Frank Llyod Wright

1867-1959

American Architect
1000 projects
500 completed works

Greatest American Architect of All Time(1991)

Influences: Louis Sullivan

William Morris

Introduction Frank Lyod Wright 14

 Early life
1867 - 1885

Born in Wisconsin, in 1867

to William Cary Wright
(Musician) and Anna Lloyd
Jones (Teacher)

Wright claims his mother

was who determined his
profession. She nurtured
his early childhood by
surrounding him with
natural beauty. In 1876,
Anna saw an exhibit of
educational blocks called
the Froebel Gifts , which
she bought for her 9 year
old son.

Early life Frank Lyod Wright 01

 Education & Early Career
Jenkins Lloyd Jones
1885-1887
In 1885 , Wright enters
university of Wisconsin at
Madison and Works for
Allan D. Conover, a
professor of engineering.

In 1887, Wright leaves

Madison for Chicago,
finding employment at the
office of Joseph Lyman
Silsbee

While with Silsbee , he

worked on two family
projects : All Souls Church
in Chicago for his uncle
Jenkin Lloyd Jones and
Young Frank Lloyd Wright Joseph Lyman Silsbee Hillside Home School for
Aunt.

Education Frank Lyod Wright 02

 Adler & Sullivan Years
1887-1893

Wright was encouraged to

try for a job with Louis
Sullivan , engaged at that
time with the design of the
Chicago Auditorium, and
desperately in need of
designers to assist him.

In 1889 , secures loan

from sullivan and builds a
new house in Oak park

Starts moonlighting with

residential works that
ended his career at
Auditorium Building Chicago, Illinois Sullivan’s office in 1893
Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan
1886

Early Career Frank Lyod Wright 03

 Adler & Sullivan Years
1887-1893

Wright was encouraged to

try for a job with Louis
Sullivan , engaged at that
time with the design of the
Chicago Auditorium, and
desperately in need of
designers to assist him.

1889 , secures loan from

sullivan and builds a new
house in Oak park

Starts moonlighting with

residential works that
ended his career at
Oak Park House Sullivan’s office in 1893
Frank Lloyd Wright
1889

Early Career Frank Lyod Wright 04

 Adler & Sullivan Years
1887-1893

Wright was encouraged to

try for a job with Louis
Sullivan , engaged at that
time with the design of the
Chicago Auditorium, and
desperately in need of
designers to assist him.

1889 , secures loan from

sullivan and builds a new
house in Oak park

Starts moonlighting with

residential works that
ended his career at
James Charnley House Sullivan’s office in 1893
Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright
1891

Early Career Frank Lyod Wright 05

 Wright’s Own Practice

In 1893, Wright sets up his

own practice in the Schiller
Building , and into his office
came his first client William
H. Winslow.

In 1894, Wright’s First

Exhibition of his works.

In 1897, Wright moves to

Chicago and his prairie
period starts

Winslow House , Illinois

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright
1893-94

Early Career Frank Lyod Wright 06

 Travels & Influences

In 1905 , Wright and his wife

make their first trip to Japan .
Wright begans recollecting
Japanese Prints which he
exhibits in 1906

Influence of Japenese prints

often employed in his
drawings and renderings.

Wright took a similar

approach when framing the
abstractly patterned “art
glass” windows he designed
for many of his houses .

The Japanese Print

Author Frank Lloyd Wright
1906
Travels & Influence Frank Lyod Wright 07
 Travels & Influences

In 1905 , Wright and his wife

make their first trip to Japan .
Wright begans recollecting
Japanese Prints which he
exhibits in 1906

Influence of Japenese prints

often employed in his
drawings and renderings.

Wright took a similar

approach when framing the
abstractly patterned “art
glass” windows he designed
for many of his houses. .
Rendering of Winslow House
Inspired by Ando Hiroshige’s use of vegetation
1810

Travels & Influences Frank Lyod Wright 07

 Prairie Style
1893 - 1909
After 1893, Wright’s
follows Prairire Style, like
several of his colleagues
around Chicago and the
Midwest who gravitated
towards this new, low
lying aesthetic spatial
vocabulary.

Wright got tired of his

work in the Prairie style,
suitable only for
one-family houses and
yearned for bigger
commissions.

1909, closed office and

taking off for Europe.

Prairie Period Frank Lyod Wright 08

 Turmoil and Travels
1915-28

1916, received the

commission for the new
imperial hotel in Tokyo.

1923, Imperial Hotel

survives Great Kanto
Earthquake that levelled
80% of the city.

At the age of 62, Wrights

career looked definitely
over when stockmarket
crash of 1929 wiped out of
his one remaining
commission.
Imperial Hotel
Frank Lloyd Wright
1923

Turmoil and Travels Frank Lyod Wright 09

 Europe and Taliesin
1909-1914

Extensive visits to
museums and explore
architecture of Tuscany.

First extensive published

work of Wright’s Designs
published in two volumes
in 1911. This would cause
a sensation among
architects in Europe.

Builds Taliesin , struggles

to rebuild his practice.

1914, Taliesin accident.

Taliesin
Frank Lloyd Wright
1911 , 1937

Europe & Taliesin Frank Lyod Wright 10

 Rejuvenation and
Stability

Wright published
Autobiography in 1932.

Started Apprentices to
Taliesin to teach them the
principles of architecture.

1935, Wright gets

commission for Falling
Waters.

Wright passes away on

April 9, 1959

Rejuvenation & Stability Frank Lyod Wright 11

 The Prairie Houses

Wright never used the

term “prairie houses”,
rather he spoke and wrote
the type of dwelling he
thought most appropriate
to the midwest prairie
around Chicago and
Sub-urbs.

Prairie school rejected

past styles and yearn to
create truly american style
that combined utility and
beauty as well as
reflecting natural
surroundings.

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses :
Characteristics

The typical asymmetrical

prairie house includes:

a. low-pitched roofs with

wide projecting
overhangs that
reflects horizontal
lines of prairie
b. central broad
chimneys ,
c. Continuous band of
ribbon windows
d. lack of extraneous
ornamentation
e. Cross axial planning

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses
Development

Firstly, Wright developed

quite naturally in the plan
of the home, more open
spaces , screened off from
one another by simple
architectural devices
rather than partitions and
oors. This eventually came
to be known as open plan.

Secondly, The integration

of the building with its
natural site was another
development.

Robie House
Frank Lloyd Wright
1910

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses &
Horizontal Emphasis

Wright believed that on

this flat extended prairie it
will be better to get up off
the ground to provide
wider outlook so he
raised the basement floor
to ground , letting it serve
as pedestal for the main
floor above.

In elevation, Wall became

more as screens, rising
directly from base of water
table while second story
windows -a continuous
band beneath eaves.
Robie House
Frank Lloyd Wright
1910

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses &
Monomateriality

Wright > mono-material

rather than the
conglomerate fashionable
at the time.

Whether house is
rendered with cement
stucco or built with brick
masonry or combined, the
application of material
were kept consistent
throughout the elevation of
building , all in all to
achieve simplicity.

Dana House
Frank Lloyd Wright
1902-1904

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses &
Destruction of Box

exterior walls were no

longer the support of the
overhead, be it slab or
sloped roof.

Cantilever construction
placed the supports in
from the outside edge.
The walls outside now
became non-supporting
and termed as screens
(Opaque-concrete,
masonry ,wood) and
transparent ( glass
openings).

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Prairie Houses &
Destruction of Box

exterior walls were no

longer the support of the
overhead, be it slab or
sloped roof.

Cantilever construction
placed the supports in
from the outside edge.
The walls outside now
became non-supporting
and termed as screens
(Opaque-concrete,
masonry ,wood) and
transparent ( glass
openings).

Prairie Houses Frank Lyod Wright 12

 The Space Within

The interior space took

new freedom with close
relationship with nature
outside. The distinction
between exterior and
interior vanished and a
new flow from one to other
became possible, and
wholly desirable.

All of this act, freeing of

the interior to the exterior ,
gave meaning to the
phrase, the space within
became reality of the
buildings, not the
walls/ceilings.

The Space Within Frank Lyod Wright 13

 Natural Materials

Wright had careful

knowledge and diligent
respect for natural
materials unlike his
predecessors and
contemporaries.

Stone, brick and wood-

basic architectural
materials - had long been
covered , painted,
plastered.

Wright let them be natural

and express as they are.

Falling Waters
Frank Lloyd Wright
1935-1939

Use of Natural Materials Frank Lyod Wright 12

 Innovation & New
Materials

Wright felt even the newer

materials like concrete,
steel, sheet metal and
glass were used in
out-dated ways.

Steel combined with

concrete (RCC) was great
liberating element that
could produce an entirely
new architecture for the
twentieth century.

Wright used RCC

Cantilever in Johnson and
Guggenheim Museum Wax Building , Price
Frank Lloyd Wright Tower and Falling Waters.
1954-1957

Innovation & New Materials Frank Lyod Wright 14

 Innovation & New
Materials

Wright felt even the newer

materials like concrete,
steel, sheet metal and
glass were used in
out-dated ways.

Steel combined with

concrete (RCC) was great
liberating element that
could produce an entirely
new architecture for the
twentieth century.

Wright used RCC

Cantilever in Johnson and
Johnson & Wax Building Wax Building , Price
Frank Lloyd Wright Tower and Falling Waters.
1936 - 1939

Innovation & New Materials Frank Lyod Wright 14

 Prefabrication

Idea of pre-fabrication in
housing led him to began
work along the line in the
american ready cut
system houses .

Wright meant when he

meant “machine should be
a tool in the hand of the
artist”. Wright saw that the
block if treated as a
decorative as well as
structural element, could
rise into air and sunlight as
beautiful product.

Textile Houses in LA
Frank Lloyd Wright
1902-1904

Prefabrication Frank Lyod Wright 15

 Nature

Wright believed closer

man associates himself
with nature, the greater his
personal, spiritual and
even physical well being
grew and expanded.

Wright taught on how to

live in harmony with the
environment, not out of
fear but out of deeply
rooted love for natural
beauty .

Falling Waters
Frank Lloyd Wright
1935-1939

Building with nature Frank Lyod Wright 16

 Organic Architecture
The flow of work

Wright calls his building

“organic architecture”-
phrase initiated by his
Sullivan. But Wright
interprets the organic
architecture as one in
which all the parts were
related to the whole and
whole was related to the
parts : continuity and
integrity .

For Wright, Organic

buildings are appropriate
to time, place and man.
Falling Waters
Frank Lloyd Wright
1935-1939

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

1. Building with site

Building should grow

organically like plant .
Its relationship is so
unique that it would
be out of place
elsewhere.

Building with site can

be done either with
Similarly ( prairie
house) or by
Contrast (falling water)

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

2. Material

Materials to be used
simply in a way that
enhances their innate
(natural character) and
optimizes their
individual color
texture, and strength.

The way building

comes together, how
one material joins
another, the very form
of the building should
be an expression of
nature.

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

3. Shelter

A building should
convey a sense of
shelter , refuge ,
protection.

Building never lack

privacy or feeling
exposed or being
unprotected.

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

4. Space
Reality of building
does not consist of
the roof and the walls
but the space within to
be lived in - Wright

Rooms are never

simple rectangles but
broken up vertically
and horizontally to
give eye and mind
something delightful
experienced in space

Space should flow

freely from interior to
exterior

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

5. Proportion /Scale
Human dimensions
should be measure of
building.
Wright talks about
integral harmony of
proportion to the
human figure to have
all details so designed
to make human
relationship to
architecture not only
convenient but
charming

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

6. Nature
Creative possibilities
of form, color ,
pattern, texture,
proportion, rhythm
and growth are all
demonstrated in
nature.

Organic architecture
doesnt imitate nature
but is concerned with
natural materials, the
site and the people
who will occupy the
buildings.

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

7. Repose
Quiet, Serene,
tranquil(Free from
disturbance) space is
fitting for human
growth.

Achieved by simple
architectural masses
that reflect uncluttered
spaces within and that
are carefully related to
the site.

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

 Organic Architecture

8. Grammar
Each building has its
own grammar, its
distinct vocabulary of
pattern and form

All part of the building

from the smallest
detail to the overall
form thus speak the
same language.

Grammar may be
completely different
for two buildings
although both are
organically design.

Organic Architecture Frank Lyod Wright 17

Frank Lyod Wright’s
Beliefs & Influences

1. Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924)

Mentor of Wright
Wright worked for 7 years and developed Sullivan’s ideas into
his own architectural language. For example : Sullivan’s ‘form
follows function’ was taken by Wright and adopted as “Form
and function should be one, joined by spirtual union)

2. Organic Architecture
Organic building like organisms grows from its site to come
out of the ground into the light and the ground itself always
held as basic component of the building

3. Nature , particularly shapes/forms and colors/

patterns of plant life.

4. Japanese art, prints and buildings.

5. Froebel Gifts.
.

In cause of Architecture Essay Frank Lyod Wright 18

Principles in FLW’s Essay
In cause of Architecture

1. Simplicity
Eliminate the unnecessary , including interior walls.

2. Multiple style
Less focus on style of times and more concerned
with requirement of user.

3. Sympathy with environment

Site and Architecture should be in harmony
Building should grow in environment

4. Nature of Materials
All materials should express their natural
characteristics

5. Building should bring Joy

Not just embrace new materials but use them
joyfully to break the box and open up the
buildings- steel beams allowed him to span space
and create dramatic cantilevered roof.

In cause of Architecture Essay Frank Lyod Wright 19