Architecture School By Frank Lloyd Wright To Close

[appalachiablue]

PBS Newshour/AP, Jan. 28, 2020. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The architecture school that architect Frank Lloyd Wright started nearly 90 years ago is closing, officials announced Tuesday.

The School of Architecture at Taliesin, which encompasses Wright properties in Wisconsin and Arizona, will shutter in June. The school’s governing board said in a statement the “gut-wrenching decision” was made after no agreement could be made with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to keep operating the school. Specific details about the negotiations between the school and foundation were not disclosed.

“This is a sad and somber day for our school, our students and staff and the architecture community,” said Dan Schweiker, chairperson of the Board of Governors.

Wright launched the architecture school in 1932. He and his young apprentices would split their time between Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin and Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The school currently has 30 students. It will remain open for the spring semester. School officials say they are working on an agreement with Arizona State University’s design school to allow those students’ credits to transfer...

More, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/architecture-school-started-by-frank-lloyd-wright-to-close

[2naSalit]

1. I wonder what the split was about.

Too bad.

[appalachiablue]

3. A bit more info. w/ footnotes. Accreditation, funds

- Closure[edit] On January 28, 2020, the school announced that it would cease operations on both campuses and close by June 2020.[5][6][7] According to this announcement, the school's governing board determined that "the School did not have a sustainable business model that would allow it to maintain its operation as an accredited program."[8] This announcement followed the failure of discussions between the board and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation about the creation of new, non-accredited educational programs.[7] At the time of the announcement, the school indicated they were negotiating an agreement for the 30 currently enrolled students to transfer to The Design School at ASU's Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.[7][8]

This followed a 2014 challenge to the school's accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, on the grounds that the accredited institution was not incorporated separately from it's funding organization, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.[9][10] The school maintained its accreditation through the 2020 closure announcement by establishing itself as an independent entity.[8][11][3][12] Subsequently, students, alumni and staff clashed over proposed partnerships with other institutions and the school suffered financial difficulties.[13]

It was reported that prior to the closure announcement, the school and the Foundation were in talks to develop alternative educational programming that did not require accreditation.[7] According to the foundation, the proposals that emerged from these discussions were not approved by the school's board.[8]...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Architecture_at_Taliesin

[2naSalit]

4. Thanks.

Oh well, it appears that we really are in the age of change.

[appalachiablue]

6. The end of an era

[lunatica]

2. The reasons are probably very complex

He started the school as a way of making a comeback which worked for him because he was still pretty famous. It seems strange to us now, but he didn’t get work for quite a while so in order to stay relevant he started this school. There were plenty of young architects who filled it because they admired his work.

I saw a documentary on Netflix I think.

It’s sad. I wonder what they’ll do with the buildings.

[appalachiablue]

5. See #3. A shame, after all this time. My mom met him at an art opening

at her college in the late 1930s, early 40s. He was pleasant and interesting she said. One time I was in in Scottsdale and planned to visit Taliesin but ran out of time.

[lunatica]

7. I hope someone buys the buildings and turns them into

museums. He shouldn’t be forgotten. He was an artist who designed every bit of the furnishings too. He insisted that anyone who owned the buildings had to leave the interiors the way he made them. He designed and made all the furniture, the lamps, lighting, the wall decorations, bathroom appliances and the grounds. Everything.

[appalachiablue]

8. A museum is an excellent idea, his work should be remembered

[kacekwl]

9. Shame, I love his work.

I visited Taliesin in AZ. years ago and was amazed. Sad.

[lunasun]

10. I was just there last year very sad news

I was just there last year in that studio pictured and
believe it or not one of the agreements FLW made was that any of his own students could stay as long as they wanted to at TW when he was running it and there was quite an old gentleman there getting coffee when we were in one room having a stop for refreshments and it was near the students’ quarters and our docent leading the tour told us that way he was one of the original FLW students that chose to continue to stay all these years at TW
I believe there was another old gentleman who was also a student of FLW that’s still at Tw who I did not encounter, but the tour guide spoke mentioned. Living connections to FLW still remained there .
Reading this and considering their age I was just wondering where they will go if those students’ areas are closed , but perhaps they will be still there since they are already part of TW + not just the school but they won’t interact with the current student group anymore
And students won’t have that immersion and inspiration of TW
When FLW was alive he and his students would all get in a group of his fancy cars – including Competition Sports cars and leave from Wisconsin , travel on the road like a convoy and head out to spend the winter in the west in Arizona
then when spring came the students would travel back as a convoy to Wisconsin !
He was very interested in cars and design .
He also visualized drive-up banking way before it became a reality, although his 1947 plan for a Tucson, Arizona, bank was met with less than enthusiasm by conservative bankers, who thought it preposterous to think anyone would conduct banking business from a car

https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Media/Home/Reader/an-architects-love-of-automobiles-frank-lloyd-wrights-passion-for-cars-took-many-forms/

There is a lot of FLW connections out there in AZ so the special school community on site will be missed what a disruption So much of TW set up for students ,that’s sad it’s no more

The last home FLW designed, which is also out in that area near Phoenix, just recently sold
https://ktla.com/2019/11/08/last-home-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-sells-for-1-67-million-in-phoenix/