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3KRWRFROOOHFWLRQE\+DUYH\&UR]HIURPSKRWRERRNJLYHQDVDSHUVRQDOJLIWWR7KH$IIOHFNV 'VXOR'XINOZKIZ[XK ;:2)-GRRKXOKY Lawrence Technological University Frank Lloyd Wright AFFLECK HOUSE 70th Anniversary Exhibition Exhibition Catalog April 20-24, 2011 Introduction The 70th construction anniversary of the Affl eck House offers an ideal opportunity to cele- brate the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright and the commitment of the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University to preserve its legacy. The Affl eck House provides our students with an environment in which to study in a “living laboratory” of mid- 20th century architecture by an American master. Our students are inspired to produce ar- tistic and technical projects, some of which are included in this catalog with many more in i the exhibition. Since the Affl eck family has entrusted their house to us, College of Architec- ture and Design faculty, staff, and students have tirelessly contributed their time and talents toward the house’s care. It is with great pleasure that I present this catalog and exhibition in commemoration of the Affl eck House construction that has inspired exceptional student work and dedicated college efforts. Glen LeRoy Dean, FAIA, FAICP, College of Architecture and Design Lawrence Technological University Lawrence Technological University 21000 West Ten Mile Road Southfi eld, MI 48075 Acknowledgments: This work is the production of the College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) at Lawrence Technological University. Gretchen Maricak, editor and layout; Michelle Overley, graphic design, layout, and production; Anne Adamus, editor; Nik Prucnal, editor & layout. Joe Oberhauser and the Architecture Computing Resource Center (ACRC), printing. The CoAD Affl eck 70th Anniversary committee members: William Allen, Michelle Belt, George Charbe- neau, Daniel Faoro, Jin Feng, Dr. Dale A Gyure, Gretchen Maricak, Brian Raymond, Steve Rost, Gretchen Rudy, Jolanta Skorupka, and Jim Stevens. Adrianne Aluzzo, the Architecture Resource Center, and Joe Oberhauser, ACRC, assisted in research for graphic production. Deans Glen LeRoy, Ralph Nelson, and Joe Veryser provided support and oversight. @ 2011 Lawrence Technological University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be re- produced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from Lawrence Techno- logical University. The editor has attempted to trace and acknowledge all sources of images used in this booklet and apologizes for any errors or ommisions. Contents Introduction from the Dean..................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................................i History of FLW Affl eck House by Dr. Dale Allen Gyure..........................................................................1 Taliesin Blueprint Drawings..................................................................................................................29 Taliesin Model and Drawings.............................................................................................................30 Interior Design Study, Professor Jin Feng, Shawn Calvin.................................................................35 Exterior Lamp Replica, Brian Raymond with Jason Westhouse.....................................................43 Affl eck End Table Replica, by Brian Raymond with Jason Westhouse .......................................45 Student Work Assistant Professor Jim Stevens with Lesa Rosmarek - Digital Fabrication.........................47 Professor Steven Rost - Photography.....................................................................................49 Professor Gretchen Maricak - Visual Communication 2......................................................53 Professor William Allen - Allied Design.....................................................................................59 Assistant Professor Janice Means - Affl eck Applied Study..................................................73 Assistant Professor Michelle Belt - Furniture and Millwork.....................................................85 Professor Steven Rost - Sculpture............................................................................................88 Assistant Professor Jolanta Skorupka - Visual Communication 1, Independent Study.......90 Assistant Professor Jolanta Skorupka - Visual Communication 1..........................................95 Faculty Gallery Professor Gretchen Maricak.................................................................................................107 Professor Steven Rost.............................................................................................................109 History of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Affl eck House Dr. Dale Allen Gyure Tucked away on a wooded knoll less than 100 yards from a major eight-lane thoroughfare leading through Detroit’s northwest suburbs, the Gregor and Elizabeth Affl eck house is a hidden gem from Frank 1 Lloyd Wright’s early Usonian house period. The home captures everything that was best about Wright’s “organic” approach to architecture, and it served the Affl ecks well for over three decades. Its history and design can tell us much about Wright’s architectural philosophy and the Affl ecks’ unique tastes. Photograph by Harvey Croze The Affl ecks The story of the house begins with Gregor Sidney Af- fl eck, who was born in Chicago in 1893 and raised in Wisconsin. Little is known of his early life. His father’s family was from Muscoda, Wisconsin, about twenty miles west of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home territory. Gregor recalled that as a boy he lived in Spring Green, Wisconsin, across the river from where Wright’s family owned land and where Wright would build his own home “Taliesin.” Gregor “often visited the Hillside Home School” run by Wright’s aunts Jane and Ellen Lloyd-Jones, and he knew the Lloyd-Jones family (from Wright’s mother’s side).1 A cousin of Gregor’s father was said to have worked at Taliesin as a secretary. Whether or not young Gregor had any other exposure to Wright is unknown. After graduating from Muscoda High School, Gregor enrolled at the University of Wisconsin to study chemical engineering. He joined the Navy ROTC program and the Chemical Engineer’s Society. Upon receiv- ing his bachelor’s degree in 1918, Gregor briefl y at- tended the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey before heading to France at the end of World War I as an ensign in the Engineering Bureau of the Naval Reserve.2 Then he drifted for a short period, briefl y working for the Union Dye and Chemical Cor- poration in Kingsport, Tennessee and the French Bat- tery Company of Madison, Wisconsin.3 Eventually, like many other young professionals at the time, he was drawn to Detroit and the burgeoning automo- bile industry. By the early 1920s Gregor was working as a metallurgist for the Dodge Corporation in De- troit. A University of Wisconsin alumni magazine listed him as being “in charge of the physical testing laboratory of the Dodge Motor Co.” at the time.4 While there he met and fell in love with Elizabeth Besterci, a secretary for the Michigan Central Railroad who originally came from east central Pennsylvania. They were married on September 14, 1923; Gregor had just turned thirty and Elizabeth was almost twenty-two. Gregor, who once described himself as a “total sur- vival of the Protestant work ethic,” became a suc- cessful chemical engineer.5 He obtained a number of patents, including one in Canada for a process for cleaning paint spray booths and another in the United States for a method for recovering residual coating materials from the walls and air of spray chambers. He would later establish and operate the Colloidal Paint Products Company in Detroit, a chemical business for auto products and cosmetics. 2 These endeavors earned Gregor a healthy income; as he later admitted, he had “discovered how to make money.”6 In his spare time he pursued an in- terest in photography. Elizabeth enjoyed gardening and sewing and stayed at home to raise their son, Gregor Peter Affl eck, born in 1925. By the late thirties the couple had purchased a Colonial Revival-styled home in Pleasant Ridge in the Detroit suburbs. Frank Lloyd Wright in 1940 When the Affl ecks fi rst contacted Frank Lloyd Wright about designing a house in 1939, the architect was enjoying a professional renaissance at the ripe age of seventy-two. After extremely rough years in the late twenties and early thirties, things had begun Photograph by Anon. to change for Wright in 1932. The Depression and changing tastes in architecture had hit him hard. In the previous six years he had been able to construct only seven projects, and two of those were for himself and one for a cousin. An important architectural exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which gave birth to the phrase “International Style,” depicted Wright as a “half-modern” architect and an “individualist” whose inventive period had long passed. He had taken to writing and lecturing to support himself, while many believed him to have retired – or worse. “I have been reading my obituaries to a considerable extent over the past year or two, and think, with Mark Twain, the reports of my death greatly exaggerated,” Wright once wrote.7 But in 1932 a series of events occurred which would stimulate Wright’s architectural renewal. First, Wright founded the Taliesin

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