​Soundwave® Ennis by Frank Lloyd Wright®

Through an exclusive collaboration between the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation (US) and Offecct (SE), the historic Ennis textile block is now repurposed in the state of the art acoustic panel, Soundwave Ennis. Ennis is one of two products in the Offecct Edition collection launched 2018.

As an architect, Frank Lloyd Wright always sought to embrace technology to improve the environments where we live our lives, whether that was by opening the office landscape to natural light in the Larking Building (1904) or creating a continuous view of the art for visitors to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1959). Would he have been able to foresee the constant stream of sounds we are exposed to in an age of wireless technology, this would undoubtedly be yet another aspect of his work.

Disturbing and unwanted sounds affect our wellbeing and needs to be addressed when creating an interior today. That is why Offecct produces acoustic panels which are used to improve the sound in public and private environments. When Frank Lloyd Wright used a system of square concrete blocks to create the textile block houses (1923-24) in California,

he gave his building component an astonishing artistic quality which is also the aim when Offecct together with architects develop acoustic panels.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s mesmerising pattern for the concrete blocks used to build the Ennis House, the last remaining textile block house, has served as futuristic backdrop in movies and made an imprint in history books. Now, the Ennis pattern has been applied on Soundwave©, Offecct’s trademark acoustic panels made of recyclable moulded polyester, and will be used to improve the sound environments in past, present and future architecture.

“The Ennis Block Acoustic Tile from Offecct captures the drama and beauty of this timeless work”, says Stuart Graff, CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

“Offecct is a company with a strong interest for the history of architecture and we have always admired and been inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work. This new collaboration and product truly is a highlight in Offecct’s development”, says Kurt Tingdal CEO of Offecct

“The Ennis block pattern is not only beautiful, it’s geometry also inhabits the potential to absorb sound. By keeping Wright’s design intact but transferring it from concrete which lacks acoustic properties to our felt material, it becomes a high performing acoustic panel”, says Anders Englund, Design Manager at Offecct

The history of the Ennis House

In 1923, Frank Lloyd Wright saw beyond the seeming limitations of concrete which was the new and economic building material of the 1920’s. Wright created a system to build houses with square concrete blocks and due to its construction, these houses were called

textile block houses. Four houses were made in California between 1923-1924 and a custom pattern were created for eachtextile block house that derived influences from nature and

culture and which gave the exteriors and interiors a distinctive expression. The largest of these four houses, the Ennis house (1924) made for the couple Charles and Mabel Ennis, is today the last remaining. Ennis House is in the National Register of Historic Places and privately owned.

Bio Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an American architect widely recognised for creating USA: s first domestic architectural style: The Prairie Style. Frank Lloyd Wright believed we all have the right to live a life surrounded by beauty regardless of economic or social status and in his work, he pioneered the open floor plan, championed new building techniques and cultivated a tradition for the use of natural and local materials. Frank Lloyd Wright considered a building’s interior as important as its exterior, designing everything from furniture to graphics. Landmark buildings like Falling Water (1935) and the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, inaugurated just after Frank Lloyd Wright’s death in 1959, have become sites of pilgrimage for generations of architects and Frank Lloyd Wright’s ground-breaking achievements in his pursuit of an organic architecture continue to exercise an influence even today. Frank Lloyd Wright is considered to be one of the greatest architects of all times.

For more information about Frank Lloyd Wright, visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website. http://franklloydwright.org/site/ennis-house/

For more information about Offecct, Soundwave Ennis by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Edition collection, please visit www.offecct.com/news