FT 05-O Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture as a Way of Life
David Blix, Department of Philosophy and Religion
If you were going to design your own house, how would you do it? How does the way we live “create” the space of a house, and how does a house fit in with its natural environment? How does architecture affect the way people live together in society? These are some of the questions that we will try to answer in this tutorial by studying the life and work of the great American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959). By the time Wright died in 1959, he had revolutionized the way people built buildings all around the world, whether houses, churches, office buildings, or even banks and gas stations. We will look at several things: Wright’s dramatic life, his revolutionary designs for the Prairie house and the Usonian house (as well as various public facilities), his interest in Japanese art, his breakthroughs in balancing engineering and aesthetic form, and his efforts to create an American architecture that reflected the values of freedom and democracy. We’ll study pictures and blueprints, watch videos, and read and discuss several books and articles (both primary and secondary). The requirements for the course will include class discussion, a couple of quizzes and short papers, and a final project. We’ll also take a couple of field trips, touring Crawfordsville and the Wabash campus, and visiting Wright houses in Chicago and perhaps Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.