Frank Lloyd Wright influenced contemporary architecture to have a more holistic approach

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.

Frank Lloyd Wright is known as a brilliant, prolific architect with a turbulent personality and life

Frank Lloyd Wright’s childhood was colored by Unitarianism, a nomadic lifestyle, his parents’ divorce, and financial difficulties. By his death, Wright was known as one of America’s most influential architects and left behind a legacy of thoughtful writings, modern architectural principles, an esteemed fellowship program, and countless masterpieces.

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.

Frank Lloyd Wright's landscape design relied on abstractions

Wright was interested in finding abstract patterns in nature and attempted to match those patterns through the landscaping on his properties. He also often introduced foreign plants into his gardens, a choice that some experts say was a commentary on American identity and aesthetics.

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 was known for his uncompromising personality and visionary architecture

Written the year of his death, this article reflects on Wright’s notorious arrogance and difficult personality that kept him at odds with his contemporaries and the architectural establishment of the time. However, his boldness was an essential trait that helped define his legacy.

The United Nations recognized eight Frank Lloyd Wright works as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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.

Fallingwater revived Frank Lloyd Wright’s career at age 67

A series of scandals and financial setbacks made Wright lose his previous relevance, leaving the public to view him as a “has-been.” Following the creation of Fallingwater, a masterpiece set atop a waterfall, Wright saw an uptick in commissions and continued to produce inspired buildings at an age that many others would retire by.

Frank Lloyd Wright's SC Johnson Global Headquarters radically challenged common practices in corporate space design and remains a working office today.

Prairie style homes are low with dramatic horizontal lines

Prairie style houses are characterized by their long, low, and boxy open plans, emphasizing horizontal lines. Inspired by his upbringing in Wisconsin, Frank Lloyd Wright spearheaded the Prairie style and created houses according to this plan from 1899 to 1910.

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.

Several Frank Lloyd Wright properties are on the market

Several of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes are currently for sale, offering buyers the opportunity to own a historic building. Some of these homes could stay on the market for years, as they’re famously a pain to maintain.

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.

Fallingwater is one of the world’s most famous houses

Fallingwater, a country house set atop a waterfall, is arguably Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated work. Legend has it that the initial drawings of the house were hurriedly sketched in just three hours after Wright’s client surprised him with a phone call and announced he wanted to see the plan’s progress.

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.

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.

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.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically difficult to sell because they require extensive maintenance and upkeep.

'An idea is salvation by imagination.'

- US architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright were longtime friends

In the early 1930s, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright invited Georgia O’Keeffe to become the master artist at the newly formed Taliesin Fellowship. O’Keeffe turned him down, but the letter sparked a decades-long friendship, rooted in their shared love for art and American landscapes, which continued until his death.

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.

Often-maligned Brutalist architecture inspired a design renaissance

Despite petitions worldwide to demolish some of its more notorious examples, Brutalism was a transformative moment in architecture. The reinforced concrete style arguably reduced costs, enabled new designs, and reduced the need for maintenance.

How the buildings you occupy may affect your brain health

Beautiful spaces filled with light and natural motifs aren't just aesthetic, but likely key to your health. Researchers had study participants view photographs of two distinct buildings, one designed with more natural elements while the other featured more abstract shapes and lines. Using electroencephalograph readings of each participant, they discovered participants had less brain inflammation while viewing the "biophilic," or natural, architecture. Learn more about the interdisciplinary framework of so-called neuroarchitecture here.

The ways Bauhaus still shapes modern life

The German art school was around for less than 15 years, but its aesthetic and philosophy can still be seen today in sleek, minimalist design, bold typefaces, and even the corporate aesthetics of IKEA, Apple, and other brands. This DW feature visits the schools that have taken up the Bauhaus legacy, using its ideas to tackle contemporary problems.

Why Le Corbusier called a house a 'machine for living'

Modernist architects aimed to boil design down to its essence, stripping ornamentation and frivolity. One of the most famous designers of that movement was Le Corbusier, who famously called a house a "machine for living in." This resource breaks down Le Corbusier's architectural theory and highlights where it can still be found today.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed a gas station in Minnesota that's still in operation today.

Browse some of the most iconic Bauhaus furniture

The Bauhaus style has become so commonplace that you might not have realized its influence on modern furniture, but the German school's impact is profound, from the Wassily and Barcelona chairs to Gropius' industrial style door knob.

Robert Venturi designed a house for his mother that many consider the first postmodern building

The Vanna Venturi House, found in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, was designed in the 1950s and completed in 1964. Its whimsical style was a rebuke to the modernist architects, who prized sleek designs and utility. Venturi, on the other hand, valued play, remarking that he liked to think of the building as a child’s drawing of a house.

Why Bauhaus—the 20th-century design school and aesthetic movement—matters today

The school, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany, in 1919, was an experimental educational environment that valued the function of an object before its form, a philosophy that would animate the rise of minimalist and modernist design in the 20th century.

Chicago's Rookery building, completed in 1888, is America's oldest skyscraper and was part of a campaign to rebuild the city after its Great Fire.

Take a virtual tour of a Usonian home

Wright's Usonian homes might have been more economical, but they didn't lack any of the inventive design of his other projects. That's evident throughout this tour of one of the homes in Pleasantville, New York's Usonia community.

The spiralling structure of the Guggenheim Museum in New York is itself a work of art

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The contemporary art museum, known for its unique spiral structure, was Frank Lloyd Wright’s final work.

Hear the story of the early American environmentalists who shaped the public lands we enjoy today.

Taliesin’s first fire also involved the tragic murder of seven people

In 1914, while Frank Lloyd Wright was out working in Chicago, one of his servants at Taliesin brutally murdered his mistress, Martha “Mamah” Borthwick Cheney, her two children, and three other people in the home. The massacre left a deep impression on Wright, who spent much of his career restoring the home.

The front lawn became an American ideal in the 20th century.

A history of Bauhaus, the influential 20th-century design movement

The design school was short-lived but immensely impactful, turning design in architecture, typography, and a number of other fields away from superfluous ornamentation and toward practical, straightforward expression. This history of the movement from the Metropolitan Museum of Art outlines its major figures, key events, and the ways its influence persists.

Lincoln Logs, the popular children's toy, was designed by John Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was inspired by his father's foundation of Tokyo's Imperial Hotel.

The impact of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the final Bauhaus director

The legendary modernist architect—known for maxims like "less is more" and "God is in the details"—had not yet designed some of his most famous buildings when he took over as director for the Bauhaus and steered the school to Berlin when the Nazis effectively closed its Dessau location. This Dezeen profile considers the artist's tenure at the school, which would shape his later work.

How László Moholy-Nagy's Bauhaus work changed design

The artist established a foundational course that would later become standard for many Western art schools. A few years later, he'd spearhead a publishing wing of the school, establish a template for modern graphic design, and toy with developing technologies. This profile from the Guggenheim digs into the massive contributions Moholy-Nagy made to the art world.

See the most famous Bauhaus sites

The Bauhaus school had a profound impact on 20th-century architecture, from the Zentrum Paul Klee in Switzerland to the Poli House in Israel. This list from Artsy shows you eight of the most important Bauhaus buildings, including the school's second location in Dessau, Germany.

Edith Roosevelt's White House redesign created the modern West Wing

In 1902, first lady Edith Roosevelt oversaw a significant renovation that separated the family residence from official offices. Architect Charles McKim added the West Wing to house the president's staff—establishing the modern layout still used today.

The concept of the American front lawn was popularized by a 19th-century book that argued its maintenance was a neighborly obligation.

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.

A guide to brutalism, architecture's most polarizing style

Brutalism is an architectural style that emphasizes raw materials, bold lines, and limited ornamentation. Although it was most popular in the middle of the 20th century, its fans can still be found across the globe, championing the misunderstood buildings in the world's major cities. This article from Dwell defines the style and unpacks why people feel so passionately about this design style.

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.

The Wright Flyer was an engineering breakthrough, and modern aircraft still use the same principles of flight.

Read the original curriculum for the Bauhaus school, which was founded as a breeding ground for artistic collaboration across disciplines.

An architect ranks the best bridges in the world

Architext Ezra Groskin builds bridges and argues that the best bridges do more than allow traffic. They should, he believes, encourage human interaction and lingering to ultimately become a destination of their own. Explore ten stunning designs that connect communities, from New York to Switzerland.