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Gene and Nancy Bavinger House: Plan of Lower Level Showing Water Garden

An aerial drawing of a spiral-shaped house with exterior garden, depicted in color and surrounded by brown rock.

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  • An aerial drawing of a spiral-shaped house with exterior garden, depicted in color and surrounded by brown rock.

Date:

1950/51

Artist:

Bruce Alonzo Goff
American, 1904–1982

About this artwork

Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, architecture Bruce Goff eschewed a traditional education in architecture and went on to create some of the most original and iconoclastic designs of modern organic architecture, from futuristic drawings to complex biomorphic environments. The Bavinger House is one of Goff’s most famous projects, designed for two artists who flaunted the conventions of postwar suburbia. Goff designed the house on the model of a logarithmic spiral, a geometric progression that often appears in natural forms, including nautilus shells and galaxies. Although the design appears to be an elaborate garden in this floor plan, the spiral-shaped structure was built in rough rock masonry, sheet metal, and tension cables. The house featured a single open interior space with a series of terraced platforms suspended over a landscape of wading pools and indoor plantings. His creative exploration of natural forms and three-dimensional geometries for the Bavingers was an important milestone in Goff’s mature career.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Bruce Alonzo Goff (Architect)

Title

Gene and Nancy Bavinger House: Plan of Lower Level Showing Water Garden

Place

Norman (Building address)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1950–1951

Medium

Graphite and colored pencil on tracing paper

Inscriptions

Signed and dated at bottom right, "Greenberg 7-50".

Dimensions

67 × 66 cm (26 3/8 × 26 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Shin'enKan, Inc.

Reference Number

1990.811.9

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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