Centennial Lecture Series

The Westcott House Foundation’s Lecture Series are for the benefit of our members, community and public-at-large. We hope to inspire and encourage students and adults to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and design process thinking.

"Frank Lloyd Wright's Burning Fields"
Thursday, May 15, 2008, 7:00-8:15p.m.
Michael B. Cadwell, AIA, Professor at Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University

Frank Lloyd Wright had produced canonical works of domestic architecture at the beginning of the 20th century and, in 1936 at the age of 69, he repeated the feat. The circumstances were not promising. Built during the Depression, the Jacobs House measured less than 1500 square feet and cost a mere $5,500. All the more remarkable that Wright reimagined the American house: its construction, its family, and the relationship of both to the surrounding landscape. If, as Wright believed, architecture was organic - a continuum that enfolded construction, inhabitation, and landscape - then the Jacobs House insisted that architecture's regeneration depended upon fire and decay, demons that Wright recognized in what he was to call "the ancient battlefields" of the Arizona desert.

Location: Bayley Auditorium, Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center, Wittenberg University (corner of Bill Edwards Drive & Plum Street)
Single Lecture Admission: $5, Free to WHF Members and Students with a Valid I.D.
For tickets, call: 937-327-9291 or stop by The Westcott House Museum Store Tickets will also be available 15 minutes prior to all the lectures.

Previous Lectures in the Centennial Series:

“Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samara: Realization of a Usonian Dream”
Friday, February 22, 2008, 7:00-8:30p.m.
Thomas A. Heinz, AIA, Chicago, Illinois

In the late 1950s, John and Kay Christian, a young couple from West Lafayette, Indiana, started to toy with the idea of their future dream home. Intrigued by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, they approached him not knowing it would launch them into one of the most fascinating adventures of their life.

Thomas A. Heinz will discuss 1956 Samara house, claimed as one of his favorite buildings by Wright, in the broader context of the famous architect’s work. Heinz, an architect himself, has worked on more than forty Frank Lloyd Wright buildings’ restorations and reconstructions. He has written 30 books and taken over 100,000 photographs of Wright’s work. His lecture coincides with an exhibition of the same title, on display at the Westcott House and Springfield Museum of Art beginning February 13th.

“Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Building”
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 7:00-8:15p.m.
Richard Cleary, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Page Southerland Page Fellow in Architecture, University of Texas at Austin

Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of organic architecture embraced building technology as well as form, space and materials, and he prided himself as a master builder. This talk will examine some of his innovative approaches to structural systems and construction techniques and consider how his unconventional practice interacted with the consulting engineers, contractors, and manufacturers who realized his dreams.

“Transformational Space: Japanese Reflections in Frank Lloyd Wright’s House Beautiful”
Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:00-8:15p.m.
Margo Stipe, Curator and Registrar of Collections, The Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, Taliesin West

Frank Lloyd Wright’s revolutionary reworking of architectural space has long been credited with changing the way Americans live. Dissolving interior walls and opening the interior spaces to the exterior created a new sense of shelter while allowing communion with the natural world Wright believed was a great spirit. This talk will look at how Wright’s close encounters with Japanese culture informed the evolution of what his clients have called “transformational” space.

Become a Westcott House Foundation member today!
Call 937-327-9291 or click here to download a membership form.