Frank Lloyd Wright's Affordable Housing Vision: The Burnham Block System-Built Homes | Taliesin S26

Before “affordable housing” became a common policy goal, Frank Lloyd Wright was already experimenting with ways to design well-crafted homes that ordinary families could afford. This talk explores how Frank Lloyd Wright’s standardized plans, prefabricated components, and efficient layouts from the American System-Built Homes project were intended to lower costs while maintaining architectural integrity. Using the Burnham Block as a case study, we’ll examine Wright’s surprisingly practical approach to affordable housing—and why this experiment still resonates today. Presented by Mike Lilek, Curator, Frank Lloyd Wright Burnham Block