WRIGHT: FROM WITHIN OUTWARD

This comprehensive show of Frank Lloyd Wright drawings celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The design for the exhibition was in collaboration with the Guggenheim’s own design team.

The installation did not include any transformation of the original rotunda. In fact, we restored the atrium to its original design – replanting the planters, opening glass views at the ground level, and refilling the fountain.

Historically it has been very difficult to install art properly in the Guggenheim rotunda, with its three percent slope and high levels of ambient and reflected light. Installing delicate and light sensitive drawings is even more of a challenge. In order to satisfy the Wright Foundation conservation requirements, the drawings had to be displayed in enclosed vitrines. This led to the design of drafting tables that lined the ramps. These vitrines were constructed with clear-coated tubular steel, shop-welded into transportable frames and efficiently bolted together on site. In addition to the materials displayed on the ramps, the tower galleries displayed black painted cases arranged in bold formations.

In a separate effort, we designed a secondary show in the Sackler Center, as well using a clever although modest display system that held a survey of two-dozen projects for small studios designed for Taliesin’s property by its students.