With the upcoming celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday next June, we are going to witness events that include an architecture tour that I will be leading, and what will be the most ambitious retrospective of the architect to date, at MoMA. Now, I read that the local government in Banff, Canada has issued a permission to rebuild the demolished Banff Pavilion, designed by Wright in 1914 in Banff National Park in Alberta, and demolished in 1939. The breathtaking Pavilion, which Wright designed in his early Prairie School style, came to mirror and capture the prairie landscapes; it is a great example of Wright’s organic architecture, where the built form is designed to harmonize with the natural environment. The only building of its style in Canada, the reconstructed Pavilion will be rebuilt with funds raised by American filmmaker Michael Miner, who has launched publicity and donation campaigns, and who is remembered for his documentary Romaza, which he produced on the textile block houses, which Wright designed in Los Angeles.
