Frank Lloyd Wright and rocket mass stoves

I am a new member, just learned what a rocket mass stove was today- I always thought it was just another type of rocket stove.
I remember hearing about FLW using some sort of mass stove system in his Usonian houses- that his floors were essentially massive chimneys.  But now I can't seem to find any such reference.  Can anyone here confirm this, or do I have it all wrong?  Has anyone here tried such a thing?

Sounds extremely plausible. I think a more common name for the larger category of high-thermal-mass furnaces is "masonry heater." They apparently have a long history in Scandinavia.  HTH.

I don't think FLW used rocket mass heaters. I believe that he did utilize Masonary Heaters. i remember hearing that he used under-floor heating too. a quick internet search turned up this wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underfloor_heating


which contains the following account of the origins of Wright's underfloor system (also a more thorough definition of ondol heating which evolved into modern radiant floor heating):

In the early 1900s, when the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was building the Imperial Hotel in Japan, he was invited to the home of a Japanese nobleman. There Wright found a room that was different from typical Japanese rooms, with a warm floor covered with yellow paper—a Korean ondol room. The Japanese gentleman had experienced ondol in Korea and, once back in Japan, had an ondol room built in his house. "The indescribable comfort of being warmed from below" impressed Wright.

Wright decided then and there that ondol was the ideal heating system and began incorporating it in his buildings. Wright invented radiant floor heating, using hot water running through pipes instead of hot air through flues.

I also recently learned about hypocaust
systems from Imperial Rome. Not ecologically sound, but an interesting source for comparison.

Rocket mass heater:hypocaust::composting toilet:vomitorium

FLW used whatever cost the most in this case it was a masonry heater built along the lines of a hypocaust . in other words he made some poor stove builder try and build a house sized sleeping shelf.  it sorta worked, a testament to the stove builder.

FLW was an idiot the only reason his bloody houses stand is the craftsmen of the day didnt like to fail. as it is each and every house/building FLW designed has failed.

the boy might have had an eye for line but he sure as hell didnt have a head for construction.

Sorry  FLWs drawings are works of art, his use of space and his eye for the arrangement of internal volumes is a delight. but the credit he gets is wrongly placed when folks start talking about the few things that worked well in the construction part. the guys on the ground made his visions into reality.

Oh but what vision. If FLW represents failure I should hope failure on my self and my loved ones.

Notice i credited his vision.

I just dont give him credit he aint earned. I get heartily tired of to much myth and to little man.
Credit where credit is due.

He was definitely an artist, not a construction consultant ... and I have to agree that efficiency in construction was not his strong suit...

I'm not a FLW expert, so I'm completely open to being wrong here, but I believe he had his hand in the design of the "floating" foundation that enabled the Imperial Hotel to survive the earthquake that decimated much of it's neighboring buildings.