Why are there no new Frank Lloyd Wright buildings?
Frank Lloyd Wright houses look awesome but would suck to live in. They have super narrow hallways, low ceilings, no garage, and the bedrooms are barely big enough to fit the tiny little beds that he thought people should sleep in. (And I love Frank Lloyd Wright – but I would not want to live in one of his houses full-time.
posted by moonmilk Why weren’t any recent buildings built from or based on Frank Lloyd Wright designs? Chiefly because of the money and time required to adapt his designs to the needs of the client. As noted above, many of Wright’s designs are obsolete since they were designed for the building codes, design trends, construction abilities, and the materials available of the time. Additionally, Wright used himself as the standard for things like counter heights and doorways and he tended to ignore the realities of the way in which people use space. His work is gorgeous, and I think it is art, but I would not want to live in one of his houses. If an architect was to try to use one of Wright’s designs, he or she would need to significantly modify the design and retrofit the structure while simultaneously trying meet current building and fire codes and satisfy the client’s needs, and the project would be tedious, frustrating, and expensive. I imagine retrofitting one of Wright’s designs wou
For a number of years Taliesin Architects — the going concern operated by Wright until his death — completed designs he had originated and also built a lot of mostly imitative works. (This is probably closest to what you have in mind.) The interest in Wright’s architecture diminished over the years, though, and they eventually folded as a fellowship, although there is still an actual entity that serves to coordinate or something like that. A few are listed here. Why weren’t any recent buildings built from or based on Frank Lloyd Wright designs? This is a deeper question, though. For one thing, finding an architect willing to execute the vision of a man born in the 19th century, rather than his own vision, would be a challenge in itself. For another, those designs are often impractical. For yet another, many people would be quite happy with a Wright-inspired design
