[2] In the early 1940s, a group of employees from the Upjohn Company began to meet and plan for a new cooperative community in Kalamazoo.

The families wanting to live closer to town found 47 acres (190,000 m2) and called their community "Parkwyn Village".

Even though technically the area between each house was not shared, the owners planted trees and flowers between the properties to honor the original plans.

That area included an outdoor grill, picnic tables, swings, teeter-totters, tennis courts, an ice-skating rink, a baseball diamond, swimming pool, and a community center.

[3] Wright also planned for a circular road pattern to build a stronger sense of community, and underground utilities so there would be no curbs, gutters, sewers, or above ground telephone wires.

Some blocks contained patterns and some had cut outs with glass inserted, to allow light to filter through.

[5] The color added to the blocks was a mix of red and yellow, creating a shade of orange.

He did not like the idea of a house being like a cardboard box, so his designs were far from four walls and a single flat roof.

[2] A Usonian house was intended to be "a thing loving the ground with the new sense of space, light, and freedom."

In the Levin house there were many grand windows, as well as smaller cut-outs that light could shine through in the textile bricks.

To help simplify the house, the garage became an open-carport, radiators became radiant heat, and paint was not used in favor of natural wood.

In the original plans the kitchen was labeled as a workspace that included the clothes washer and dryer.

About once a month students and others interested in Wright's work would ask for a tour of the Levin House.

[5] Because Wright designed his homes to be horizontal with the surrounding environment, his roofs were flat, causing them to leak.

[5] Wright made the Usonian houses feel like a comfortable shelter by lowering the ceilings to "human proportions".

The house had very little storage space, but there was a small shed accessible from the outside that the Levins used to store pickles.