Frank Lloyd Wright fundamentally changed the landscape of architecture. In integrating a building’s design with its purpose, he developed a distinctly American architecture, one that overthrew the ornate, cloistered Victorian interior in favor of an expansive style that fit the American Midwestern landscape. 

Wright’s trajectory included early years that boasted primarily single-family residences in his signature Prairie style. The second half of his career was populated by grand and memorable public buildings. Bisecting these stages was the post-World War I development in Europe of the International Style, one that was industrial and stripped of ornamentation. So what makes Wright’s work quintessentially “American”? For that matter, what makes other pieces of American culture—country music and food and drag balls—fundamentally American? Students will focus on Wright’s work to answer this question. Then, as an option, they can explore additional aspects of American culture independently, coming together as a class to answer the question about American-ness from many cultural angles.

Essential Questions:

• What are the qualities of Frank Lloyd Wright’s style of architecture?
• What about Wright’s work can be said to be “American”?
• Are there any commonalities among aspects of culture (music, fashion, etc.) that are said to be “American?”