Berndtson's buildings are rooted in Wrightian principles and the practice of "organic" architecture. They tend to share the horizontal massing, geometric rationale, conceptual unity and careful siting of Wright's houses, and employ a Wrightian vocabulary of overhanging eaves and ribbon windows. Some of Berndtson's houses are closely related to Wright's Usonian houses, and many feature radiant heating plans. These are not slavish imitations, however; Berndtson absorbed Wright's principles, but he was an accomplished designer in his own right. Clients praised him for his personal investment in each design.
In addition to private houses, Berndtson developed master plans for a number of planned communities, which remained largely unrealized, and designed a handful of commercial and institutional buildings.
Berndtson's close ties to Wright are as evident in his drawing style as in his architecture. His colored-pencil renderings, executed in a uniform horizontal format, are very Wrightian in appearance. They often include floral detailing so as to associate his houses with a perpetual springtime. His meticulous working drawings emphasize craftsmanship. Since many of his houses were designed on modules -- usually four-foot square, occasionally hexagonal -- his drawings often show the guidelines of the module.
Miller, Donald and Aaron Sheon. Organic Vision: The Architecture of Peter Berndtson. The Hexagon Press, 1980.
Sheon, Aaron. The Architecture of Peter Berndtson (exhibit catalog). University of Pittsburgh, 1971.
Van Trump, James D. "Architecture and the Pittsburgh Land: The Buildings of Peter Berndtson." Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1983.
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