The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the School of Design has entered into a five-year collaborative research agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to assist in activities leading to the study and preservation of Taliesin and Taliesin West. The partnership will allow students and faculty to engage in graduate studios, internships, seminars, and theses on topics related to the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Led by Frank Matero, a professor of architecture and the chair of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and director of The Center for Architectural Conservation, the partnership will advance the conservation and management of Wright’s built legacy by exploring the full range of design and conservation issues associated with his work and his long legacy of experimentation at 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 outside Scottsdale, Arizona.
Continuing the Preservation program’s long tradition of “learning by doing” through field-based research with partner institutions, the collaboration draws on the skill, research, scholarship, and deep experience of PennDesign’s faculty and allows students the opportunity to experience the genius of Wright and the many conservation issues associated with his built designs.
The first research program to be undertaken through the new partnership will address the conservation of Taliesin West, a National Historic Landmark nestled in the desert foothills of the McDowell Mountains.
Read more at PennDesign News.
