Archinect - News

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West

2024-03-26T16:54:00-04:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has announced its selection of Sasaki Associates to create a new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Plans for a new campus will guide the development of any new projects on the 620-acre campus (a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site) in line with the Foundation’s Taliesin West Preservation Plan from 2015. Their aim is to re-establish the site as a cultural destination for "future generations."

The site, which Wright settled with his third wife Olgivanna in the 1930s, had included a school that almost shuttered due to financial difficulties before reversing its decision and relocating to two sites in Paradise Valley at the start of the pandemic.

Photo credit: Andrew Pielage

The firm says: "The comprehensive plan for Taliesin West represents a significant step in ensuring the long-term preservation and vitality of this architectural masterpiece. By engaging with the site’s history and ecology, Sasaki’s plan will guid...

Frank Lloyd Wright's grandson Eric Llloyd Wright passes away aged 93

2023-04-13T15:51:00-04:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has shared news of the passing of Wright’s grandson Eric Lloyd Wright last month at the age of 93.

Wright, who was the only child of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., designed homes and religious projects in California, Pennsylvania, the American Midwest and Finland.

He was an apprentice for his grandfather at Taliesin until being drafted into service in the Korean War in 1952. Wright returned to Los Angeles in 1956 to work for his father’s studio but did not earn an architectural license until 1967, according to his biography on the Foundation’s Memoriam.

It was in Malibu in 1978 that Wright began his own practice, Eric Lloyd Wright & Associates Architecture & Planning. From there, his firm went on to become a fixture in the myriad restoration projects of his father and grandfather’s original designs, including the Ennis House, South Carolina’s Auldbrass Plantation, and the Storer House in Los Angeles.

The Ennis House. Photo: Mary E. Nichols, via Realtor....

New Balance honors Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City concept in latest sneaker collab

2023-04-12T13:26:00-04:00

A new collaboration between New Balance and fashion designer Ronnie Fieg is paying homage Frank Lloyd Wright’s utopian concept for the ‘Broadacre City’ that first appeared in his seminal title The Disappearing City in 1932.

The KITH founder worked with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to design a pair of New Balance 998s (aka the “silhouette”) on the occasion of the sneaker’s 35th anniversary.

Ronnie Fieg x Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation x New Balance 998 “Broadacre City” capsule. Image courtesy Ronnie Fieg via Instagram

The suede designs come in two colorways, both meant to represent the agrarian landscape and buildings seen in the concept’s physical models that were displayed in the entryway of the Hacienda de la Chandler at Taliesin West after 1935.

Ronnie Fieg x Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation x New Balance 998 “Broadacre City” capsule. Image courtesy Ronnie Fieg via Instagram

“Broadacre City isn’t a city at all but a reimagining of how we could organize ourselves outside of dense...

Steelcase reinterprets Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters furniture with their new Racine Collection

2023-01-27T10:54:00-05:00

Michigan-based manufacturing company Steelcase has announced the creation of the Frank Lloyd Wright Racine Collection, a range of furniture that pays homage to the products designed by the famous architect in 1939 for the SC Johnson Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin. Having worked with Wright to produce the furniture for the original 1939 building, Steelcase has sought to develop a new range that “reintroduces, reinterprets, and reimagines the classic furniture designs of Wright.”

Frank Lloyd Wright Racine Signature Collection. Image credit: Steelcase

Wright’s relationship with Steelcase began with the Johnson Wax Headquarters in 1939 and has continued through 1985 with their ongoing stewardship of Wright’s Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For their latest endeavor, Steelcase is collaborating with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to launch reintroductions of iconic furniture by Wright, as well as create newly authored designers inspired by Wright’s principles.

...

Three unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper projects brought to life by 3D imagery

2023-01-09T12:40:00-05:00

Three unbuilt projects by Frank Lloyd Wright have been recreated in 3D renderings by Spanish architect David Romero. Images of the high-rise schemes, located in Chicago and Washington D.C., have been published in the latest edition of the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, a hard-copy magazine of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The Illinois. Image credit: David Romero via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The tallest of the three, 'The Illinois,' remains one of Wright’s most famous unbuilt works. The mile-high skyscraper was unveiled by Wright in 1956 and would have stood four times taller than the world’s then-largest building. "The Empire State Building would be a mouse by comparison," Wright boasted at the time.

The Illinois. Image credit: David Romero via The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The 528-story, 18 million-square-foot concept would have accommodated 100,000 people. Four major highways, along with rail lines and a heliport, would provide access to the building, with docking s...

Beverly Willis Architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright foundations among National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipients

2022-08-24T17:18:00-04:00

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced a broad-ranging program of new grants that totaled $31.5 million and were awarded to 226 projects across the United States.

Included in the list are a few architectural organizations and historically significant institutions that were identified by the NEH as helping to “preserve, examine, and share the country’s rich and expansive history and culture.”

One of the biggest winners was the New York-based Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, which received a total of $100,000 outright for their exploratory podcast series titled “New Angle: Voice — Pioneering Women of American Architecture,” wherein the impact of five great women architects are explored by executive director Cynthia Phifer Kracauer in information-rich half-hour segments that garnered some 40,000 listeners by the end of the first season. The series is sponsored by Knoll and SOM and produced by award-winning director Brandi Howell. Their Media Projects ...

Leaders of the School of Architecture at Taliesin and Cosanti share their vision for the future of “organic architecture”

2020-06-15T15:37:00-04:00

In recent weeks the leaders of the School of architecture at Taliesin have begun to make plans for moving the school to Cosanti, some eight miles to the west of the school's current site.

Last week, Archinect spoke with Dan Schweiker, Chair of Governing Board for Taliesin, Chris Lasch, Interim President of Taliesin and former Dean of the school, and Patrick McWhortor, President and CEO of Cosanti, to learn more about the planned transition.

Previously on Archinect: "Frank Lloyd Wright's School of Architecture at Taliesin shutters its doors after 88 years." Photo of Taliesin West, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Maarten Nijman.

Describing the process at hand, Schweiker explains that the school had moved on after unsuccessfully negotiating with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for approval to continue using the Taliesin West facilities moving forward. In January of this year, the school and foundation announced that the school would shut down at the e...

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation doubles down on Taliesin closure

2020-03-18T13:39:00-04:00

In the latest turn of events in the ongoing saga over the future of the School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT), the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the group that owns and maintains the buildings used by SoAT, has announced that it will "allow its agreement with the School of Architecture to expire at the end of July, 2020," effectively finalizing the plan to shut down the school.

The move follows an announcement made by the Board of Directors of the SoAT on January 25 indicating its plans to close following a disagreement between SoAT and the Foundation over the viability of the school's finances and over the school's continued use of the spaces at Taliesin. The SoAT Board of Directors switched course in early March, when it voted to rescind the January decision to shut down the school following an outpouring of financial support in response to the initial announcement.

Previously on Archinect: "Frank Lloyd Wright's School of Architecture at Taliesin shutters its doors after 88...

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation responds to latest Taliesin news

2020-03-06T16:36:00-05:00

Following the latest news that the Board of Directors of the School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT) has voted to reconsider a previous decision to close the school, Archinect reached out to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation for comment.

Previously on Archinect: "BREAKING: Taliesin School of Architecture Board votes to rescind planned closure." What will be the fate of Frank Lloyd Wright's Beloved School of Architecture at Taliesin? Image © Christopher Michel (2017)Flickr.

In response, the Foundation, which owns and maintains the buildings at both of the Taliesin locations used by the school, issued a lengthy statement, which has been published in full below. Archinect will continue to publish updates and additional reporting on the developing situation.

Statement from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation:

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation learned through stories the School of Architecture’s lawyers had placed in the media of their change in plans to remain open based on its assessm...

John Ronan's Frank Lloyd Wright visitor center in Oak Park hits preservation hurdles

2019-09-09T19:45:00-04:00

A proposed 8,000-square-foot visitors center designed by Chicago's John Ronan Architects has been dealt a set back following a recent Oak Park Historic Preservation Commission decision to unanimously deny the project's efforts to impact a pair of homes located next door to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio.

In the effort to build the visitors center, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust of Oak Park seeks to move or demolish portions of one home and the entirety of another house next door to the property. The two homes are located within the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School of Architecture Historic District and are therefore subject to significant preservation review, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Responding to the decision, the trust writes, “American architecture was born in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio. This is where the story begins. It is where Unity Temple, Robie House and all of the great Prairie houses were created. A new visitor and education center should expre...

Does owning a Frank Lloyd Wright home come with a secret curse?

2019-08-19T18:00:00-04:00

With only 400-some Wright structures still standing, surely these listings must erupt in bidding wars from eager buyers as soon as they hit the market, right? Wrong. On the contrary, Wright homes tend to sit on the market for years. Often with numerous price cuts!

Owning a home designed by a famed architect may be a dream for many. However, what are some of the unforeseen factors that come with owning such a home? According to Adriana Velez from realtor.com, owning a Frank Lloyd Wright home comes with its fair share of obstacles.

Velez explains, "for starters, keep in mind that most Wright homes were built in the early to mid-1900s. So these homes are up in the years, and often in dire need of upkeep and repairs." She continues, "Repairing or restoring a Wright house is even more difficult if it has landmark status. That means any renovation plans must be approved by the local landmarks commission, and are subject to restrictions meant to preserve the historical accuracy of the structure."

Norman Lykes - Interior. Image courtesy of The Agency

Other challenges buyers of Wright-designed homes face can include the unconventional floor plans, furniture, and specific color schemes used during Wright's heyday. Potential buyers should anticipate th...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Max Hoffman House purchased for $9.17M by Marc Jacobs

2019-07-10T19:42:00-04:00

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs has paid $9.175 million for a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in the wealthy New York suburb of Rye. Mr. Jacob's agent Laura DeVita of Julie B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty, said her client had been searching for an architecturally significant home in Westchester and planned to use the property as a weekend retreat from his busy job.

Formerly owned by Maximilian E. Hoffman, the residence was one of the last projects Wright worked on before he died. Hoffman commissioned Wright to design the home after Wright designed an auto showroom for his Jaguar dealership in New York. Located at the north end of Manursing Island, the Hoffman House is a 6,000-square-foot home nestled in a private community with its own marina and beach. The L-shaped residence was built in 1955, four years before Wright passed in 1959. Located on 1.97 acres of land, it's no wonder well-known fashion designer Marc Jacobs purchased the house.

View this post on Instagram All the Hoffman bedrooms were located in the east wing, each having outdoor access through mahogany French doors. The house's granite ashlar was coursed with overhanging stones in a horizontal pattern that Wright had developed at Taliesin East in Wisconsin. The original copper fascia has a deep green patination from exposure to the salt air of Long Island Sound...

Eight Frank Lloyd Wright works recognized by UNESCO

2019-07-08T10:45:00-04:00

Eight buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the Prairie style masterpiece of the Robie House in Chicago and the bold concrete structure of Unity Temple in Oak Park, were named Sunday to the United Nations’ list of the world’s most significant cultural and natural sites.

As architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune Blair Kamin writes, American Modernism is finally getting its due, at least, in the eyes of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which has named a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structures to its World Heritage Sites list.

According to Kamin, “the Wright structures are the first works of U.S. modern architecture to make the prestigious list.”

The highlighted works include:

Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois (1909).
The Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago (1910).
The Taliesin complex in Spring Green, Wisconsin (begun in 1911).
The Hollyhock House in Los Angeles (1921).
Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania (1939).
The Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin (1937)
The Taliesin West complex in Scottsdale, Arizona (begun in 1938).
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City (1959).

Upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly is guest-edited by McMansion Hell’s Kate Wagner

2019-05-23T09:14:00-04:00

In an effort to highlight the enduring influence and mystique of Frank Lloyd Wright’s groundbreaking designs on contemporary visual and popular culture, the upcoming edition of The Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly delves into the connections between this legacy and some of the biggest popular culture phenomena of today.

Titled Timeless: Frank Lloyd Wright + Contemporary Pop Culture and guest edited by McMansion Hell’s Kate Wagner, the forthcoming issue, produced by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, toggles between television, film, science fiction, and performance to uncover the lasting effects of Wright’s omnipresent legacy.

Art by Steve Thomas

The volume features cover and other illustrations by artist Ellen Surrey, interviews with set designers Deborah Riley of Game of Thrones, Howard Cummings of Westworld, and Paul Harrod and of Isle of Dogs about how Wright inspired their designs, an exploration of Wright’s influence in film by author Darran Anderson, and ruminations on FLW’s conn...

NEH announces $13.2 million in grants for cultural infrastructure

2018-08-10T18:04:00-04:00

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has just announced $13.2 million in grants for cultural infrastructure. 29 U.S. cultural institutions were awarded with matching grants including libraries, museums, archives, colleges, universities, historic sites, scholarly associations, and other cultural institutions which build institutional capacity for long-term sustainability. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation was among those awarded, receiving a grant of $576,106.

Experience Frank Lloyd Wright works online through virtual tours

2018-06-21T15:31:00-04:00

Virtual tours of Frank Lloyd Wright's properties will be available online through Leica Geosystems partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. With technology services from Multivista and Matterport, detailed experiences of the architect's iconic works can be explored from exterior grounds to the interior home, including minute detailing, 3D views, and floor plans.

Taliesin West will be the first property available online here. The endeavor is part of a larger scheme by Leica Geosystems to use digital innovation to capture, document, and preserve architectural history.

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, prominent Frank Lloyd Wright archivist, dies at 87

2018-01-03T14:46:00-05:00

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, who organized Frank Lloyd Wright’s massive archives and wrote or edited more than 50 books about the buildings, ideas and career of the legendary architect, died Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. “He is almost single-handedly the person who organized the archives,” said Barry Bergdoll [of MoMA]

Chicago Tribune architectural critic Blair Kamin pens an obituary for Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer. Born in 1930 in South Natick, Massachusetts, Pfeiffer studied as Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentice in 1949. He eventually went on to become the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's director of archives, organizing Wright's thousands of drawings, blueprints, photos, models, letters, and manuscripts that were left behind when the architect died in 1959. Pfeiffer was 87.

After a tough couple years, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture has a new lease on life—and a new name

2017-04-24T20:41:00-04:00

T he Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture has had a rough go of things the last few years. The school, which is located at the historic winter home of Wright, Taliesin West, almost lost its accreditation because it wasn’t financially independent from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Things got so bad that they temporarily suspended new enrollment.

Then, the critic Aaron Betsky took over the deanship and was able to fundraise enough to keep the school accredited. Now, to mark their new, more-removed relationship to the Foundation, the school has been renamed the School of Architecture at Taliesin.

“Adopting this new name, the School of Architecture at Taliesin, helps us to secure our identity as an experimental, forward-looking architecture program that is deeply rooted in the Taliesin Fellowship,” Betsky states. “The process in which we developed our new relationship with the Foundation and our accreditors has been an opportunity to closely examine who we are as a school and ho...

The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture to remain accredited

2017-03-10T18:00:00-05:00

After years of uncertainty, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture has had an application approved that will enable it to remain accredited. Previously, the school’s accreditation was threatened because it wasn’t operating independently of its sponsoring organization, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The application that was approved enables the school to separate itself from the Foundation while still using its facilities.

Last year, when the school attempted a similar application, officials found that they did not provide sufficient evidence that they would be able to meet several standards, such as maintaining a staff capable of running high-quality programs.

Part of the new plan entails that the school and foundation will collaborate on founding a K-12 program. The foundation will also expand its STEM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) programming.

Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture reaches fundraising goal of $2M, working towards independence from foundation

2015-12-23T12:43:00-05:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture has issued a statement that it has reached its 2015 fundraising goal of $2 million – a crucial milestone towards establishing the school's independence from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The goal of becoming an independent subsidiary of the foundation became necessary when new accreditation regulations established in 2011 required the school to be financially and administratively independent or risk being stripped of its accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission.

In this latest statement, the school says: "As part of the agreement, the Foundation will continue to support the School financially over the next four years, investing over $1.4 in its operating costs and future growth. In addition, it will donate the extensive use of historic, residential, and classroom facilities at Taliesin and Taliesin West, which cost the Foundation over $1 million in cash a year for the spaces utilized by the School. Combined with the more than...

With $1.5M to go, Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture approaches first fundraising milestone towards independence

2015-08-05T12:59:00-04:00

In December of last year, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced that it would try to fundraise $2M by the end of 2015, in order to establish The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture as an independent organization. The Foundation set a $1M goal to be reached by the end of August 2015, and is now half way there – but must raise the remaining funds by August 25 in order to continue fundraising as planned.

From a press release issued by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation yesterday, the Chair of the School's Board of Governors, Jacalyn Lynn, asked those who wish to see the school continue operating to donate to the "Campaign for Independence" cause:

“Without significant and immediate support, there will no longer be a stand-alone accredited Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. This campaign is the only opportunity to save the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture as we know it – and to ensure its success and impact for decades to come."

Past news from Taliesin's rocky hi...

Schools shuffle and museums move forward: Weekly News Round-Up for October 27, 2014

2014-11-03T20:29:00-05:00

Friday, October 31:

New Plan for Architecture School at Wright Foundation: Facing the loss of its accreditation in 2017, the school is considering independent incorporation in order to continue operating.

Thursday, October 30:

Archinect's Lexicon: "Anthropocene": Recognizing that "Architecture notoriously appropriates and invents new language – sometimes to make appeals, sometimes to fill conceptual gaps, sometimes nonsensically", Archinect's new series will create a lexicon of (mostly new) discursive architectural terms.

Wednesday, October 29:

Relocation or Adaptation: São Paulo Nears Collapse as Drought Continues: Partially due to climate change and deforestation, major reservoirs are dangerously low and cities in São Paulo are beginning to go dry.
Snøhetta to take over SF development project near Civic Center: The condo design originally was given to Richard Meier, and may involve relocating the adjacent subway stop at Civic Center in downtown San Francisco.
The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an...

Broad Minded City Documentary Film looking for a venue

2012-11-29T14:59:00-05:00

Broad Minded City is a Documentary about Urban Planning, Design and Architecture focusing on the current issues facing cities in development, issues like sustainability, culture identity, infrastructure, transportation and preservation. It's a multidisciplinary approach loosely based on Frank Lloyd Wright's urban model "Broadacre City" to show the difference between Broadacre City and Urban Sprawl as we know it today.

Right now, we are looking to share a 10-15 min short film of Broad Minded City to the public in a venue. The initial screening will mostly happen in the Los Angeles area, but not against screening on other cities interested in this subject matter. The hope is to make the documentary into a full-feature film (90 mins. or longer).

If anyone is interested in screening in their gallery space or movie venue, please contact or you have different suggestions on a idea venue. The documentary is not only for the architect, developer, planner & designer, but to the broader audience who have an interest or a belief that cities and the urban environment should have better planning, transparency & design, that the design of buildings and spaces should be an everyday experience.