The Frank Lloyd Wright Paradox

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_Special Thanks_
+ Evan Montgomery -- Coproduction and editing
+ Society of Architectural Historians (www.sah.org)-- filming at the Charnley Persky House
+ Allison Newmeyer -- 3D modeling of the Unity Chapel
_Description_
From a young boy playing with blocks to becoming one of the most revered architects in history, Frank Lloyd Wright's journey is one of creativity, opportunity, and adaptability. Early experiences with geometric patterns and design principles laid the groundwork for an incredible career, challenging the notion that his skills were merely innate rather than cultivated through experiences and serendipitous opportunities.
This video traces the career of Frank Lloyd Wright in an attempt to dispel the traditional narrative that he was simply a singular genius. Rather, his ability to leverage economic and social shifts, especially in architectural practices, set him apart and propelled him into the cultural figure we know today.
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
_Contact_
FOLLOW me on instagram: @stewart_hicks & @designwithco
Design With Company: designwith.co
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
_Special Thanks_
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
#architecture #urbandesign

[@pillmuncher67]

Also, he designed Marge's hairdo, just as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon once sang: "Maggie with her eyes so bright, Marge with hair by Frank Lloyd Wright."

[@greble11]

Ha! My dad was a forester and he used to bring home wood samples for me to play with. I never pursued a career in architecture, but maybe playing with those blocks nurtured my fascination with architecture. Thank you for your excellent videos!

[@aes53]

Great video Stewart, I’ve wandered around and toured as many Wright buildings as I could get too and were open to the public. I do love his quote “Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change”.

[@pizzaearthpancakesandother2549]

I wanted to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright when I was younger, but I ended up being Frank Lloyd _Wrong_

[@billyjones6626]

KZbin community policy finds your attempt at architectural pun to violate our user guidelines. Try harder.

[@FEEDMEKITTENS]

I tried to go the Frank Lloyd Wright direction too, but I accidentally took a Frank Lloyd Left.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Ooh, too bad! Looks like Frank Lloyd Wright was Frank Lloyd Wstoopid!

[@jakeharms1386]

Saaaaaame

[@TheNiteinjail]

You need to be PUNished for that one

[@harbl99]

Silicon caulk is the unsung hero of Frank Lloyd Wright's story. All his building leaked like sieves before Dow Corning's wonder material fixed his mess.

[@Chris.Davies]

A proper architect is ALWAYS ahead of the materials. And no owner of any Wright home ever complained about a leak. Basically, your comment shows how little you know, and how poorly able you are to assess architectural design.

[@jredmane]

​@@Chris.Davies 😂

[@alittlebitgone]

@@Chris.Davies wow.... just.... wow......

[@WillN2Go1]

@@Chris.Davies Nah. I used to do my architect student roommate's drafting homework (before CAD), made parts of his models. Architects can be an odd bunch. Practical would be great, but... The annex to Falling Water is there because the main room was impossible to heat. All the Modern houses of Mies van der Rohe, The Case Study Houses, Schindler,, etc... ALL leaked, (Along the bottoms of the wall windows was chronic.) They were all nearly impossible to heat/air condition. I've been in several, known people who built them, worked on them. They were far ahead of the materials. Only in the past 40 years have there been windows insulated well enough to make those houses practical. Great architecture is first and foremost visual and spatial. I'm sure Wrights bungalow houses in Chicago which were variations on the more conventional upper class domestic architecture of the day were every bit as practical. When his style advanced, he was ahead of the materials. The Ennis House in Los Angeles is crumbling because decomposing granite isn't a good aggregate material. It is such a beautiful house that it's well worth the decades of repairs and searching for new binders to make it work. Caulking when Wright started would be putty (linseed oil and marble dust); oakum, tar and lead; or 'shingling, to shed water.' We now have caulks used on boats that make silicone seem primitive.

[@justthink5854]

@@Chris.Davies dumb reply. a proper architect works within the confines of budget, weather, the site, etc. great talent. terrible person. he steam rolled so many people. he ate up poor Peters who kept many of his designs from collapsing. take the FL Wright walking tour in Oak Park. his own home, which he remodeled over and over, is a delight.

[@barryrobbins7694]

5:12 Topic Suggestion: This is a topic that would make a great video on its own - rebuilding a city after a war or natural disaster.

[@JNKprops]

I would love to hear that

[@benmarshall5984]

I love Wrights work and think he's brilliant. Another factor which helped him immensely were all of his patrons, many of whom he strung along for money, one whose wife he sorta stole, and most who let him do designs with little oversight. This let him explore his ideas sometimes without the consequences of having to deal with buildings failing, falling apart, leaking, or fitting a program set by his clients that current architects would be in big trouble for.

[@barryrobbins7694]

Yes, it is not enough to be a brilliant architect. One has to be able to communicate the brilliance of one’s architecture. As can be seen in many of the comments, many people have a strong dislike for Frank Loyd Wright’s architecture. Interestingly, most of them don’t say why with any specificity.

[@benmarshall5984]

@@barryrobbins7694 His ability to be a self promoter was pretty legendary as was his confident communication of his ideas.

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@benmarshall5984 I agree.

[@barryrobbins7694]

@@benmarshall5984 Apparently FLW never got a chance to speak to many of the commentators.😀

[@t.w.7731]

Why is everyone shoving each other out of the way to see who can best deep throat FLW? It's disgusting to watch.

[@chrisclouds4182]

This video was so good!

[@Darrida]

Each video is as professional as if it was filmed by the BBC.

[@robtennapel78]

Love it ❤

[@MrMomo182]

The Sydney suburb of Castlecrag has several homes by Marion Mahony Griffin, as she and Walter Burley Griffin lived there in a Bohemian community while overseeing the construction of Canberra. They moved to Lucknow, India, where Walter died. I have been inside one of those homes and it is sublime, although costly to maintain the aging concrete.

[@glennaa11]

I've long been fascinated by the story of Canberra. It's quite a saga

[@damonroberts7372]

It's an historical injustice that Walter Burley Griffin is generally credited (solely) with master-planning Canberra, when it's clear that Walter and Marion very much operated organically as a creative (as well as marital) partnership.

[@michaelmcchesney6645]

Frank Lloyd Wright appeared on a 1956 episode of What's My Line. He wasn't technically the mystery guest-that was Liberace. However, the panel was blindfolded while they asked yes or no questions to try to identify his occupation/identity. That episode, like all the surviving episodes of WML, is available here on KZbin. WML aired on Sunday nights on CBS from 1950 until 1967. I wasn't born until 1968, but about 20 years ago, I came across the show airing on the Game Show Network at 3 AM. I really enjoyed it and began recording the show on my DVR. There is quite a lot to like about the show, but every once in a while, they would have an exceptionally interesting contestant, exceptionally interesting to modern eyes. For instance, they had an episode with Colonel Harland Sanders. But because he wasn't yet the face of a national ad campaign for KFC, the panel didn't need to be blindfolded. Thomas Eagleton, who was then the DA of St. Louis, Missouri, was a contestant. He would go on to be nominated as George McGovern's running mate in 1972 but would withdraw when the press discovered that in the 1960s, Eagleton had been hospitalized and received electroshock therapy for depression. Of course, plenty of Hollywood movie stars appeared as mystery guests, including one future president. Ronald Reagan appeared as a mystery guest in 1953 and as a guest panelist in 1956.

[@StephenCoorlas]

Excellent content, Stewart. Wright's level of thoughtfulness and consideration for construction technique and human psychology are very inspiring to me and my practice 🤘

[@jareknowak8712]

My favorite architect!

[@mikesercanto9149]

Thanks!

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!!

[@thepolice0001]

I'm not an architect but I've been to the Samara house and also the John E Christian house, both in West Lafayette IN. It's like you're witnessing a work of art, it's palpable. There's something about masterful work I suppose, it just speaks for itself.

[@michaeledgar5863]

Great work! Now do le Corbusier, then compare and contrast...

[@mikefirth9654]

When I look at the rigid structure at Frank Lloyd Wright imposed on his residences, I have to wonder at the pleasure of owning the place. The Guggenheim does not offer a variety of display settings, they are all diagonally placed on the ramp. The Kaleta Humphries theater in Dallas, Texas has windows in the back of the auditorium that require a little wooden panels to close off for productions done in the daytime and it has a set of stairs to the balcony that are small and angled, and since they were provided with carpet to deaden the sound, they are really tricky to walk up. The actual stage space requires accommodation to the architect and has very limited backstage support.

[@brunodesrosiers266]

But how is FLW relevant today? Indeed he is, and some time might have been spent specifically on that. Thank you for this video. It is a very good one.

[@Dev1nci]

Anyone know the woodblock print at 8:03 please?

[@euroford]

Though I'm as much of a fan as most people are, FLW's single greatest accomplishment was inspiring his most prolific student, Alden B. Dow.

[@Bonserak23]

I've always been a little skeptical of that block story. I think as architects we tend to embellish the truth for the sake of the bold. And that's okay lol

[@rcbuggies57]

That first minute or two is such a big reason why equity is important in our society. Our American society views equity as giving success, such as in allowing a student from the projects with worse grades to attend a college while denying a student from the suburbs with slightly better grades. But the reality is that most predetermined skills that are as a result of genetics are physical, which may benefit in sports like basketball because you're just physically taller. Those skills that may be innate but are mental are just not going to be well understood because the brain is too complex. We need to understand that capturing people with those skills will come from all walks of life. A university can only really test skills that are a result of environmental factors, like SAT scores. If we choose those who have a leg up on those skills, we are missing a massive pool of possible people who have extraordinary skill but just didn't have the same environment to foster those talents. It's frankly just inefficient letting only the children of those who can invest in their child's education have a chance, it's not a good estimator of genius.

[@egbun]

The long repetitive bleak grid layout of the suburbs is nothing to be proud of.

[@benmarshall5984]

I'm sure he wouldn't be proud of how his ideas were twisted into the current suburban landscape.

[@j.mieses8139]

Well Done!

[@BobAbc0815]

1:50 aux contraire, we have to draw a straight Line. We are talking about Architecture after all.

[@TheSSEssesse]

Another major factor toward his success: favorable economic conditions and a very strong middle class with well paid and talented tradesmen.

[@TheLuisg92]

I’m not an architect, so I’m aware my opinion is uneducated and probably wrong in eyes of most, but although Wright was an uncontested genius ahead of his time, I cannot help but feeling overwhelmed every time I look at one of his designs, his personal home & studio in particular. It gives me vibes of something you’d see in a horror movie. All of his buildings and houses give the impression of being dark, oppressive, claustrophobic, stuffy, sprawled, inefficient and excessively heavy. It feels as if he were in control all the time by not allowing you to look into, by limiting what you can see out of, by compressing you at the entrance just to release you into dimly lit environments full of heavy furniture and ornaments. Then there is the SC Johnson HQ where the manager’s officers are on a raised level so that they could surveil the lesser employees from above, reinforcing who held the power. Is all very sinister and oppressive to me and I wouldn’t like to be inside one of his creations.

[@jpp7783]

What is touched upon in this video and bears further discussion is how his architecture was of a certain time and place. It is the stuff of the Midwest or the west coast; born of the automobile era. So lateral buildings built across what would be sprawling properties are where it is best suited. These are neighbourhoods where everyone drives and where walking is impractical. It did not fit so well in urban environments. (I bristle against FLW or anyone, really-Steve Jobs, etc-being declared some godlike, always-right solution to the human condition. He was a brilliant man with a lot of great ideas, and yes, there’s much to learn there. But simply copying his work, inconsiderately stamping it across the landscape, well, it’s what led to things like endless tracts of suburbia, traffic jams and strip malls.)

[@kzisnbkosplay3346]

My grandfather was apprenticed to Alphonso Illaneilli. It would be awesome to hear about some of those artists behind the artist!

[@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944]

Excellent video! My first exposure to Frank Lloyd Wright was through the Guggenheim (and Simon & Garfunkel's song about Frank Lloyd Wright). My dad would take my brother and me out on Sunday afternoons, and we often went to museums. We didn't go to the Geggenheim very often because the admission price was very steep, but every once in a while we ended up there. I found the quality of space amazing. At the bottom it felt like we were at the bottom of a narrow cylinder, but when we took the elevator to the top, we entered this very open, expansive space, light-filled space with a giant hole in the middle. As we made our way down the ramp the space would gradually constrict until we reached the bottom, and then we were at the bottom of a hole again. I was far more interested in the space than in the art displayed there, to which I paid no attention. That perhaps highlights one of the criticisms of the Guggenheim: the building itself overwhelmed the art within. However, the first time I was really WOWED by a Frank Lloyd Wright interior was when I first visited the 1914-16 Francis W Little living room as installed in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sometime around 1985. After going through period rooms from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, all of which were interesting in their own ways, I entered the Frank Lloyd Wright space. What a revelation! What a contrast! The room was expansive, yet serene, in the way of Zen Buddhist temple is serene. I felt myself relax, physically and emotionally, into that room. I wanted to live in a space like that. My only frustration was that it was only a fragment of the building outside of its original context. Of course, I've seen many FLW buildings since, like Unity Temple, Fallingwater, Taliesin in Wisconsin, and various Usonian houses, and I knew what to expect, but my first visit to the Little House livingroom is still one of the most architecturally powerful experiences I've ever had.

[@justthink5854]

great talent. terrible person. he steam rolled so many people. he ate up poor Peters who kept many of his designs from collapsing. take the FL Wright walking tour in Oak Park. his own home, which he remodeled over and over, is a delight.

[@industrialize]

Great video! I've been reading a lot about FLW lately and one of the more interesting things I came across was the warehouse he built in his hometown (Richland Center). It still stands, although it's heavily under-utilized at the moment. It's called the AD German Warehouse and if you look for a picture of it you'll see it could only have been designed by FLW.

[@thainesmith]

Really cool building.

[@ereceeme]

Seems to me as a clutter of styles and materials , proportionally unbalanced, in all sense

[@kmiller0402]

Wright has an amazing house in the Phoenix, AZ area

[@michaelepp6212]

Cool to see you in the Charnley house foyer

[@davidgrenis638]

YOU NEVER MENTIONED LEVIT VILL LIKE THE COMPANY THAT MANUFACTURED ALL THE ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS WE USE IN HOUSES TO THIS DAY LEVET

[@JayCWhiteCloud]

Validation first, I'm not a fan of FLW other than his "big picture" aesthetics. He did, most certainly, have an eye for balance and design, but the beauty of it, at best, is subjective. FLW also was the Grandfather of the "MacMansion," and what he did with OPC cementitious materials (one of the worst polluters in the world today) is a blight on architecture and a never-ending battle to keep his architecture even functional as it (very successfully) falls apart. I've worked on Falling Waters, and know many of his projects on a "hands-on" basis. Each is a collection of good aesthetic design but horrid material choices and decisions that even tradespeople and craftspeople at the time told him were bad, which led to him having many leave projects leaving him with those that would capitulate to his ironic demands that we suffer with today in restoration of such work. As a natural and traditional design builder, historic restorationist, and someone who appreciates architecture deeply I can admire some of FLW's work astheticly; however, the legacy of "track homes," sprawling subdivisions, and poor material use is not to be admired at all...

[@Aphelion969]

I am interacting with the content

[@cdronk]

Informative and entertaining. Excellent work as usual.

[@michaelepp6212]

It's hard to think of a bad FLLW building although, like Lutyens, he paid little mind to budgets.

[@sdeepj]

I thought George Costanza designed the Guggenheim 😂

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

No, just the new addition to it 😂

[@barryrobbins7694]

I thought Art Vandelay designed it.😀

[@rigorousbean]

I just noticed your channel logo. Good Lord. 👏 Maybe I'm late to the party, but this is sooo good.

[@jaspermolenaar1218]

Beautifully made with fresh perspectives, thanks

[@glenmorrison8080]

10:48 The word "Usonian" struck me as interesting. Bears a striking similarity to the Esperanto word for the USA, which is "Usono". Looked it up and apparently both Wright and the author of Esperanto were influenced by an early 20th century author who advocated to use the name Usonia for the US. Only caught on in Esperanto I guess!

[@skybirdprojects5489]

All comments below fall in two catagories: People who love FLW's artistic style and flair, Or people who hate FLW's disregard of practicality and functionality. These should be held in balance with the audience in mind, a good architect would balance both beauty and functionality thereby magnifying the total work. Buildings can be both beautiful and functional. But FLW was good at publicity it seems and because his work was so striking, it gained recognition. If the public at large had the opportunity to live in a FLW building, I doubt his fame would be as great. Yet FLW didn't design buildings with balance in mind. They were designed to be good at one or two things because that was what the audience wanted. What has actually happened is the audience has changed and is blaming FLW for not reaching from the grave to change his work for them. FLW's buildings are like the architectural equivalent of super cars. They are beautiful, amazing, and really good at doing one or two things, but to live with one is certainly a pain. Yet everyone wants one. Someday the audience will change and super cars may no longer be appreciated the same way. And that's ok.

[@thorakvideos2495]

Would love to see a video about how his buildings work. Talking about the layouts and the tricks to improve the experience.

[@Bonserak23]

I will say when I was about 8 one of the only channels we could get in the mountains was PBS and I saw a special about the Falling Water and that's when I was hooked.

[@jordanweimer788]

You’re the quintessential architecture teacher from a Chicago. Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Meis van der Rohe, and SOM FTW.

[@RENO_K]

Wright is a great example of a great contratian

[@ereceeme]

IMOP his talents were space, looks and feel.

[@danielbecker9836]

FLW only fault was the size of a lot of his houses (with the exception of all his earlier builds). Overall, his Usonian houses were too anemic in size., especially the main living room. There were exceptions like Kentucky Nob and a few others but even those could have been bigger. Overall he was a genius when it came to how he defined volume in his later homes - they just need to be bigger.

[@Pisolithus]

I think most of that how much larger houses are now, it used to be that a family house would be 1,177 in 1940 now most houses have nearly doubled in size to 2,014. It’s more a sign of how culture and architecture has changed not a fault of FLW.

[@danielbecker9836]

@@Pisolithus I am sorry but FLW thought too small, so I disagree.

[@nickrobinson1136]

Frank Lloyd wright made sculptures you could walk around in, not buildings. They can’t be called architecture/homes/etc. because they were notoriously leaky, mold prone, unsafe concrete beams, immovable furniture, etc. At the end of the day, the majority of his work is unlivable and unworkable. Sure, he contributed/inspired unique concepts and ideas in others, but that doesn’t make him a good architect. Frank Lloyd Wright is everything wrong with architecture.

[@vveston7]

The Malcolm gladwell reference in a FLW video is *chefs kiss* 👨‍🍳🤌

[@alittlebitgone]

Uh, a Gladwell reference is not a good sign at all, he is not a serious or reliable source for anything and I am frankly shocked to see Stewart name check him here.

[@ryandeal4216]

A movie about his life would be awesome! I see Leonardo DiCaprio playing the part.

[@freetolook3727]

Camera click sound bytes are stupidly out of place, unnecessary and annoying!!!

[@rossrreyes]

70% was his work, but 30% was his self promotion. After all Rule #1 at being ‘successful’ in great Art & Design is not the work itself but who you know that can get your work out there, whether you’re a Designer, Writer, Painter or Musician

[@MarcPagan]

The Frank Lloyd Wright designed Marin County Civic Center, about 20 minutes north of San Francisco, is an eyesore. So much so, that's it's an attack on beauty.

[@BS-vx8dg]

Strange roof, I'll give you that.

[@freetolook3727]

And what exactly is your idea of beauty in a building?

[@timonhallas2709]

Indeed. He reminds me of Patti Smith, and other artists, one is told to like by self-professed experts, and those "in the know". Sorry, traditional building throughout Europe, and many in NYC, San Fran, and more, ...embrace beauty, rather than attack it.

[@calmeilles]

Æsthetics can be so personal. But shitposting bad opinions is fun, right?

[@marktyler2068]

Thanks for pointing to the Civic Center. I had not heard of it before. I think the building is beautiful and inspiring. I guess it appeared dated rather than historical when you were younger and you've never gotten over it.

[@hardlyb]

Naturally he needed the opportunities and encouragement, but in my experience, those mean nothing without the right person getting them.

[@tobiasskane264]

I like your contet only because i like arcitekture. Keep up the good work you do.

[@orazha]

Thank you for this excellent review of FLW. I've spent a lot of time in various FLW homes, mostly Wingspread when I was a young musician. I loved that home/community center. I can say that, for me, FLWs homes are fun. They're fun to explore. I've also spent time in his grandparent's farm home in Spring Green, WI and both Talieson and Talieson West. The one negative thing I've heard about his homes is that they require a lot of expensive work to keep them in good condition.

[@davidgrenis638]

MY JAPANESE GRANDFATHER GRADUATED AT THE VERY TOP OF HIS CLASS IN ARCHITECTURE😢 EVEN ABOVE MURANO WHO IS CONSIDERED JAPAN'S TOP ARCHITECT BECAUSE MY GRANDFATHER DID NOT STAY THERE ACCORDING TO MURANO BUT CAME TO THE UNITED STATES TO WORK WITH FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AND DID MANY OF THE JAPANESE STYLE BUILDINGS FOR WHICH HE NEVER GOT ANY CREDIT FOR HIS NAME WAS RICHARD WHY MINE YOU NEVER GOT CREDIT UNTIL THEY HAD YOU NEVER GOT CREDIT UNTIL THE MUSEUMS IN CHICAGO HELD AN EVENT CALLED THE MEN WHO SHAPED THE SKYLINE OF CHICAGO AND MY GRANDFATHER'S DRAWING FOR THE TRIBUNE BUILDING BECAME THE SYMBOL OF THE DISPLAY CALL THE MEN WHO SHAPED THE SKYLINE OF CHICAGO DAVID ADAM GRENIS 2044 MAPLETON AVENUE BOULDER COLORADO

[@mitchv.7492]

3:36 Unitarian* Minister

[@Josh-yr7gd]

Thank you, Stewart for this video. Frank Lloyd Wright is my favorite architect. I like the computer generated models. Are you going to do additonal videos with building models like the ones featured in prior videos? It would be cool to see more.

[@Sunflower-fh1nw]

❤

[@jeremyburch5850]

FLW seems to have been more of an artist than architect, with buildings as his medium rather than canvas or clay. I've visited Taliesin in Wisconsin and the Dana-Thomas house in Illinois. I loved both of them. The spaces he created are truly wonderful to experience. The variation of sight angles, lighting, colors, textures, compression/release spacing, etc make you feel like there is always something new and beautiful to discover and explore. But I honestly can't imagine anyone living in either of the houses. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't seem like the houses were created to feel like a home, but more like they were created to be looked at and admired in and of themselves, rather than creating spaces for security, comfort, and relationship.

[@johnharris3311]

This is similar to my experience of the Dana Thomas house. It looks great from the outside. The interior decor, when considered on a piece-by-piece basis, is amazing. But it also seems like a horrible place to live. The layout is baffling and the most pleasant rooms in the whole place are the strictly functional places like the kitchen. I'm honestly not sure how much of what I dislike about the house is due to Wright, how much is due to the woman who commissioned it, and how much is due to the constraints of the time in which it was built, but the combined effect is unpleasant.

[@joemeyer6876]

John Lautner: Hold My Beer!

[@mortenaronsen]

I was one of those who complained about a prior video being too far away from my own preconceived notions of what this channel was. I do not know if feedback of that type put this train back on these particular tracks, but I am very grateful it was. Thank you.

[@chrislashley]

I was worried this was going to be another "dunking on" video.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

To me Frank Lloyd Wright is a perfect embodiment of the American shift from good classical architecture (like Louis Sullivan) that was built to be beautiful and last as long as possible; which he did start with… but by the end he was just makin car-centric, cheap looking, low density sprawl structures that is all we seem capable of making anymore 😢

[@johnharris3311]

The genius of Frank Lloyd Wright is that his buildings are striking, inside and out, and that they photograph really well. They look great. I can see why architects like them. Having been inside the Dana -Thomas house in Springfield, lllinois, however, I'm honestly more interested in the opinions of people who've had to actually live in them. Everybody talks about what the buildings look like. Unfortunately, nobody talks about what it's like to have deal with them on a daily basis. I am prepared to admit that taking a brief tour of the house is not enough to make me an expert. I also admit that that my view of the house is not the view of the house that a resident would have gotten when the house was new. Nor do I have a good view of the house in its historical context; it's possible that contemporary houses were worse. Nevertheless, I have my doubts. I've been in even older houses that seemed much more pleasant.

[@justthink5854]

great talent. terrible person. he steam rolled so many people. he ate up poor Peters who kept many of his designs from collapsing. take the FL Wright walking tour in Oak Park. his own home, which he remodeled over and over, is a delight.

[@Chris.Davies]

Probably the greatest architect of all time; past, present, and future. No architect will even begin to approach his success, or his skill, or the number of completed projects.

[@thedilutedspine]

FLW always a winner.

[@psikeyhackr6914]

Great with Leaky Roofs.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

I hate the Guggenheim. The art hung on the main walls can't be straight because the floor isn't. I also resent that he never acknowledged the influence of Mackintosh on his work.

[@h.db.9684]

Imagine being the guy that gave Wright the “it’s you or me” ultimatum in 1893. Oops.

[@kkelly9424]

Not sat all oops. Louis Sullivan was and remains leagues ahead of Wright.

[@h.db.9684]

@@kkelly9424. He may be - subjectively - but Wright is far more well known among the public at large.

[@mk1st]

Just one technology he missed out on was modern insulation and thermal breaks. All that cantilevered concrete brrrr.

[@ksmith610]

Marvelous work, Stewart, on my favorite architect. Thank you. A complete genius as an architect and a complete shit as a person, but often those two things go together, alas. I live in a city with a Wright house, one which in the early 2000s was 100% rehabilitated. It has been restored to its status as work of living - and lived-in - art. Best regards to you from a retired orchestral and opera conductor who had considered architecture as a career but preferred the malleable music to “frozen music.”

[@low-energypolitics5677]

Love this overview!

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

The word "genius" is horribly over-used. Those who over-use it are conflating FAME with genius. No doubt FLW was very smart. But, this is quite common.

[@barryrobbins7694]

Genius also includes creativity. He certainly wasn’t a genius when it comes to engineering.

[@berserk1437]

*laughs in drainage*

[@alittlebitgone]

Yeah, was a bit surprised at how one-sided Stewart was in this video, Wright's buildings were certainly beautiful but in terms of quality were/are absolute nightmares.

[@chrisimir]

Why Frank Lloyd Was So Wright

[@PPYTAO]

This was a great episode, thank you! I have heard his name here and there but never known much about the man or his specific style of architecture. This was a perfect primer and im definitely about to go down a rabbit hole! I appreciate your efforts, thank you for the high quality content.

[@gregpendrey6711]

Mom purchased him. ?

[@fatviscount6562]

FLLW was most certainly innovative, and his style remains unique 150 years after his birth. Yet, many of his best known examples are not functional. Neither Robie House nor Fallongwater were comfortable homes. The Guggenheim is actually not a good exhibition space, because it limits what it can display and how people can see its exhibitions. Calling his life “tragedies” is quite a facile cover-up of his moral failings. Time and again he took advantage of his colleagues and clients. His behavior wrecked many families.

[@stephenritchings8135]

What evidence do you have that Robie and Fallingwater were not comfortable for their occupants ? The Kaufmanns loved their house. Wright took much care to provide for his clients' physical and psychological well-being---while also making sure that his own tastes were fully satisfied !

[@rexyoda]

Damn I was a kid when I was young instead of being an architects kid, big missplay

[@TeagueChrystie]

"Malcolm Gladwell" *stops video*

[@alittlebitgone]

Yeap

[@CanCobb]

I think you would enjoy Robert J. Gordon's "The Rise and Fall of American Growth," and its assertions would support some of what you're talking about regarding the timing of FLW's life. Basically he says that the golden years of American growth were from 1870-1970 and that, other than communication advances, life for Americans is largely the same now as it was in 1970. Contrast that with how different life was in 1870 to 1970. Huge swaths of America did not have running water, sewers, and few places had full electric infrastructure. Coupled with the great flight from rural to urban American and the major changes in communication and transportation, life in 1970 had little in common with life in 1870.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

9:57 That quote about reinforced concrete opening up new forms is complete nonsense. There’s still nothing that has been done with reinforced concrete that couldn’t very easily be done with other materials. Wood can easily be steam bent into smooth curves. Curved facades could also be made of brick or stucco. Cantilevers can be made of steel, and can be made larger and lighter than anything using concrete.

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

Just visited Taliesin West on a trip to Phoenix. Super cool experience. 🌵

[@elmagodelmaryahoo]

A nice, sensibly accurate vid.... where Wright's brilliant career stands as its own "testament". 👍 His pivotal theories surely opened-the-door for latter "experimentalists" like Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, and Denise Scott Brown, et al....👌Many years ago I had the unforgettable opportunity of visiting Wright's stunning Fallingwater House in Pennsylvania = Sheer *_"poetry in motion"....._* even despite the purported, later structural issues. 🤩

[@Heothbremel]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@seeranos]

I loved Outliers until i looked a bit deeper into the stories he uses as examples, and thought deeper on what lessons each chapter was supposed to teach. The lessons were often contradictory or banal, and his examples were poorly researched or outright ignored the facts to fit his narrative.

[@richardengelhardt582]

Split levels with Prairie style overhanging roofs and FLW slit entrance ways that open into tall high volume spaces, and Japanese referencing of interior soace flow were THE style ubiquitous of the 1950s in suburban Minnnesota, not 1970s. When I moved to Connecticut for college in the 1960s, I was puzzled by the 2 storey quaintness of the expensive homes being built then in these wealthy suburbs of NYC. They seemed old fashioned.

[@gordonsulc8319]

He was not innocent in the tragedies of his life.

[@GeraldWeinand]

Gotta luv how the chair Wright is sitting in must be on a foot tall platform - he is towering over the other guy.

[@djplonghead5403]

I just got a book (in French) about Frank Lloyd. It has pictures, floorplans, and the story behind many buildings.

[@AntneeUK]

I don't think I've ever not enjoyed a FLW video, but this was especially great

[@kmiller0402]

An acre of land to yourself…….I wish……these ‘cookie-cutters’ nowadays are embarrassing ❤

[@Likeomgitznich]

I’m so if you take out the context of FL Wright being loved…it’s kinda sorta meets the definition of a cult 😂

[@kurtbrisch5776]

OMA makes a turntable you'd like, although it runs well into six figures.

[@ScentedXylitol]

"Set of glocks to play with"