Marin County Civic Center

Let’s start nicely from the end. The Marin County Civic Center is the very last and one of the most significant buildings by FLW. A person who could be described as the most creative architectural genius of all time and the most original architect in the USA overall.
The entire complex feels almost otherworldly and fairy-tale-like. It is hard to believe that the building is filled with officials, judges, police officers, and cleverly hidden criminals.
The Marin County Civic Center belongs to the final phase of creation, where FLW explores the theme of organic and horizontal architecture (nothing to do with the word emotional). For example, the prominent gilded vertical element has, besides its aesthetic function, another function as a chimney, and the upper part of the chimney was used for a contemporary novelty - a radio transmitter. Gesamtkunstwerk operates here as in all his buildings, so many construction elements were specially designed just for this structure. Naturally, not everything works perfectly in Wright's projects, but it was similar with Michelangelo’s works. The inner courtyards were not originally meant to be roofed. The entire complex, thirty years after its completion, is undergoing a general renovation, incorporating elements of seismic protection.
The entire area also includes a post office building, a music pavilion, and gardens with a lake that were designed in Taliesin, but no longer under Wright's supervision.

Facts:

• Wright's 770th commission
• the building was designed in 1957, when he was 90 years old (he died on April 9, 1959)
• the office building is 584 feet long and was completed in 1962. The courtroom wing is 880 feet long and was completed in 1969
• the connecting dome has a diameter of 80 feet
• the mass of the building was shaped according to the concept of "organic architecture"
• one of the clearest examples of "destruction of a box"