Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile High ILLINOIS
A rapier, with handle the breadth of the hand,
set firmly into the ground,
blade upright, as a simile, indicating the
general idea of the ILLINOIS five times the height
of the highest structure in the world.
-- FLW
By new products of technology and increased
inventive ingenuity in applying them to building-construction
many superlative new space-forms have already come alive:
and because of them, more continually in sight... But more
importantly, modern building becomes the solid creative
art which the poetic principle can release and develop. Noble,
vital, exuberant forms are already here. Democracy awakes
to a more spiritual expression. Indigenous culture
will now awaken.
-- FLW
I loved the prairie by instinct, as, itself, a great
simplicity; the trees, the flowers and sky were thrilling
by contrast. And I saw that the little of height
on the prairie was enough to look like more. Notice how
every detail as to height becomes intensely more significant
and how breadths fall short.
-- FLW
Wright's Mile High Illinois was, of course, never constructed.
As we convene on the Illinois prairie to ponder our
own architectural ideas, Wright's Mile High Illinois
might serve as a reminder that we must temper grandeur
with practicality. -- BF
From Frank Lloyd Wright: In the Realm of Ideas,
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 1988
Brian Foote foote@cs.uiuc.edu
Last Modified: 2 July 1996