Frank Lloyd Wright
"Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasions to change." Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is still America’s most influential architect. A college drop-out, Wright created a new concept of “organic architecture” – buildings designed to harmonize the inhabitants with their specific outside environment, and instituted building innovations such as the carport, radiant heating, unframed corner windows, and prefabrication. His floating cantilever construction for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo made it one of the few buildings to withstand the devastating earthquake of 1923; his determination to change the possibilities for middle-class family houses impacted post World War II suburban housing. His personal life was just as adventurous. He was fired from his first architecture job for taking his own commissions. He left his first wife to move to Europe with a client, who later was murdered along with six others, including her children. Love affairs and lawsuits went hand in hand with extensive writings, lectures, 800 designs, and 400 buildings. Today, one can still see many of these works including the Johnson Wax building in Racine, Wisconsin, the residential Falling Water, outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York city.
