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Last edited 30 Nov 2023

Organic architecture

Organic architecture is an architectural style and potentially a philosophy that promotes inspiration from and integrationwith natural surroundings to a greater or lesser degree. This style of architecture may or may not make use of organic forms, though it is likely to be considered to blend in with natural surroundings through interpretation, materiality, and form. The term was coined in the early 1900s by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was also associated with the Prairie style, and although his buildings might not be considered organic in form, he promoted a philosophy of organic architecture. Prior to this, the architect Louis H. Sullivan in the late 1800's promoted a philosophy of formfollowing function, which was derived from his extensive studies of nature and the implementation of organic ornamentation.

An important figure associated with organic architecture is also the somewhat maverik critic, philosopher, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and natural scientist Rudolph Steiner. Best known today perhaps for the Steiner philosophyof education or Waldorf schools, and as the father of the biodynamic approach to agriculture, he also designed a number of buildings in the early 1900's and introduced his ideas around metamorphosis in architecture. An early example of dometimber architecture was the first Goetheanum he designed, which, due to fire, was redesigned and replaced by the second, concrete and organicallyformed, Goetheanum building, a cultural and spiritual centre for the arts.

It is a much debated term as it is also associated with other architects using higher-tech solutions, such as Frei Otto and Buckminster Fuller. In the early 2000s, David Pearson developed rules for organic architecture, known as the Gaia Charter, in his book The Breaking Wave: New Organic Architecture, in which he references a broad range of movements from Celtic design to Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts, as well as the work of Antoni Gaudí.

Twenty years later, John Paull celebrated what he referred to as A Centenary for Organic Architecture in The First Goetheanum, referencing the work of Steiner (Journal of Fine Arts 2020). Today, the term is often associated more readily with organic forms, and although it does not specifically need to be interpreted in this literal sense, it often is.