The model as a teaching experience. The case of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unitarian church

Abstract

The use of models is substantial as a research tool, as it provides volumetric and spatial data of the buildings under study. This type of object is very suitable for teaching certain concepts to our students. The choice of technique, volumetric or spatial, is established in relation to the ideas the author had in mind when the design was conceived. In many cases, two different natures coexist in the same idea and there is no clear way of presenting this in the classroom. When there is a balance between the two, we can apply contrasting techniques in the studio. Due to the symmetry of the Unitarian Church, its axis has been taken as a cutting plane in two halves, reflected in a double mirror. In one of them, a massive technique is used, confirming the relationship between Wright's work and the Puuc architecture, pre-Columbian architecture of Uxmal (Mexico). In the other half, using a spatial analysis technique, the interior space is defined, showing the breaking of the spatial box in the corner, stripping the limits of the space of materiality. With this model, the connection between the American roots and De Stijl is demonstrated.