The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced today that, at its Dec. 5 Board meeting, it approved a possible path towards independent incorporation of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. The Foundation Boardâs decision has been embraced and approved by the School of Architecture Board of Governors and representatives of alumni and the broader school community.
In order to meet critical fundraising goals that will allow it to achieve the financial autonomy necessary to become an independent organization, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture is immediately launching the Campaign for Independence â to raise $2 million before the end of 2015.
Providing one of the most notable educational experiences in the country, the Schoolâs professional M.Arch degree program offers graduate students hands-on, design-intensive studio experiences within the immersive educational communities of Taliesin West (Scottsdale, Arizona) and Taliesin (Spring Green, Wisconsin). This past year saw the highest number of new students in the Schoolâs history, 100% student retention for the third consecutive year, and the launch a âTeaching Fellowshipâ program that has added five distinguished international architectural educators and practitioners to the Schoolâs teaching ranks.
Despite its recent successes, as was previously reported, accreditation for the School is threatened because the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) changed its by-laws, resulting in an expectation that the Foundation retain ultimate financial responsibility for the School while simultaneously ceding governance, financial, and operational control to a separate, autonomous organization. After two years of exploration and debate, the Foundation Board concluded that it could not agree to guarantee funding to an autonomous School to the level it would need to thrive without retaining ultimate control or decision-making authority, particularly given its responsibility to find funding for tens of millions of dollars (at least) in critically needed preservation work in the coming years and for the other critical components of the Foundationâs mission.
Following that determination, longtime supporters of the School suggested the possibility of raising substantial funds to create and support an independent School. The Foundation Board readily agreed that, if the School community can raise funds sufficient to demonstrate that the new organization would have âits own financial resourcesâ (as explicitly required by the HLCâs by-laws) then spinning off the School would not present the same obstacles. The new, independent school organization would take ultimate fiduciary responsibility for itself.
As part of the new structure, the Foundation would donate over $1 million in facilities-related cash expenses every year, related to the Schoolâs extensive use of Taliesin West and Taliesin as its campuses (at no cost to the School). The Foundation would also contribute an additional subsidy of $580,000 to the School in 2015, with decreasing levels of such additional transitional support over the next five years (but always continuing to cover 100% of annual facility-related expenses of well over $1 million).
âIf the School community can successfully raise this $2 million,â said Jeffrey Grip, Chair of the Foundation Board of Trustees the Foundation, âthe Foundation will proudly and enthusiastically commit to independently raising funds to match that giving 3.5 to 1, with support of more than $7 million over the next five years.â
In order to achieve the desired independence and continue as a stand-alone School of Architecture, gifts and pledges for an initial $1 million in contributions must be received by March 27, 2015 â and gifts/pledges for a second million must be received by Dec. 31, 2015.
âThere is an exceptionally bright future possible for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture,â said Maura Grogan, Chair of the Schoolâs Board of Governors. âBut that future is only possible with the generous support of donors, right now. Without significant and immediate support, there will no longer be a stand-alone accredited Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. This campaign is the only opportunity to save the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture as we know it â and to ensure its success and impact for decades to come. I urge people to join us in this critical endeavor.â
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenterâs new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotelâone of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didnât match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the buildingâs 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 16, 2010
Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places
Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges AndrĂ©s Duanyâs Congress for New Urbanism
AndrĂ©s Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that thereâs a societal buyerâs remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architectureânot architectureâas the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
Just for fun: Words that architects use
If you regularly use such words as juxtaposition, folly, truncated, and articulation, you may be an architect. Architects tend to use words rarely uttered during normal conversations. In fact, 62% of all the words that come out of an architects mouth could be replaced by a simpler and more widely known word, according to this âreport.â Review this list of designer words, and once you manage to work them into daily conversation, youâre on your way to becoming a bonafide architect.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRCâs Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the groupâs existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
| Nov 15, 2010
Gilbane to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc.
Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Company announced plans to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc., a construction management firm with operations based in Florida. The acquisition will dramatically strengthen Gilbaneâs position in Floridaâs growing market and complement its already established presence in the southeast.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the worldâs largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable âdynamic glassâ an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the worldâs largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable âdynamic glassâ an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.