Review

"One of the handsomest books yet on America's architect of the century."―The Sunday Times

"Robert McCarter's volume is a masterly achievement."―Times Literary Supplement

"As a presentation of Wright's complete career, it is difficult to imagine McCarter's book being bettered."―Architects Journal

"Of all the books that have appeared in the last 10 years on Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture, this is one that will last. Robert McCarter's prose is agile and passionate."―.com

"A sumptuous and revealing book... An intensely human and at times poetically interpreted description of Wright's work and life."―(World Architecture

Synopsis

This monograph explores the underlying themes and principles of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture. It examines the consistent and systematic qualities underlying all of Wright's designs. The text's chronological presentation, which emphasizes key designs and those related to them thematically, is paralleled by an examination of the development of three primary principles, simultaneously active in Wright's work, and singled out by him as being of fundamental importance in his understanding of architecture. First, Wright's development of concepts and methods for making architectural space; how these ideas derived from his designs for interior spaces and their experience; and how in Wright's architecture the occupant's movement (position) was critical to the experience of the spatial order (composition). Secondly, Wright's development of concepts and methods for ordering space through the manner of its construction; how this order determined his search for "the nature of materials" and structures.

The author then considers the third aspect of Wright's designs: the architect's development of concepts and methods for establishing the relationship between his architecture and the landscape; and how he designed buildings where landscape, interior space and construction materials are woven together to become the setting for the repeated rituals of daily life.

See all Product description