The Impact of a Coffee Table Book Caroline Stahl

When I was ten years old, my grandmother gave my mother a thick book filled with pictures of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. I must have picked up the book from our coffee table in some moment of juvenile boredom. Flipping through the book, I fell in love with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. His buildings represent more than just innovation. They represent the understanding that convention can stand in the way of function. Instead of further complicating and overworking the conventional architecture of his time, Lloyd Wright took cues from nature to create beautifully paired down, effective spaces.

When a friend and I were discussing our common interest in Brown, she said the open curriculum would allow us to “be the architects of our own education.” With the mention of architecture, I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright. With its unique curriculum, Brown University shares an understanding with Wright that sometimes less is more. By letting go of the conventional idea of required courses, Brown allows students to follow their natural instincts and study what inspires them. Brown’s that students will create the right education for themselves just as Lloyd Wright trusted that harmony with nature would create the best structures.