When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Marin civic center in the 1950s, he was so ahead of his time that it was still being used to depict the future in a 1990s movie (Gattaca by Andrew Nicol, with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke; it was also a location for George Lucas’ THX 1138). Back in 1957, it took a determined supervisor, Vera Schultz, to recruit a 90-year-old architectural legend to design his first, and only, public building. The county was also considering Richard Neutra who was willing to work for less than Wright. Wright was also refusing to level the three promontories on the site, knowing they could work for the building if left in place. “There was one supervisor who was kind of a good old boy old school he wanted to get a local architect somebody who’d come up with a more traditional design,” explains Benjamin Berto who works in the building as a planner for the county of Marin. The rest of the board saw the beauty in Wright’s design and this small Northern California County gained a world-renowned piece of architecture that fits into the land around it (Wright refused to level the site’s 3 promontories and instead made them work for the whole). Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/lloyd-wrights-futuristic-city-building-or-norcal-spaceship/

Comments

1. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of many Architects that I admired back in the day when I went to University to Major in Architectural Design!...He was a Man ahead of his time!...God Bless!
2. That's the building in the movie Gaticca
3. It looks empty. Filmed on the weekend ?
4. Really nice video Kirsten! Content is super, your speaker was great!
   
   My only suggestion, run it through stabilization in an editing program (minimum settings) and see if that improves the hand held floating.
5. star wars architecture
6. It looks like something from a 1960s Sci-Fi book cover.
7. thanks for sharing Kirsten Dirksen
8. I remember coming to this building as little kid. It's such a beautiful piece of architecture that's in harmony with nature. Even now, this building still has this futuristic aura, rain bucket or no. Thanks for posting this!
9. as progressive as this building is, there are plenty of building sins all around this space and up and down the 101 corridor. California has a major "developer" problem eating up its unique landscape.
10. So strange, I was watching your video on Teresa living aboard and then found this one.....I am Architect by trade (out of Minneapolis, MN) and just visited the Marin County Civic Center for the first time on February 14, 2015.  Talk about coincidence!  Neat place.  The wonderful librarian confirmed that it does leak badly in a storm.
11. love all his work.....
12. Thank you Kirsten, wonderful story as usual.  FLW though, what an artist.  The first of the holistic architects and one of my all time heroes
13. Thank you, I couldn't bear the 60 fps. Past videos looked slightly sped up and made me a little sick.
14. I wish the building was bustling when you filmed - we would have been able to see the interaction the guy was talking about.
15. Didnt they film Gattaca there?
16. Great video as always. Would have been interesting though to see more of what the interior looks like apart from the corridors.
17. I get a sense this was shot very hurried. You need to visit this building again Kirsten and then take your time, maybe even several days (morning, noon and evening). ;)
18. Aaron Green took over the architectural work on this project after Wright's death.  Mr. Green had been a student of Wright's and had an established architectural practice in San Francisco prior to the Marin project.  Wright had trusted him to oversee his west coast projects.  Green was an accomplished designer in his own right.
19. Fantastic video. I wish you had included some footage of the library. 
20. Another fascinating video.  Thank you!