Frank Lloyd Wright’s Community Planning

Abstract

That geometry is employed in architecture is well known. So too is its application known since antiquity to the layout of cities. Based on experiences as an architect who believed in a holistic approach to his art (referring to it as organic), Frank Lloyd Wright used simple geometry to rationalize fundamental physical and programmatic determinants. It is not surprising, therefore, that he applied geometry in community and city planning projects to define and enhance determinants such as land use, spatial configuration, transportation routes, and building mass and to anticipate social interactions. Four projects of the period between 1909 and 1935 are analyzed.