Considered the most influential architect of his time, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was born in the small rural community of Richland Center, Wisconsin. He entered the University of Wisconsin at the age of 15 as a special student, studying engineering because the school had no course in architecture. At the age of 20 he then went to work as a draughtsman in Chicago in order to learn the traditional, classical language of architecture. After marrying into a wealthy business family at the age of 21, Wright set up house in an exclusive neighborhood in Chicago, and after a few years of working for a number of architectural firms, set up his own architectural offThe most interesting architectural phenomenon of the 1970's was the
enthusiasm for refurbishing old buildings. Obviously, this was not an
entirely
new
phenomenon.
What
is
new
is
the
wholesale
interest
in
reusing
the
past,
in
recycling,
in
adaptive
rehabilitation.
A
few
trial
efforts,
such as Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, proved their financial
viability
in
the
1960's,
but
it
was
in
the
1970's,
with
strong
government
support
through
tax
incentives
and
rapid
depreciation,
as
well
as
growing
interest in ecology issues, that recycling became a major factor on the
urban scene.One of the most comprehensive ventures was the restoration
and transformation of Boston's eighteenth century Faneuil Hall and the
Quincy Market, designed in
1824. This section had fallen on hard times, but beginning with the
construction
of
a
new
city
hall
immediately
adjacent,
it
has
returned
to
life with the intelligent reuse of these fine old buildings under the
design leadership of Benjamin Thompson. He has provided a marvelous
setting for dining, shopping, professional offices, and simply
walking.Butler Square, in Minneapolis, examplifies major changes in its
complex
of
offices,
commercial
space,
and
public
amenities
carved
out
of
a massive pile designed in 1906 as a hardware warehouse. The exciting
interior
timber
structure
of
the
building
was
highlighted
by
cutting
light
courts
through
the
interior
and
adding
large
skylights.
San
Antonio,
Texas,
offers
an
object
lesson
for
numerous
other
cities
combating
urban
decay.
Rather than bringing in the bulldozers, San Antonio's leaders
rehabilitated
existing
structures,
while simultaneously
cleaning
up
the
San Antonio River, which meanders through the business district. ice.
For twenty years he brought up a family of six children upstairs, and ran a thriving architectural practice of twelve or so draughtsmen downstairs. Here, in an idyllic American suburb, with giant oaks, sprawling lawns, and no fences, Wright built some sixty rambling homes by the year 1900. He became the leader of a style known as the “Prairie” school - houses with low-pitched roofs and extended lines that blended into the landscape and typified his style of “organic architecture”.
By the age of forty-one, in 1908, Wright had achieved extraordinary social and professional success. He gave countless lectures at major universities, and started his Taliesin Fellowship – a visionary social workshop in itself. In 1938 he appeared on the cover of Time magazine, and later, on a two cent stamp. The most spectacular buildings of his mature period were based on forms borrowed from nature, and the intentions were clearly romantic, poetic, and intensely personal. Examples of these buildings are Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel (1915-22: demolished 1968), and New York City’s Guggenheim Museum (completed 1959). He continued working until his death in 1959, at the age of 92, although in his later years, he spent as much time giving interviews and being a celebrity, as he did in designing buildings. Wright can be considered an essentially idiosyncratic architect whose influence was immense but whose pupils were few.