create side tables on each side of the sofa. Designed and built between 1908 1910 the robie house for client frederick c. Robie by frank lloyd wright and built in chicago. Roofs of prairie style houses are either flat or a hippe with a very low slope.

The robie house is constructed of red roman brick and was one of the first residences to incorporate steel beams into its design. These strong beams were necessary to create the cantilevered balconies which appear to be suspended in mid air. More specifically at 5757 woodlawn avenue chicago illinois. Completed in 1910 the structure is the culmination of wright s modern design innovations that came to be called the prairie style.

Robie house is located on a corner lot in the neighborhood of hyde park near the university of chicago. At robie house the main living space is a single light filled room divided only by a central chimney. Roof overhangs or eaves are massive and contribute to the horizontal emphasis. The open plan design was revolutionary for the time and created a modern flexible living space for the robie family consisting of a dining area and a living area.

Wright designed a three bay garage for robie which is pretty impressive for 1910.