FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest American architect of the 20thcentury. During a long life he designed many of the most striking andiconic buildings in the USA - structures such as Fallingwater, a housepoised above a waterfall in rural Pennsylvania, the Unity Temple, the USA'sfirst all-concrete public building, and New York's amazing, spiral-shapedGuggenheim Museum. One of the most remarkable innovators in the history ofarchitecture, Wright produced some of the most revolutionary buildings -breathtaking prairie houses, the Johnson Wax company headquarters with itsPyrex glazing and stunning mushroom columns, his own canvas-roofed deserthome and office. Wright was a technological innovator too, pioneeringinventions such as double-glazing, sound-absorbing office furniture, andprefabricated office partitions. But Wright did not pursue the new for itsown sake. All his work is underpinned by a belief system: that buildingsshould be at one with their environment, that their form should grow fromthe needs of the client, and that site, floor plan, structural materials,and the use of the building should be in harmony. Wright called this set ofideas organic architecture, and both the philosophy and the buildings itproduced are as inspiring now as they were when Wright was alive andworking. This book showcases fifty of Wright's most important projects. Itcovers buildings throughout his whole career, from the house he built forhimself in Oak Park, Illinois in 1889 to the landmark structures of hisfinal years like the Beth Sholom Synagogue and the Guggenheim Museum. Theprojects include a handful of influential buildings that are no longerstanding, such as the masterly Larkin Company Building and the ImperialHotel Tokyo, as a tribute to designs that still fascinate architects andothers who follow the work of this inspiring American master. Brief openingand closing chapters outline the architect's life and describe his wideinfluence, which, with his emphasis on architecture and environment, is asrelevant as ever today.