Frank Lloyd Wright
An architect who shaped twentieth-century American architecture through organic architecture and the Prairie School.
Born in Wisconsin, he developed his practice around Chicago. After working under Louis Sullivan, he proposed Prairie houses centered on low roofs, horizontal lines, and hearths.
Unity Temple, completed in 1908, was an early experiment in making a sanctuary from reinforced concrete. Mass and openings for light shape the space more than ornament.
Fallingwater, completed in 1937, incorporates its waterfall and rocks as parts of the composition rather than treating them as scenery. It is often considered the clearest expression of organic architecture.
The spiral ramp of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, completed in 1959, fixes the exhibition sequence in architectural form. It is both a late masterpiece and a sculptural civic building.
He sought to design everything from plans to furniture and lighting. He remains both a symbol of American modernism and a focus of continuing debate.
