Fallingwater Secret: A masterpiece of procrastination
The design of Fallingwater was more like a student who leaves their homework for the night before it is due. Kaufman commissioned Wright to draw up the Fallingwater plans and had the land surveyed. But in true Wright style, he just didn’t do the work. He would tell his client he was “working on the plans.” Nine months later, Kaufman was in Milwaukee. Having not seen any drafts, he told Wright he was coming to Taliesin, Wright’s home and studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Wright, knowing it was a 140-mile drive from Milwaukee, had nothing to show his client. He had to work fast. Wright apprentice Edgar Taffel, who sharpened Wrights’ pencils like a NASCAR pit crew, said, “The design just poured out of him.” He drew the plans in two hours, in time for Kaufman’s arrival. One of the world’s most famous building is a rush job.
