Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Wisconsin left a deep impression on Frank Lloyd Wright and his work

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright openly adored his home state’s “pastoral” landscapes, red barns, and down-to-earth residents. Wright also referenced the state as a huge inspiration for his design style.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed hundreds of buildings

Frank Lloyd Wright was a prolific architect and built hundreds of structures across America, and even a few in Japan and Canada. From humbler homes in Illinois to sprawling mansions in California, Wright experimented with different styles throughout his career and varied in each of his designs.

Taliesin offered Frank Lloyd Wright an oasis away from gossip and scrutiny

After a public affair that damaged his reputation, Frank Lloyd Wright built a hideaway for himself and his mistress. This grand Wisconsin structure is now a National Historic Landmark after experiencing two major fires, each followed by major renovations.

The first home Frank Lloyd Wright designed alone was bold and geometric

A small residence sitting on the outskirts of Chicago, Wright’s first building, created entirely from his own artistic vision, was a home for his family. He would continue to live and work there for two decades after building it in 1889.

See renderings of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unmade buildings

Only about half of Frank Lloyd Wright’s over 1,000 designs were actually built. In 2018, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation commissioned Spanish architect and 3D designer David Romero to make digital models to see what Wright’s unrealized structures would look like.

Many of Wright's buildings used radiant heating

Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings weren’t just radical because of how they looked, but many of them also incorporated stunning technological innovations. Radiant heating is one of Wright’s most popular heating systems, offering the comfort of walking on warm floors on a cold day.

What it’s like to be an apprentice at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin

Architect James Walter Schildroth became an apprentice in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship program in 1959, just months after Wright's passing. The invaluable experience taught him how to build as he worked and confronted him with the struggles of living in the space.

Usonian design was invented as a response to Americans’ financial struggles

Around the time of the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Frank Lloyd Wright sought to create homes that made life easier for those struggling financially. Usonian homes are typically characterized by simple materials, small square footage, and natural light.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Frank Lloyd Wright made a gas station in Minnesota

Located in Cloquet, Minnesota, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed full-service gas station and repair shop is still in operation today, attracting visitors from all over the world. The station exists thanks to a local oil businessman who tapped Wright for the job.

Organic architecture marries man-made buildings with the natural context around them

Frank Lloyd Wright’s nebulous concept of organic architecture is one that even he struggled to define. Its basic premise is to make a building look as though it grew from the land it stands on by emphasizing natural materials and incorporating the surrounding environment into the design.

A Disney architect designed Epic's headquarters

Epic Systems provides electronic medical records in the US—but its offices are far from bland. The HQ has five different campuses that are inspired by "Harry Potter," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Alice in Wonderland."

Unitarian Frank Lloyd Wright made Unity Temple to honor his own faith

In 1905, a Unitarian church in Frank Lloyd Wright's town was struck by lightning and destroyed. Wright, a Unitarian himself, was commissioned to build the replacement and constructed a simple yet radical concrete sanctuary known as Unity Temple.

Bauhaus' biggest contributions to modern architecture

Walk around almost any major metropolitan area, and you'll see Bauhaus' influence in the glass facades, tubular steel, and windows offering ample natural light. This ArchDaily explainer illustrates those concepts through iconic Bauhaus buildings, such as the Gropius House, along with detailed diagrams of their design.

Tour the UN building in NYC with architect Michael Wyetzner

The modernist building was meant to stand out among the New York skyline. It’s three primary buildings are distinct and were supported by millions in donations from philanthropists families like the Rockefellers.

Take a tour of Google's headquarters

With its vibrant and cutting-edge design, the so-called "Googleplex" is synonymous with Silicon Valley and surrounds employees with lush green space and unique artwork. Amenities include massage therapy, a medical clinic, and nap pods to inspire creativity.

Modern workplaces were engineered for efficiency, not work-life balance

Modern work organization traces back to 19th-century scientific management, an approach that optimized output by viewing workers as machine components. That logic still persists today and contributes to burnout, stress, and disengagement. Researchers propose a "circular work" model that combines effort with recovery, learning, and renewal, suggesting productivity and well-being should align rather than compete.

The White House design was chosen through a national competition

In 1792, President George Washington launched a public contest to design the new executive mansion. Irish-born architect James Hoban's neoclassical plan won the contest. His design was inspired by Dublin's Leinster House, which houses Ireland's parliament.

Jony Ive helped popularize Apple with iconic product form factors

Appointed SVP of industrial design in 1997 and chief design officer in 2015, Ive was responsible for the translucent plastic shells found on early iMacs and the iBook G3. He also oversaw the construction of Apple Park—the company's headquarters.

The Sears Tower was the world’s tallest building for about 25 years

Originally constructed in 1970, the Sears Tower in Chicago was later renamed the Willis Tower shortly after Sears headquarters moved out of the building.

HH Richardson developed the Romanesque architectural style

The Richardsonian Romanesque style, which the architect developed during the 19th century, blended the Roman and Renaissance arches found in France with the pointed arches of Victorian Gothic. Below is a fountain designed by Richardson honoring Detroit's 16th governor.

Woven City at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan

The Woven City at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan is a ‘living laboratory’ for new technologies. It is being developed by Toyota subsidiary, Woven Planet, and will be the world’s first programmable city.

Engineering tall structures requires managing wind, earthquakes, and other destabilizing factors

Reinforced concrete, energy dampers, braced frames, flexible structures, and aerodynamic decks were among the methods implemented when building structures such as the Shanghai Tower, the Texas Super Skyscraper, and the South Rangitīkei Viaduct.

The full story of WeWork, one of the most dramatic startup journeys of all time

WeWork has been through a lot since the office space company was founded as a startup in 2010. From its failed IPO in 2019, to the various leadership antics of its founder, Adam Neumann (some have claimed that he acted like a cult leader at times), to how it navigated remote work trends during the pandemic, this video tells the full story of WeWork's growth, failures, and more.

Meet Klaus Schwab, the founder and driving force behind Davos

Klaus Schwab founded the World Economic Forum in 1971 and spent five decades promoting stakeholder capitalism and cross-sector cooperation among elites. Under his leadership, Davos became a hub for global power brokers. Schwab stepped down from the role in April 2025 amid accusations of misconduct.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

The White House Situation Room was created in 1961

In 1961, John F. Kennedy approved the establishment of the White House Situation Room—a secure crisis-management center in the West Wing basement—following the intelligence failures of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the growing tensions of the Cold War.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.