Idea-sifter Maria Popova of the Brain Pickings blog recently came across an interview Frank Lloyd Wright did in his late eighties that found the legendary American architect mincing nary a word about his peers. Wright deems Philip Johnson a "highbrow," by which he means "a man educated beyond his capacity." Tossing a metaphorical brick through Johnson's Glass House, he asserts that a "box of glass" can't be a shelter, because "the meaning of the word shelter includes privacy." The quotes Wright left behind on subjects like design and education are pretty well known, but who knew the man could be such a diva?
When asked his opinion on Le Corbusier's Notre Dame Du Haut, which is widely considered one of the finest examples of modern religious architecture, Wright proves more than capable of unleashing a few pithy, withering metaphors, calling it "an angel cake punched full of holes—or should I say a piece of Swiss Cheese?" Taking on an entire city, he describes New York's skyline as "a medieval atrocity," but he doesn't drop the mic before engaging in a bit of braggadocio: "I don't go to clients. They come to me."
· Frank Lloyd Wright's Feisty Critique of Le Corbusier, Philip Johnson, Education, and the NYC Skyline [Brain Pickings]
· All Frank Lloyd Wright coverage [Curbed National]
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