Frank Lloyd Wright was an influential American architect who designed over 1,000 structures in his unique organic style that harmonized buildings with their natural surroundings. He pioneered the Prairie School and developed concepts like the Usonian home and Broadacre City, a decentralized planned community. Throughout his career, Wright refined his philosophy of organic architecture and trained apprentices at his Taliesin schools to continue spreading his principles of integral and harmonious design.

1. Frank Lloyd wright
(1867- 1959)

2. About fr ank Lloyd wright
• Frank Lloyd Wright-American
architect, interior designer,
writer and educator.
• designed more than 1,000
structures and completed 532
works.
• Believed in designing
structures in harmony with
humanity and its environment :
organic architecture.

3. About fr ank Lloyd
wright
•Philosophy best exemplified by Falling water (1935):
"the best all-time work of American architecture".
•a leader of the Prairie School movement of
architecture, developed the concept of the Usonian
home : his unique vision for urban planning in the
United States.

4. Education and work for
Silsbee (1885–1888)
• Was admitted to the
University of Wisconsin–
Madison as a special
student in 1886.
• Joined Phi Delta Theta
fraternity took part-time
classes for 2 sems.

5. Education and work for
Silsbee (1885–1888)
•Worked with Allan D. Conover, a professor of civil
engineering.
•Arrived in Chicago in search of employment.
•First impressions of Chicago: grimy neighborhoods, crowded
streets, and disappointing architecture, yet he was
determined to find work.
•Hired as a draftsman with the architectural firm of Joseph
Lyman Silsbee.

6. Education and work for
Silsbee (1885–1888)
•Accredited as the draftsman and the construction supervisor
—1886 Unity Chapel for Wright's family in Spring Green,
Wisconsin
•2 other family projects: the All Souls Church in Chicago for
his and the Hillside Home School in Spring Green.
•Feeling he was underpaid at Silsbee (at $8 a week), quit and
found work as a designer at the firm of Beers, Clay, and
Dutton.
•Soon realized was not ready to handle building design by
himself; left new job to return to Silsbee—with a raise in
salary.

7. Education and work for
Silsbee (1885–1888)
•Silsbee adhered mainly to Victorian and revivalist
architecture, Wright found his work to be more "gracefully
picturesque".
•After less than a year, passed in Silsbee's office, learned
that the Chicago firm of Adler & Sullivan was looking for
someone to make the finish drawings for the interior of the
Auditorium.
•Demonstrated himself as competent impressionist of Louis
Sullivan's ornamental designs 2 short interviews later, was
an official apprentice in the firm.

8. Publishing
• 1910 :Ausgefuhrte Bauten
und Enturfe, portfolio and
writings on architecture.
• 1911: Ausgefuhrte Bauten,
more extensive photograph
collection of his work.
• 1925: Portfolio, ausgefuhrte
Bauten republished in
Holland, including an English
translation.
• 1932: An Autobiography
• 1932: The Disappearing City

9. Taliesin School of
Architecture
•1932: Wright and his wife started the Taliesin Fellowship,
which then became the Frank Lloyd Wright School of
Architecture.
•The farm was a self-sustaining entity, with the
apprentices growing and harvesting their own food.
•They also learned drafting, construction methods, and
other crafts, as well as overseeing the construction of
Wright’s projects.
TALIESIN WEST - LIVING ROOM
SCOTTSDALE ARIZONA

10. “Education at Taliesin
would emphasize
painting, sculpture,
music, drama, and dance
in their places as
divisions of
architecture.” - Frank TALIESIN, FARM AND
OUTBUILDINGS
Lloyd Wright (1931). RENDERED BY FRANK
LLOYD WRIGHT (1933)

11. Organic
Architecture
Return from Japan, gave many
lectures and interviews on
architecture.
Began describing what he called,
“Organic Architecture”: The theme for
the rest of his career.
HOUSE RISING OUT OF THE HILL
NATURALLY
OLFELFT HOUSE (1958)
ROUGH ROCK AND CONCRETE BLEND WITH HARSH DESERT
HOUSE SITS ON ROCK “CLIFF” RISING FROM THE ENVIRONMENTS, SLATTED WINDOWS PROTECT FROM HARSH
SEA AND COVERED WITH GREEN CANOPY ROOF SUN.
WALKER HOUSE (1948) TALIESIN WEST

12. How he defined Organic Architecture changed often, as
he refined it, and also as the situation demanded.
•Integral to Site - houses designed to rise up out of the
site as it belonging.
•Integral to environment - built appropriately to climate.
•Integral to Individual - Each building built to
accommodate the lifestyle of the inhabitants way of life
and needs.
•Integral to Materials - details of the building were the
materials themselves

13. “one that is integral to site; integral to environment; integral
to the life of the inhabitants. A house integral
with the nature of materials wherein glass is used as glass,
stone as stone, wood as wood and all the
elements of environment go into and throughout the house.
Into this new integrity, once there, those who live in it will
take root and grow. And most of all belonging to the nature
of its being.” Frank Lloyd Wright

14. Usonian houses
• With the stock-market crash of 1929, Frank Lloyd
Wright turned his interest to low cost housing for
the masses. He called these houses, Usonian,
being of the USA. The first of these was the
Jacob’s house (1936).
• The entire project cost $5,500, this included
Wrights fee of $450. In the next 30 years over 50
houses were built, and a hundred more designed,
on the precepts of the Jacob’s home. These STANDARD USONIAN WALL
SECTION
homes were innovated and ahead of their time, as
Wright created homes to fulfill the needs of a
changing American society. Following the
demands of Organic Architecture, each of the
houses were individual and unique. However,
they did have common elements that united them.
BATTEN BOARD WALLS, CLEARSTORY WINDOWS
AND OVERHANGING, FLAT EAVES DEFINED THE
USONIAN HOUSES
SCHWARTZ HOUSE (1939)

15. Usonian houses
• Designed on a Module system
• Deep Eaves
• Open Plan
• Connection to Nature
• Efficient design of Bedrooms and
Bathrooms
• Passive Heating Economical Materials

16. Usonian Housing Plans
As time passed, Frank Lloyd Wright adapted the Usonian concepts
from the original 2’x’4’ design to six general styles.
DIAGONAL DESIGN
SIMILAR TO POLLIWOG LAYOUT
BUT BASED ON A PARALLELOGRAM
AND WALLS ANGLES RATHER THAN
90 DEGREES.
Right: Snowflake House (1941)
POLLIWOG DESIGN
In-Line Design
2’X 4’ LAYOUT WITH 90 DEGREE “TAIL” EXTENDING
house designed for narrower lots, square layout
INTO GARDEN SEPARATING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
without tail.
AREAS OF THE HOUSE
ABOVE : GOETSCH-WINKLER HOUSE (1939)
ABOVE AND TOP: JACOB’S HOUSE (1936)

17. Usonian Housing Plans
SOLAR HEMI-CIRCLE
DESIGN
FIRST BUILT FOR
RAISED DESIGN
JACOB’S FAMILY WHEN
TWO-STORY DESIGN MADE TO
THEY OUTGREW THE
ACCOMMODATE SLOPED PROPERTY
ORIGINAL USONIAN
LOTS
DESIGN, BUILT AROUND
Above: Lloyd Lewis house (1940)
A CIRCLE COURTYARD.
Above right: Jacob’s
House II (1940)
Lower Right: David
Wright House (1950)
HEXAGONAL DESIGN
Above: Hanna house (1936)

18. Broad acre City
• 1935: took his concepts of
organic design and Usonian
Architecture and applied them
to the design of the new
American city.
• Abandoned the crowded,
unhealthy conditions of the
metropolitan life.
• Each residence was located on
a one acre lot, giving them
lots of space to have a
personal garden and privacy.
Above: Broad acre City
Rendering(1935)
Frank Lloyd Wright

19. • The lots were accessed by
arterial roads that connected
to a main highway, which had
a monorail for public
transportation and freight
traffic.
• Public venues such as
government, entertainment,
and recreation were located in
one central location.
• Various townships were
designed and built based on
his ideas.
Above: Broadacre City Plot Design (1935)
Frank LLoyd Wright
ONE-ACRE PLOT PER HOUSE

20. Popular Successes
• During latter years of his life he had become a
household name.
• His plans were published in home and garden
magazines, was interviewed on radio and television.
• Built hundreds of homes and buildings, and preached
constantly the values of Usonian design and Organic
Architecture.
• Two buildings however Stood above the rest in the
minds of the general public that made him the great
American architect.

21. Falling Waters (1935)
•Designed and under construction the same
time the Jacob's house was built there is a
remarkable contrast and similarities to
Wrights Usonian Plan.
•It was ornate, opulent and costly rather than
simple and inexpensive. Both did have open
plans and Falling Water was integral to its site
as a building could be, truly organic.

22. The Guggenheim Museum
• At first glance appears very different in style,
but examination shows a very Organic
Architecture and commonalities to Usonian
houses.
• Based on the Module of the circle similar the
Hemi-circle House. This can be seen in plan,
fencing, dome ceiling, flooring pattern, and
with curving ramps for circulation around
Central, rather than exterior courtyard
exterior.

23. Bibliography
• Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Official Website
• Frank Lloyd Wright, Wisconsin
Historical Society
• Frank Lloyd Wright Building Above: Tracy
Conservancy House (1954)
• Works by or about Frank Lloyd
Wright in libraries (World Cat
catalog)
• Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation
Trust – FLW Home and Studio,
Robie House
Above: Pearce House
(1950)

24. THANK
YOU
BY:
•SANKET SINGH
•SURBHI JAIN
•SAUMYA SARASWAT