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Three of the youngest members of the Taliesin Fellowship resident community, all second-year master's students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, next week will begin building three structures they designed just outside the historic boundary of the renowned architect's Spring Green estate.
Last week, 17 of the oldest members of the fellowship, the ones who have been part of the community since the 1950s or before, gave up the last of their veto powers over the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
These are not cause-and-effect events, but they both mark the massive change that is taking place as the heirs to Wright's legacy and vision move from a time of crisis into what they hope is a secure and meaningful future.
The crisis, which had been in the making for a number of years, reached a head in April 2004 when the CEO of the foundation and the dean of the architecture school it operates resigned simultaneously. Shortly thereafter, most of the faculty of the school left, enrollment dropped from 22 to eight, and its accrediting body put the school "on notice."
That means the school remained fully accredited but had to complete a series of significant actions in order to maintain accreditation, according to Victor Sidy, who has been dean of the architecture school since September 2005. The most important of those were to have a new CEO and a new dean in place and be able to produce evidence of strategic, financial and enrollment planning.
The school, which now is back to an enrollment of 19, will find out Monday if it has kept its accreditation.
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LETTING GO: The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, established by Wright in 1940, not only operates the school but also the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives and both Wright's National Historic Landmark home and studio complex in Spring Green and his home and studio at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz. - the two places the resident fellowship lives, depending on the season. Most members of the fellowship are in Spring Green from late May until mid-October and spend the rest...