Biography of Frank Lloyd Wright

Essay by kingtonsterHigh School, 12th gradeA+, April 2004

download word file, 9 pages 3.8

By far, one of America's most influential and imaginative architects of the 19th and 20th centuries was Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright. Throughout his 70 - year career, Wright has not only designed nearly a thousand structures, with over five hundred built, but he has explored the ideas of living space, exterior landscape, and the relationship between architecture and nature to create a style of architecture which is often thought of as the definition of the "American Dream".

Wright's primary inspiration was a set of "Froebel Blocks" given to him from his mother. The blocks, part of a kindergarten program were designed by Friedrich Froebel, were simple geometric blocks used to build small structures (Alofsin, 153). This helped expand the child's imagination and creative skills. These blocks inspired Wright at a young age to build incredibly detailed structures simply out of the small pieces of wood (Alofsin, 154).

"That early kindergarten experience with the straight line; the flat plane; the square; the triangle; the circle! If I wanted more, the square modified by the triangle gave the hexagon -- the circle modified by the straight line would give the octagon.

Adding thickness, getting 'sculpture' thereby, the square became the cube, the triangle the tetrahedron, the circle the sphere. These primary forms and figures were the secret of all effects which were ever got into the architecture of the world" - Frank Lloyd Wright (Dunham, 12)

This simple geometry is the prime inspiration for Wright using complex geometric in his designs later in life. As Wright continued to grow older, this designing inspired him to receive an education in Architecture.

Unable to afford a formal education in architecture in the more renowned architecture schools in London, Wright had to settle for an education in the Civil Engineering program at the...