Frank Lloyd Wright, Greatest Of All Time (in America)

Regarded as the Greatest American Architect of all time, a feat that is no doubt worthy of praise. Frank Lloyd Wright believing that "space within a building is the reality of that building" became one of the most prolific and influential architect of the 20th century. As one of the founders of modern architecture in America . Frank Lloyd Wright harnessed the power of new technology in order to build last century's most influential and iconic buildings. A career that lasted for 70 years, those 7 decades were all productive for Mr. Wright designing over 1000 buildings of which over 400 were built. Frank Lloyd Wright is really the Greatest of All Time.

Completing works like the Falling Water in Pennsylvania and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. One can really see that Frank Lloyd Wright created a unique language of architecture that does not only commune with the people but also with nature.

The eldest child in the Wright Family with two younger sisters as siblings. Frank Lloyd Wright was not really a Lloyd but rather a Lincoln. His original name was Frank Lincoln Wright however due to the divorce of his Parents when he was 14. He never saw his Father again and instead chose to honor his mother's welsh family which were the Lloyd Joneses. Due to the separation of his parents and as the eldest and only male in the family, Frank Lloyd Wright assumed the mantle of responsibility for his mother and siblings.

At 18, Wright studied in the University of Wisconsin pursuing a degree in engineering however desperate to pursue another career which is architecture. He dropped out of Wisconsin and went to Chicago where he immediately found work in the firm of Joseph Silsbee however this was only for a short time since Wright's ambition took him to the firm of his soon to be mentor, Louis Sullivan of the Adler & Sullivan Firm. Louis Sullivan became a great influence on Frank Lloyd Wright, Wright's ideas was molded during his time with Sullivan who put him in charge of the residential projects of the firm. However in 1893, Wright was asked to leave the firm because he pursued to much private work and at the young age of 26 started his own practice.

Source: http://designmuseum.org

Wright developed the Prairie Style of Architecture in the next 16 years after he started his own practice. The Prairie Stye of Wright aimed to create the true North American architecture but Wright also drew inspiration from other sources such as Europe, The British Arts & Crafts, Japanese Architecture and Culture of Pre - Columbian America. By looking back at the roots of America, Wright was able to create work with a sense of national identity.

Wright most mature form of expression for the Prairie Style can be seen most especially in the 1906 Robie House in Chicago.  Wright also built the 1905 Unity Temple even with a scarce budget. He was able to create a space that intimate even though it had to seat 400 people. Not all were good times for Frank Lloyd Wright he also experienced downs in his life especially with his relationships, leaving his first wife for the wife of a client and then afterwards his wife was murdered by a chef who burned down their house but Wright even though experiencing this turbulence in his life was still commissioned to work for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and while in Japan, Wright also received work from Aline Barnsdell to create a house, shops and a theatre complex in Los Angeles however only the Hollyhock House, of which the design is heavily attributed to Mayan Temples hinting Wright's interest to it at that time, and Residences A and B were built.

By 1922, Wright returned to the U.S. and married again, his third, to Miriam Noel whom he has been with ever since the death of his second wife. After completing some work in the U.S. Wright decided that there is no future for him there and returned to Taliesin. However another fire destroyed much of Taliesin and put Wright into debt. He also ended his marriage with his third wife and remarried again this time with Oligivanna Hinzenburg. Wright used this period to establish an architecture school namely, the Taliesin Fellowship he taught his student to balance academics with working the land and helping out the community. With help of his students, wright was able to work on much larger scale work such as the Broadacre City project and Usonian House project. By this time Wright rephrased the words of his mentor, Louis Sullivan, from "form follows function" he changed it to "form and functions are one"also by this time the Herbert Jacobs House was completed showing that the Usonian House template has been perfected by Wright.

Wright most famous residential commission did not come from the Broadacre City project nor the Usonian House project but with the one the Kaufmanns commissioned him to do which was the Falling Water. The Falling water project showed how Wright can completely unify elements from nature with his structure. As Frank Lloyd Wright has said "A good building makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built." The Falling water was true testament to this quote, The falling water really made the landscape more beautiful than it was before. However this would not be his most famous work, he would still create one more that was for the history books and it was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Wright envisioned this a continuous ramp circling around the center of the interior. However even at Wright's death in 1959 the building still wasn't built and it took 6 months before it was finished. Wright was remembered not because of his decades of work but because he was an ever evolving architect changing his style to adapt the time period he was on but he was most remembered because of his emotional response to unify architecture and its environment which makes Frank Lloyd Wright so relevant up until today.