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Article from issue 4/2003 »Concrete Construction«

The Pioneering Age of Concrete Blocks - Frank Lloyd Wright's Textile-Block Houses

discussion p. 310 - 315
Architect Wright, Frank Lloyd | Author Ford, Edward R. |

At the beginning of the 20th century, concrete blocks were already a common building material in the US. In developing his textile-block system, Frank Lloyd Wright's aim was to refine this economic material and create a precise, standardized product of superior strength and high design quality. The first four buildings in which this system was applied were erected in Los Angeles, using richly ornamented reinforced concrete blocks. The construction system underwent further development down to the 1950s, but in view of its technical deficiencies and a lack of general acceptance, it never achieved major significance in the field of mass-produced construction.