Frank Lloyd Wright (Architectural Monographs, No. 18)

In a new contribution on the work of this iconoclastic and flamboyant architect, who is widely regarded as the greatest that America has ever produced, Tom Heinz uses his extensive experience in the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings to present aspects of them that have previously gone unnoticed. Concentrating primarily on residences, the author uses his own photographs to examine construction techniques that are just as unorthodox as the architect himself, showing that Wright's approach to detailing was pragmatic, rather than conventional, and was based on traditional common sense. Previously unpublished sketches on tracing paper provide a rare insight into Wright's design progression, and show that while he constantly promoted the myth of his abilities of instantaneous creation, he did graphically evolve concepts through several stages of growth. Those concepts invariably included all elements of a space, such as furniture and decoration, into his idea of "total design". Heinz's photographs of Wright's interiors while they were still intact, prior to items being sold off in the recent frenzy for anything that he has produced, provides valuable historical documentation for students of his work.