Creative Recreations of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water

Frank Lloyd Wright, an early pioneer of organic architecture and the Prairie School architecture movement, is probably best known for his Falling Water house, a mountainside retreat built over a waterfall for the Kaufmann family in 1936. The house impressed architects and the general public alike, because it didn't seem to stand on solid ground, but rather float over a 30-foot waterfall. It was the first time the concept of designing and building structures that promoted harmony between the natural world and human habitats, emerged. Wright's innovative ideas continue to intrigue architects and designers alike and have inspired them to replicate his famous structures in a variety of media. Below is designer Andrew van der Westhuyzen's replica of a 1950's-era Falling Water party-house which he created for an ad campaign... Even the bloggers of today are inspired by Lloyd. Melodie from Garden Melodies took on the challenge of creating a gingerbread version of the house for a 2010 Gingerbread Festival in Orem, Utah. Some quick facts:

â€¢It took over 12 hours to design â€¢It took Brenton and [Melodie] around 40 hours to build and decorate â€¢There are around 164 different pieces of gingerbread â€¢It took roughly 12 square feet of gingerbread dough (that's four large batches) to make all the walls, floors and roof â€¢Over 8 bags of powdered sugar were used to make all the frosting â€¢It took over 40 sleeves of large Smarties which are used to simulate dry stack stone on the building exterior â€¢The river and water fall are made up of three batches of hard candy

Melodie graciously provides the recipe on her blog:

2 C light corn syrup 1 1/2 C packed brown sugar 1 1/4 C margarine 1 tsp salt 9 C flower Melt together the corn syrup, brown sugar, and margarine. Mix till smooth then add in flour and salt. Bake for 15 to 20 min at 350 *If the pieces get warped throw them in the microwave for 15 seconds and they will flatten out.

Do check out her blog if you are interested in the making and the subsequent destruction of this piece. Construction toy maker LEGO has even included The Falling Water house in their lego architecture set for recreation at home. You can buy the above model here. The company has also released a set for FLW's another famous creation: The Guggenheim Museum. It was one of those structures that stunned the public with modern, winding architecture never before seen on a building. Guggenheim Museum model is also available on Amazon. Geekologie tips us that the Falling Water has also been recreated in several virtual environments including Minecraft, The Sims, Quake III Arena, Half Life and Counterstrike. See videos below: