Teaching By Design

Teaching By Design Bringing you design principles into the classroom and beyond We're the Education Department for the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

Our Designing a Better World initiative brings architecture and design principles into classrooms, libraries and community centers. Integrating design in the classroom provides a strong platform for learning across curriculum, helping students apply skills in math, science, technology, reading, writing and communication to practical situations. It encourages students to be inventive, to harness creativity, and to propose relevant solutions that effect positive change in the world they live.

Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Rookery last week! Educators heard from Preservation Architect Cathi...
05/26/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended our event at the Rookery last week! Educators heard from Preservation Architect Cathi Ward about the history of the Rookery, went on a tour of the space, and explored the social history of the building through collage. We had a wonderful time and cannot wait to hold more events for educators soon! 🏗️🌆🎨

Happy ! This week we’re highlighting the Rookery, the oldest standing skyscraper in downtown Chicago! Although the Rook...
05/08/2026

Happy ! This week we’re highlighting the Rookery, the oldest standing skyscraper in downtown Chicago! Although the Rookery may seem small by today’s standards, it was exceptionally tall at the time it was built. Daniel Burnham and John Root were commissioned to design the building in 1885, and construction was completed in 1888. Burnham and Root famously planned the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in their top-floor office at the Rookery. Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to update the light court in 1905, and William Drummond provided additional updates in 1931. The building underwent extensive restoration in 1992, which highlighted both Burnham and Root’s original design and Wright’s 1905 updates.

We invite educators to join us at the Rookery to learn more about its role in history at our Evenings for Educators professional development event “Past, Present, and Future: Exploring the Rookery through Collage” on May 20th from 5:00-8:30 PM. Register at the link in our bio now! 🏗️🏙️✨

Looking for new ways to spark conversation about art, architecture, and history in your classroom? Join the Frank Lloyd ...
04/27/2026

Looking for new ways to spark conversation about art, architecture, and history in your classroom? Join the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust for our newest Evenings for Educators program: Past, Present, and Future: Exploring the Rookery through Collage! At this ISBE accredited event, educators will learn new ways to present Chicago’s rich architectural history to their students, using artmaking to create meaningful connections between the past and present. After a lecture by the Trust’s Preservation Architect, Cathi Ward, and a tour of the beautiful Rookery Light Court, educators will investigate the historic and contemporary “social life” of the Rookery and create a collage that explores how buildings change over time.

All K-12 teachers are welcome, but content will be best suited to 3rd-8th grade students. Food and beverages will be provided. 2.5 CPDUs available.

Register now at the link in our bio! 🏛️🏢🚀

The ginkgo tree is blooming on this gorgeous ! The lilac bushes, flowering crabapple tree, and daffodils are also bloss...
04/17/2026

The ginkgo tree is blooming on this gorgeous ! The lilac bushes, flowering crabapple tree, and daffodils are also blossoming in the front yard. We hope you’re able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather today 🌸☀️

Early Spring 2001 vs. Early Spring 2026 🌼This we’re celebrating the early days of spring with a post dedicated to the ...
04/03/2026

Early Spring 2001 vs. Early Spring 2026 🌼

This we’re celebrating the early days of spring with a post dedicated to the Scilla in the front yard of the Home & Studio, which has remained steadfast for the past 25 years! Here’s to warmer weather and the first signs of spring 🌱🐇☀️

Interested in bringing your students to a Wright site this spring? We still have availability for May field trip dates! ...
03/24/2026

Interested in bringing your students to a Wright site this spring? We still have availability for May field trip dates! Tours are available at Wright’s Home and Studio on May 8th and 22nd 🏡 Book now at the link in our bio!

This Women’s History Month we’re remembering the women who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright during his time in Oak Park. M...
03/20/2026

This Women’s History Month we’re remembering the women who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright during his time in Oak Park.

Marion Mahoney Griffin was one of the first female licensed architects in the United States and one of the first women to graduate from MIT with a degree in architecture. She began working for Wright in his Oak Park Studio shortly after her graduation and worked with him until he left Oak Park in 1909. Barry Byrne, who worked alongside her in the Oak Park Studio, described her as “the most talented member of Frank Lloyd Wright’s staff,” and she is widely credited with producing nearly half of the architectural drawings in Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio.

Isabel Roberts is often credited as the Oak Park Studio’s bookkeeper. Although she likely did take on a managerial role in the Studio, she was also a draftsman and was left to finish Wright’s commissions (along with John Van Bergen) after his departure to Europe in 1909. Wright himself wrote a letter of support for her application to the Florida chapter of the American Institute of Architects, in which he wrote that he would “recommend her without reservation to anyone requiring the services of an Architect.”

To learn more about these women and other trailblazing female architects, check out the Pioneering Women of American Architecture profiles from the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation at https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/, or check out our lesson plan “To Anyone, Anywhere: Isabel Roberts and Critical Thinking” on teachingbydesign.org!

We had a fabulous time hosting Art Educators from across the country at the Robie House as part of the 2026 National Art...
03/09/2026

We had a fabulous time hosting Art Educators from across the country at the Robie House as part of the 2026 National Art Education Association National Convention! Educators toured Robie House, learned about organic architecture and biomimicry, and created their own biomimetic buildings out of recyclable materials.

Thank you to all the educators who participated in our workshop and to everyone at NAEA for a wonderful convention! 🎨🧑‍🏫✨

This falls on the last week of Black History Month, and we want to highlight a Black architect whose legacy lives on i...
02/24/2026

This falls on the last week of Black History Month, and we want to highlight a Black architect whose legacy lives on in the Chicago skyline.

John Moutoussamy was born in Chicago in 1922 and graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1948, where he studied under Mies van der Rohe.

Moutoussamy designed the Johnson Publishing Company headquarters at 820 S. Michigan Avenue in 1971. The 11-story modernist building sits next to Grant Park in the South Loop and was the first Black-owned building in Chicago’s downtown. Johnson Publishing Company is known for publishing the magazines Ebony and Jet, and the iconic signs for the publications remain atop the building despite it having been sold in 2011. 820 S. Michigan Avenue is still the only Chicago high-rise designed by a Black architect. It was designated as a Chicago landmark in 2017.

Moutoussamy designed various other modernist buildings across Chicagoland, including his own home in the South Side neighborhood of Chatham and the T.K. Lawless Gardens housing complex. During the construction of Lawless Gardens, Moutoussamy was the first Black architect to become partner at a major Chicago architecture firm.

To learn more about John Moutoussamy, take a look at the conversation linked below between IIT professor Michelangelo Sabatino and Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, John Moutoussamy’s daughter, hosted by the Chicago Architecture Center.

https://youtu.be/SRCNNQtxi4A?si=XCS0xXS23FlaJvII

Address

931 Chicago Avenue
Oak Park, IL
60302

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

708-725-3828

Website

https://flwright.org/education/youth-family-programs, https://flwright.org/education/schoo

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