Happy Birthday Frank Lloyd Wright

In 1991, the American Institute of Architects called him, quite simply, “the greatest American architect of all time.” But he wasn’t just an architect – he was also an interior designer, writer, and educator. Today, the prodigious Frank Lloyd Wright would have turned 147 years old. Despite the years, he continues to inspire generations of architects.

Wright’s designs were driven by the desire to nurture the lives of their occupants. He referred to his architecture as ‘organic’ – in complete harmony with itself and its surroundings, as if it had developed as naturally as a tree. His later work is formally modernist, but hints at his beginnings in the late 19th century as a disciple of Louis Sullivan (‘form follows function’).

For many people, Wright is the quintessential vision of the architect: he presented himself as a lone genius, fastidious down to the smallest details of his design, and his personality was often rather brash. But there is no denying his vision – and the timelessness of his designs continues to reveal just how strong that vision was.

In total, Wright completed over 500 projects. Today, 55 years after his death, the relevancy of his immense body of work is not lost – in the past four months alone, preservation plans were announced for three of his projects, including the SC Johnson Research Tower. In celebration of his birthday, we invite you to look back on his prolific body of work.