Alden B. Dow Home and Studio
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Herbert H. Dow, Alden's father and founder of The Dow Chemical
Company, began in 1909 to develop the 23 acres around his home in Midland, Michigan,
into a vast landscaped garden. Alden grew up with an extensive knowledge of plants
and an appreciation for the rich organic visual environment they can create. This
is where he built his home and studio.
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Dow's studio and home, which he started to build
in 1934 after leaving Taliesin, is an excellent example of organic architecture
as Wright envisioned it. Sweeping roof planes of standing-seam copper, geometric
forms superimposed on a lush landscape, large areas of glass and well-worked wood
joinery are all evident. Like Wright, Dow was at the forefront of organic architecture,
believing that buildings must be composed of spaces that flow together, without
unnecessary doors or partitions to isolate one room from another. Regardless of
its shape, size or function, the organic building should have a strong, visible
geometry which, in unfolding from one room to the next, would resemble the crystalline
forms found in nature. In Dow's office and residence, both professional and private
environments are able to flourish without impinging on one another. Beyond this
achievement, Dow's development and use of unit blocks, his manipulation of scale
and color, and his careful attention to construction and landscape details hold
a valuable lesson today.
The appeal of nature was counterbalanced architecturally by Dow's allegiance to
a square module, a design approach that would produce a tightly geometric building.
Creating an environment where manmade geometry and organic randomness could coexist
and complement each other was one of Dow's major challenges.
The site where he planned to build was square in shape, roughly 200 yd. on a side,
and bordered by a stream along its northeast and southeast perimeters. Dow had the
stream rerouted during construction, and dredged its bed to create an irregularly
shaped pond roughly 60 ft. wide and 150 ft. long bordering the home and studio.
Earth mounds made from the pond dredging were later shaped and planted with trees
and bushes that Dow chose for their contrasting branch structures, bark texture
and coloring. Pines, birches, spruce, maples of several varieties and weeping willows
were planted close to the building and pond. Their vertical trunks and the hanging
willow branches contrast with the strong horizontal form of the building.
Composed Order
Dow's sense of design didn't stop with organic architecture and landscape
planning. He also involved himself with interior design. The integration of potted
plants, paintings, sculpture, furniture, and woodwork, with all their colors and
textures, is a discipline Dow calls Composed Order.
Composed Order from FINE HOMEBUILDING
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1982 No. 10
"Alden Dow's Studio and Residence"
By Tim Snyder
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