The Ideas & Philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright

The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture

The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright is a one-volume compendium of Wright's most critically important--and personally revealing--writings on every conceivable aspect of his craft. Wright was perhaps the most influential and inspired architect of the twentieth century, and this is the only book that gathers all of his most significant essays, lectures, and articles on architecture. Bruce Pfeiffer includes each piece in its entirety to present the architect's writings as he originally intended them. Beginning early in Wright's career with "The Art and Craft of the Machine" in 1901, the book follows major themes through The Disappearing City, The Natural House, and many other writings, and ends with A Testament in 1957, published two years before his death. This volume is beautifully illustrated with original drawings and photographs, and is complemented by Pfeiffer's general introduction, which provides history and context. The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright is a must-have resource for architects and scholars and a delight for general readers.

On and By Frank Lloyd Wright: A Primer of Architectural Principles

This volume contains a collection of the key essays on and by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), one of the most influential and prolific architects of the 20th century. The individual essays focus on specific aspects of Wright's work, analyzing buildings and projects in order to explain the general principles of Wright's much-debated design methods. Included are previously published contributions from well-known historians and Wright scholars such as Kenneth Frampton, Colin Rowe, and Gwendolyn Wright, as well as new commentary from the book's editor, Robert McCarter, an acknowledged Wright expert and author of Phaidon's Frank Lloyd Wright monograph. Overall, this volume brings together in one place decades of important scholarship on key architectural principles, making it an essential reader for students of architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright & Lewis Mumford: 30 Years of Correspondence

Publisher's Weekly. The meeting of two great 20th-century architectural minds is recorded in Frank Lloyd Wright & Lewis Mumford: Thirty Years of Correspondence, edited by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Archives Director at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and Robert Wojtowicz, chair of the Art Department at Old Dominion University. Wright first wrote to Mumford in 1926, when he was in his 50s and already renowned, and Mumford was in his 30s and making his name in cultural criticism. Mumford, who focused much of his writing on architecture and urban planning, greatly admired Wright's work as "the exemplar of organic design, built in accordance with the rhythms of modern life"; the two men shared ideas and interests, though Mumford resisted getting too intimate in order to preserve his critical integrity. Their friendship weathered political, aesthetic and personal disagreements (including a 10-year rift regarding U.S. intervention in WWII), but up until Wright's death in 1959 they maintained fondness and admiration for one another. B&w photos.

1071 Fifth Ave: Frank Lloyd Wright & the Story of the Guggenheim Museum

F. Murray Abraham and Claire Bloom do readings of letters between Frank Lloyd Wright and Hilla Rebay, the Guggenheim's first director. Part of the "American Visionaries" art history series.

In 1957, at the age of 90, Frank Lloyd Wright was in New York to supervise construction of his final masterpiece--the Guggenheim Museum. Mike Wallace invited him to be a guest on the TV show, The Mike Wallace Interview. Rarely has a figure of such historic importance been so revealingly captured. Guided by Wallace's questioning, America's greatest architect emerges as a wise, idealistic, nonconformist, and uniquely self-confident man. This is the complete soundtrack to that legendary interview.

Customer review. Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest contribution to American home design is his answer to questions about how do you build low-cost housing suitable for the modern middle class American family. His answers were the several dozen Usonian homes he designed from the 1930's until his death. These were usually smaller homes suited for middle class budgets and needs... John Sergeant gives a very complete analysis of the five principle types of Usonian design: polliwog, diagonal, in-line, hexagonal, and raised. Floor plans and photos accompany the text. Very good cross references and notes for those interested in further study. The analysis goes beyond Usonian homes. Sergeant also addresses FLW's ideas on city planning, environmental issues, and cooperative communities...

The publisher, John Wiley & Sons:Previously unpublished conversations of "The Father of Modern Architecture" with such notables as Carl Sandburg, Mike Wallace, Alistair Cooke and Hugh Downs. In this magnificently illustrated volume, Wright shares his often controversial views on art, literature, society, history and architecture. Photographs of Wright's greatest achievements accompany these provocative conversations. This book presents a penetrating portrait of the architect, exposing his humor, charm and guiding philosophy --an intense faith in the individual, the independent mind and the free spirit.

Customer review. Truth Against the World is a must for anyone interested in understanding Wright's philosophy of Organic Architecture. It is a great resource because, unlike the thousands of other books that were written about Wright, Truth Against the World is a view of the famed architectural philosophy through the genius himself. You do not get a third person interpretation about Wright and his philosophy; instead you read and hear about it in his own words. The end result is a greater depth of understanding not only of the Organic philosophy, but of arguably one of the world's greatest architect of all time.

The publisher, John Wiley & Sons: The fascinating parallel narratives of three men who influenced the era between 1920 and 1950 --Wright, Henry Ford, and Franklin D. Roosevelt-- are interwoven with provocative details about other lives, historic events and personal insights to demonstrate how Wright's ideas have shaped modern America. Describes how the architect's vision failed and succeeded and how Usonia was realized in expected and unexpected ways.