Frank lloyd wright innovator i
Frank lloyd wright innovator iFrank Lloyd Wright: Innovator in American Architecture
"...having a good start, not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, I intend to be the greatest architect of all time." - Frank Lloyd Wright 1867-1959
It appears that from the very beginning, Frank Lloyd Wright was destined by fate or determination to be one of the most celebrated architects of the twentieth century. Not only did Wright possess genius skills in the spatial cognition, his approach to architecture through geometric manipulation demonstrates one aspect of his creativeness. Forever a great businessman, Wright seemed to know how to please his clients and still produce some of the most innovative and ridiculed buildings of the early century. While the United States appeared to be caught up in the Victorian style, Frank Lloyd Wright stepped out in front to face the challenge of creating "American architecture" which would reflect the lives of the rapidly growing population of the Midwest United States. Howard Gardner in his book "Creating Minds" does not make any mention of Frank Lloyd Wright, an innovator who drastically influenced architecture of the twentieth century around the world.
CHILDHOOD
Born in 1867 Wisconsin, Frank Lincoln Wright grew up in the comfort and influence of a Welsh heritage. The Lloyd-Jones clan, his mother's side of the family, would have great influence on Frank throughout his life. Unitarian in faith, the extended family lived within close proximity to each other thus enabling a strong support system for those born or married into the clan. Great themes within the Lloyd-Jones clan included education, religion, and nature. Wright's family spent many evening listening to William Lincoln Wright read out loud the works of Emerson, Thoreau, and Blake. Uncle Jenkins was the family minister while Aunts Nell and Jane would open a school of their own which following the philosophies of, German educator, Froebel. With truth and unity stressed, Wright was brought up in a comfortable, but certainly not warm household. His father, William, moved from job to job, dragging his family across the United States. Financial troubles plagued the William Wright family and eventually they would return to the support of the Lloyd-Jones clan in the hills of Wisconsin. Despite reluctance from the clan, his parents divorced when Frank was still young. Wright would change his middle name to Lloyd. His mother, Anna (Lloyd-Jones) Wright, relied heavily upon her many brothers and sisters to help raise her children. Frank spent many hours working in the fields with his uncles, and was intellectually guided by the Aunts and his mother. Before her son was born, Anna had decided that her son was going to be a great architect. Using Froebel's geometric blocks to entertain and educate her son, Anna appears to have struck on a genius her son possessed. Use of the imagination was encouraged...
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