VOA常速英语:流水别墅：建筑技艺与自然和谐共生

The house is called Fallingwater for a reason.It literally sits on top of a waterfall created by a mountain river called Bear Run, making the waterfall part of the house.You can hear it while going to sleep in one of the bedrooms, you can see it under your feet in the living room.

Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, owners of Kaufmann’s Department Store in Pittsburgh, wanted to build a weekend home.They hired legendary Frank Lloyd Wright who made their dream come true, integrating the waterfall into the architecture.The final result was so noteworthy:Frank Lloyd Wright’s portrait appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1938 with Fallingwater in the background.

Visitors flocked to the house among them celebrities of the day:Albert Einstein, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, and even the United States’ President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“It just fit(s) them like a pair of custom shoes for their lifestyle and what they want to achieve here,which was an immediate integration of relaxation in nature.”

Wright’s architecture is marked by abstract and geometric forms combined with elements found in nature such as stone, flowers and water.It is also characterized by open spaces filled with light and air, Frank Lloyd Wright was not fond of pictures.The only frames on the wall are all family portraits or paintings by artist dear to the heart of both the architect and the Kaufmann family.These included Diego Rivera painting and a sign joined by Picasso.Walls are replaced by windows, nature in the strict geometric frame.Fallingwater has been a museum since 1964.Smithsonian Magazine named it among the few places you need to visit in your lifetime.In the last 50 years, more than 4 million people have done just that.

Masha Morton, VOA News, Mill Run, Pennsylvania.