Building from the ground up: Frank Lloyd Wright as an architect of language

Abstract

F.L. Wright’s written and oral statements are discussed with a view to showing the connection between his principles of “organic” architecture and the rhetorical efficacy of his verbal expression. His calculated, eloquent and dexterous enactment, or performance, of various communication strategies is presented as fully contiguous and consonant with his architectural thinking and substantiation of ideas through action. This makes him an important precursor of postmodern consciousness and praxis.

Keywords

• Frank Lloyd Wright
• architecture
• verbal expression
• communication strategies
• performance