The Future of Architecture

by Frank Lloyd Wright

Rear cover "The prophetic vision of one man, Frank Lloyd Wright, dominates the world of architecture in the twentieth century. In this challenging volume the master architect looks back over his career and explains his aims, his ideas, his art. The book begins with the widely discussed 'Conversation' (1953). Mr. Wright's assessment of his work is accompanied by and highlighted with photographs of his buildings in an illustrated text which brings his concepts of an organic architecture vividly alive. THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE also includes some of Frank Lloyd Wright's most controversial The Princeton Lectures (1930), The Chicago Art Institute Lectures (1931), The London Lectures (1939). Here, too, is a definition of the Language of Organic Architecture as the architect has employed it throughout a lifetime of work."

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Design, Urbanism, Art, Urban Studies

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the world's most prominent and influential architects.

He developed a series of highly individual styles, influenced the design of buildings all over the world, and to this day remains America's most famous architect.

Wright was also well known in his lifetime. His colorful personal life frequently made headlines, most notably for the failure of his first two marriages and for the 1914 fire and murders at his Taliesin studio.

Reviews

[Courtney Albertini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wright’s 1939 lecture series presents the intent and process behind a lifetime of work, as well as interactions with modernism and the machine age. I found this a very challenging read; very dense and complex philosophical thought on architecture. Essentially, what I like about his design philosophy is that the building seems to grow naturally from the site: “…the use of and sympathy with the site according to the nature of the ground… would be a native and natural performance. Organic architecture is a natural architecture.” Hoping to learn from these principles to inform my own design process.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wright's ego sets a difficult tone for me, but i can't help but agree with what he's saying. and it's funny how a book written in the 50's is still so prescient for today's architecture.

[Mattyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book overall. The ideas are novel and I like the way he thinks about space and how we interact with it. He has some strong opinions and seems to have put some really deep thought into what architecture means to him, to society, and to man. i would like to give this book 5 stars but some of his arguments are scattered and some of the writing seems lazy in that he sometimes repeats a point for no apparent reason other than he forgot that he already said it. I don't know much about architecture but his ideas about architecture, democracy, and man are fascinating. I wish he put as much care into his writing.

[endofunctress ☭ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful change in the right direction of architecture. These conversations and conferences set a precedent on organic architecture, through the lenses of an unitarist. Unlike Thoreau, Wright actually managed to achieve something lol.
His work provides very interesting tools to address an intelligent, eco-friendly, community-based urban design. A must-read for eco-commies.

[GreyAtlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much different than what I thought it would be. Very philosophical, beautiful writing. But at times opinionated and repetitive. It's a nice read but could be condensed significantly or better structured. Overall I'm glad I read it.

[Mayar Du]

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[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this copy for years, but it was only this year that I got to read this. And it took me a week to finish this despite the chapters being a fast read. What I took away from Frank Lloyd's Wright's "The Future of Architecture" is that the series of structures that we build keep ascending and in this line, some of our fundamental sentiments may be left down below, where we started.

With our penchant for creating transitory spaces in the sky, the sense of permanence, the notion of living in a place to put our own characters into them may fall by the wayside. On the other hand, the houses that we construct seems to be more detached from its origin in nature because of the materials that project a certain coldness (such as reinforced concrete) while wood, admittedly ages a lot faster, is not as preferred, and is sometimes used for mere aesthetic purposes. That being said, despite the evident bit of haughtiness in the discussions, salient points were raised by Lloyd-Wright in looking at the "tyranny of the skyscraper" and pondering about how architecture's future remains bright.

[Vi Nguyen]

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