Tag: Fallingwater

I’ve said it before – we all come to SL for many different reasons: some just to have fun, some in pursuit of “adult” fantasies and experiences (*cough, cough*), some to make money….

But…without a doubt, SL really doesn’t come into its own until you actually start creating things in-world. I got into building things out of necessity rather than anything else (you can only rely on friends to build skyboxes for you for so long…). Then I met someone with an eye for building and the patience to teach. Her name is Nikki Xiao, and while we’ve gone our separate ways in SL (as is wont to happen) – I owe Nikki an enormous debt as she helped me to move beyond building for necessity to building for fun and creativity.

With Ina at my side, my love of building has blossomed. I’m certainly not saying I’m the greatest builder in SL – far, far, far from it…but I am growing and learning and (I hope) refining my techniques. In particular, the last two or three weeks have seen me take on a couple of “big” projects I’m frankly bloody proud of.

The first of these was what I call “the Round House”, a circular home encompassing a split-level layout (the lower level forming either part of the house itself or a separate office area for running a business) with a bedroom annexe. Inspired by the work of Orion Keynes, the Round House represented what I thought was likely to be my best personal build in SL…

….Then Ina suggested we take a look at one of the most famous houses in the USA: Fallingwater in West Penn. Designed by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater is an iconic example of a function house specifically designed to blend in with and compliment the magnificent landscape of the Bear River.

And, of course, almost as soon as we saw it, the seeds were sown…we HAD to build our own version of Fallingwater here in SL. Now, we are far from original in this idea. “Fallingwater of Second Life” is already a landmark (no pun intended) destination in SL. However, wherre that fabulous model is intended to be a faithful reproduction of the original….we wanted a version in which we can live and work while in SL.

So, exactly one week after the first prim was cut…we now have our very own interpretation of Fallingwater. And as biased as I might be – it is simply beautiful; as I hope the attached pictures demonstrate.

Like most worthwhile projects in SL, “Fallingwater at Serenity Sky” evolved even as the house came together. Obviously, it wouldn’t be fitting to *just* build the house…we’d have to put in the Bear River as well. And we couldn’t have the river without the famous falls directly below the house…and if we were going to put in the river, then naturally we’d have to include the river banks and rich vegetation…

…..It has been hard work; the house took the better part of 4 days to bring together, with numerous references to “Fallingwater of Second Life” and well as a lot of studying the plans of the real house and examining photos and paintings. But I think the end result is really worth it. So it is not 100% accurate externally…and we’ve taken a few liberties with the land around the house to give us gardens, etc., – but I think it fair to say only the most picky of minds would disclaim our house as a worthy representation of Frank Lloyd’s masterpiece.

And even if they do….frankly, I don’t care. I’ve loved putting Fallingwater at Serenity Sky together, and it has been gret fun working with Ina to tighten-up the build and to build a credible “Bear River landscape” 600+ metres in the air.