Nature Was in Wright’s Soul
Although Wright loved mechanics and was a wild man in a car, nature was the driving force behind everything Wright designed, at every stage of his career. He famously said, “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” His Prairie Style buildings often put living space on the second floor, connecting the occupant with the trees instead of the sidewalk. His later designs featured large plate glass windows, making the people inside feel like they are outside. He did not want to imitate nature, but to create an architecture that worked in conjunction with nature and the natural form of the building site. Wright used the phrase “organic architecture” in 1908, almost 100 years before sustainable design became popular. He believed his designs were a “product of its place and its time, intimately connected to a particular moment and site – never the result of an imposed style.”