Whether you agree with Frank Lloyd Wright’s definition of good architecture or not, the late architect was never anything less than resolute and unswerving in his convictions. If ever you needed evidence of this, look no further than PBS Digital and Quoted Studios’ Blank on Blank animated short featuring excerpts from an interview between Wright and Mike Wallace in 1957.
In the short six-minute video, Wright calls architecture of the past 500 years “phony,” says, if given another 15 years to work, he would rebuild the country and change the nation, and casts aspersions on the New York City skyline calling it a “great monument to money and greed.” Wright certainly doesn’t hold anything back in this interview, but before anyone gets any ideas to call him arrogant, he has a few choice words for you too. “I think any man who really has faith in himself will be dubbed arrogant by his fellows,” Wright says. “I think that’s what happened to me.”
Wright’s interview on The Mike Wallace Show took place when he was 90 years old, just two years before his death. At this point in his life, Wright had designed over 1,000 buildings and had seen over 500 of them come to fruition, but even with so much work under his belt, Father Time was the only thing slowing the 90-year-old architect down and hindering him from accomplishing more.
Returning to his idea of changing the country, Wallace quoted Wright as previously saying, “If I had another 15 years to work, I could rebuild this entire country. I could change the nation.” Wright confirmed that he said this saying, “It’s amazing what I could do for this country. I wouldn’t start to change so much the way we live, as what we live in and how we live in it.”
Wright wasn’t the only architect featured in a Blank on Blank video. A 1965 interview between architect Buckminster Fuller and Studs Terkel was also turned into an episode.
Fuller’s interview isn’t quite as provocative as Wright’s, but he shares some of the same ideas as Wright regarding the current state of architecture. “I saw that the way in which we built was very, very ignorant,” Fuller says.
The rest of the video gives some insight into how and why Fuller developed his architectural style and philosophy.
Both videos act as windows into the minds and imaginations of two architects with very unique and very ambitious ideas for what architecture could and should be.
According to Quoted Studios, its purpose in creating these animated videos from interviews, such as this one featuring Wright and Wallace, is to unlock hidden stories. “Whether they’re interviews sitting on a journalist’s tapes or in a major archive, recordings buried in a media brand’s archives, or the yet to be heard stories within an organization, we transform raw, intimate storytelling into culturally resonant digital content,” the company writes on its website.
Other notable figures featured in the Blank on Blank series include Rod Serling, Ayn Rand, Ray Bradbury, and Carl Sagan.
Related Stories
Architects | Mar 5, 2024
Riken Yamamoto wins 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize announces Riken Yamamoto, of Yokohama, Japan, as the 2024 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the award that is regarded internationally as architecture’s highest honor.
Office Buildings | Mar 5, 2024
Former McDonald’s headquarters transformed into modern office building for Ace Hardware
In Oak Brook, Ill., about 15 miles west of downtown Chicago, McDonald’s former corporate headquarters has been transformed into a modern office building for its new tenant, Ace Hardware. Now for the first time, Ace Hardware can bring 1,700 employees from three facilities under one roof.
Green | Mar 5, 2024
New York City’s Green Economy Action Plan aims for building decarbonization
New York City’s recently revealed Green Economy Action Plan includes the goals of the decarbonization of buildings and developing a renewable energy system. The ambitious plan includes enabling low-carbon alternatives in the transportation sector and boosting green industries, aiming to create more than 12,000 green economy apprenticeships by 2040.
Lighting | Mar 4, 2024
Illuminating your path to energy efficiency
Design Collaborative's Kelsey Rowe, PE, CLD, shares some tools, resources, and next steps to guide you through the process of lighting design.
MFPRO+ News | Mar 1, 2024
Housing affordability, speed of construction are top of mind for multifamily architecture and construction firms
The 2023 Multifamily Giants get creative to solve the affordability crisis, while helping their developer clients build faster and more economically.
Multifamily Housing | Feb 29, 2024
Manny Gonzalez, FAIA, inducted into Best in American Living Awards Hall of Fame
Manny Gonzalez, FAIA, has been inducted into the BALA Hall of Fame.
K-12 Schools | Feb 29, 2024
Average age of U.S. school buildings is just under 50 years
The average age of a main instructional school building in the United States is 49 years, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). About 38% of schools were built before 1970. Roughly half of the schools surveyed have undergone a major building renovation or addition.
MFPRO+ Research | Feb 28, 2024
New download: BD+C's 2023 Multifamily Amenities report
New research from Building Design+Construction and Multifamily Pro+ highlights the 127 top amenities that developers, property owners, architects, contractors, and builders are providing in today’s apartment, condominium, student housing, and senior living communities.
AEC Tech | Feb 28, 2024
How to harness LIDAR and BIM technology for precise building data, equipment needs
By following the Scan to Point Cloud + Point Cloud to BIM process, organizations can leverage the power of LIDAR and BIM technology at the same time. This optimizes the documentation of existing building conditions, functions, and equipment needs as a current condition and as a starting point for future physical plant expansion projects.
Data Centers | Feb 28, 2024
What’s next for data center design in 2024
Nuclear power, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and data centers as learning destinations are among the emerging design trends in the data center sector, according to Scott Hays, Sector Leader, Sustainable Design, with HED.