PennDesign Announces Partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Natasha Wolff
The University of Pennsylvania begins a collaboration to engage with the late architect and his work

The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design (PennDesign) has begun a five-year collaborative research agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, allowing graduate students at the school to study the life and work of the iconic American architect. The main focus of this scholarship will be on the preservation of Taliesin and Taliesin West.

Frank Matero, professor of architecture and chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and director of the Center for Architectural Conservation, will shepherd the collaboration and will allow students to better understand the design and conservation of both Taliesin—the home, studio, school, and 800-acre agricultural estate of Wright in Spring Green, Wisconsin—and Taliesin West, the architect’s winter home and school, a National Historic Landmark site that's now home to the foundation and School of Architecture at Taliesin, outside Scottsdale, Arizona. The school will also focus on addressing concerns about the landscape surrounding these sites and how to address future threats like development in the area and climate change.

“We are excited to be partnering with the University of Pennsylvania and are looking forward to working with the students to find solutions to the unique challenges we are faced with when preserving these living sites,” said Emily Butler, the Foundation’s preservation manager at Taliesin West in a press release. “There is a strong legacy of learning by doing here at Taliesin West—Wright used the site as a laboratory and teaching tool for his apprentices. We are glad to be able to continue that tradition with this partnership.”