SchoolArts - August/September 2007

Nature, above all else, was Wright’s most inspirational force. He advised students to “study nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” Ask students to gather a collection of natural forms. Seashells, leaves, flowers, and seedpods are just a few possibilities. Have them choose an object from the collection and develop a drawing and/or model for a building based on that form. When the designs are completed, have them present their ideas to the class.

Elementary School
Middle School

Frank Lloyd Wright was interested in the relationship between buildings and their surrounding environments. He called this “organic architecture.” Have students search through magazines or on the Internet and select an image of a type of terrain that will be the site for their building design. It can be on a tropical beach, in a crowded city, near a snow-capped mountain, or in a densely wooded area. Students should design a home that is in harmony with the site they have chosen and should be able to describe how their building reflects Wright’s principle of organic architecture.

High School

One of Wright’s guiding principles was “form follows function,” meaning that the purpose of a building should be the starting point for its design. Discuss the concept of form and function as they relate to your school. What is the function of a classroom or a school building? Does your school’s design suit its function? Conduct an analysis of an aspect or area of your school’s architecture (the cafeteria, gymnasium, library, etc.). Through architectural drawings and/or models, propose solutions to make your school more functional by improving its design.

SchoolArts August/September 2007

Sharon Vatsky, is the associate director of education at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

building ever to receive such recognition. In preparation for its upcoming fiftieth anniversary in 2009, the museum is currently undergoing a major restoration including the removal of some twelve layers of paint that has revealed the building’s concrete surface. This process is allowing for close analysis and detailed monitoring of cracks in the building’s façade that will be used by the restoration team to formulate an appropriate repair method and to ensure the building’s lasting health so that new generations of visitors can continue to experience one of the twentieth century’s great works of architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright. VHS. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

Frankel, Stephen Robert, editor. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum: An Architectural Appreciation. New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2002.

Stipe, Margo and Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank

Lloyd Wright: The Interactive Portfolio. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2004.

Resources

www.guggenheim.org/artscurriculum/lessons/

srgm_intro.php www.franklloydwright.org

www.guggenheim.org/podcasts/index.html

Wright made some 700 sketches and six separate sets of working drawings for the building. His plan went against the conventional approach to museum design, which led visitors through a series of interconnected rooms and forced them to retrace their steps when exiting. Instead, Wright’s design whisked people to the top of the building via elevator and let them proceed downward along a spiral ramp enjoying the art on display until returning to the entrance. He conceived of the museum as an airy, open place curling around a great central space topped by a large skylight.

Initially, some people, especially artists, criticized Wright for creating a museum environment that might overpower the art inside. “On the contrary,” he wrote, “it was to make the building and the painting an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony such as never existed in the World of Art before.”

The tall white building, known as the Tower building, was added to the Guggenheim in 1992, designed by Gwathmey Siegel and Associates. This addition houses four additional exhibition galleries as well as two upper floors devoted to offices.

Wright made no secret of his disenchantment with Guggenheim’s choice of New York City for his museum: “I can think of several more desirable places in the world to build his great museum,” Wright wrote in 1949, “but we will have to try New York.” To Wright, the city was overbuilt, overpopulated, and lacked architectural merit. After considering several locations, a site across from Central Park—as close to nature as one gets in New York City— was selected.