Challenging the violence of public institutions and corporations, means challenging their state-given right to commit violence with impunity. The meaning of violence, if we distill it to the purest form, is the use of physical force to damage or destroy. In legal systems, the term violence is generally used to mean the illegal exercise of physical force or intimidation by the threat of force. Yet legal systems remain so preoccupied by interpersonal violence, rather than institutional violence, the violence committed by states, corporations and other large organizations. The state is held to be the source of the `right` to use violence (Weber, 1994:310f). In the past the most diverse kinds of associations beginning with the clan have regarded physical violence as a quite normal instrument. Nowadays, by contrast, we have to say that the state is that human community which lays claims to the monopoly of legitimate physical violence within a certain territory, this `territory` being another of the defining characteristics of the state.
He believed in designing structures that were in accord with humanity and the surrounding environment, his designs aimed for the use of humans, as well as fitting into the environment without depriving it of organic forms and aesthetics, for example, building a house in an area of a site-specific species. Natural materials and continuous windows were used to let in natural light and bring the environment and residents together.
An example of ‘organic architecture12 is perhaps his most famous work, the private residence ‘Fallingwater’ (Kaufmann House – 1937). The construction, nested in a forest, over a 30ft waterfall was chosen to place the residents close to their natural surroundings. The construction included strong horizontal aspects being built from concrete with a flat roof, with the verticals out of limestone blocks. Wright said, that “where the whole is [to] the part as the part is to the whole and where the nature of the materials, the nature of the purpose, the nature of the entire performance” 13
The appearance of the concrete is softened to match the local sand, and compliment the natural colour of the limestone, and harmonise the building with the nature surrounding it. The extensive use of glass helps to balance the boundaries of interior and exterior designs.
A different example of Wright’s consideration of both form and function is perhaps his other most recognisable design, the iconic geometric Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1937-1959), in New York. It features a spiral, shell-like shape, which is larger at the top than the bottom, an inverted-ziggurat, which houses a showcasing of art along a continuous ascending path.
The building’s circular exterior provides a striking monument, being an extreme contradiction to the adjacent perpendicular, boxy Manhattan apartment blocks. It could be argued that it’s organic shape better matches Central Park, on the opposite side of the road, in front of it.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s last major project, it used 650m3 of concrete and 700 tonnes of steel to create a museum both aesthetically striking when viewed as a whole, whilst addressing its purpose of being an art gallery. The artworks are viewed by walking along a continuous loop, which climbs towards the sky, a sensation which is enhanced by the glass dome, creating what Wright described as “one great space on a continuous floor”14.
The interior is meant to give the sense of being inside a seashell and this may be one factor in why the exterior is painted in a natural, warm beige.
Geometric details such as small circles in the floor were added to empha
