Frank Lloyd Wright in the twenty-first century

At the dawn of a new millennium, why should we care about Frank Lloyd Wright? This world-famous architect's sevendecade career ended more than forty years ago. What could this distant, flamboyant figure reveal to us that today's technologically sophisticated architects could not easily surpass or simply dismiss as passe?

It is true that he created a large number of architectural masterpieces, many of which survive and are eagerly visited by enthusiastic architects, students, and lay admirers. It is also true that Wright's personal life was filled with colorful and tragic events, making him an ideal subject for television biographies, such as Ken Burns' recent film presented on PBS. But the question remains: is this man and his architectural oeuvre of merely historical interest, or are there concepts of current importance to be learned from a critical assessment of his contributions?

Aside from the profound esthetic pleasures that can he gained by personally experiencing his buildings, there are, I believe, at least three compelling reasons to care about and to learn anew from Frank Lloyd Wright.

THE FIRST "GREEN" ARCHITECT

First, Wright's eloquent advocacy of an architecture in harmony with nature has never been more critical to our future survival. The most potent current movement in world architecture is "sustainability" or what has been termed "Green Architecture." Growing awareness of the planet's limited capacity to sustain its voracious, rapidly multiplying inhabitants has made ecological sensitivity a global priority. Wright defined his architecture as "organic," which he saw as a principle of order, structure, and form inherent in the processes of nature, and he demonstrated its intensely practical...