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Zimmerman House Analysis

Analysis of Architectural Influence

After speaking at a PechuKucha talk, Out in the Landscape blog post 5.28.13, Terrence Parker received and accepted an invitation from the Currier Museum to address the annual luncheon meeting of the Currier’s Volunteer and Docent Guild to discuss the landscape of the Zimmerman House. The Currier now owns the Zimmerman house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1950. Terrence’s presentation focused on Wright’s philosophy of site connection and harmony, his principle of Usonian architecture, and the nuts and bolts of site analysis at the Zimmerman House.

The Zimmerman House in Manchester, NH, built in 1950, is a gem of a structure well fit to its environment, and as my researched confirmed, an ideal example of the style of building that Wright championed as "Usonian" architecture. To Wright, a Usonian building creates "a lifestyle and architecture designed for simple living, in harmony with nature, at a cost people of average means can afford." The architectural objective then "aims to be a natural performance, one that is integral to site; integral to environment; integral to the life of the inhabitants and the nature of materials..."

Terrence’s analysis of the Zimmerman site confirmed the design approach of Wright's office, but the result at the Zimmerman property is nearly sublime. True to form, the building is 30 degrees west of south, but it works with the topography and develops a site layout with a strong triangular garden shape that serves to extend the interior views to the deepest corner of the lot.

The presentation also identified drainage, planting, and shadow patterns, quirky trip hazards, and material contradictions. In closing, Terrence recommended a way forward. The thrust of these suggestions involved native planting enhancements based on the original garden plan, designed to continue Wright's philosophical sense of harmony between building and site and to solve vexing issues under the large roof eves.

Click on any thumbnail for a larger view.