During a recent trip to Chicago, I stopped by Oak Park to tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio. Built in 1889, this estate set the tone for Wright’s long and successful career. Wright started working as an independent architect here and it was here that he began developing his famous prairie style.

I always knew that Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect; what I realized on the tour was that he was also a savvy experience designer, even if that term wasn’t around in the late 19th century. Every aspect of the buildings he designed was part of an integrated vision intended to impart his values and convey a particular experience.

As an unconventional architect, Wright was looking to cultivate clients that would be receptive to his work. And he communicated his values to the potential clients before they ever entered his work space.  He designed for people who were curious, so he made his studio entrance hard to find.  If they were tenacious enough to explore the façade and find the door, they were a step closer to becoming Wright’s client. If they gave up looking, they didn’t have a high enough tolerance for uncertainty to be the right clients for him.

Once they signed on, Wright knew how to focus clients’ attention in the right place—his designs. The windows in his presentation room were placed above eye level to minimize distraction. He also designed the room for flexibility and modularity, including sliding cork boards, pullout work surfaces, and a modular table system. This is something we might expect in today’s workspaces, but that was almost unheard of at the time. Check out this photo of his presentation room to see the cork boards and windows, as well as the main studio.

Wright also wanted to promote employee productivity, so he designed uncomfortable chairs for his office to encourage short meetings–if you weren’t out in the studio working, you weren’t making him any money! In contrast, he made sure that the main studio area had space to hang plans and drawings, custom drafting tables, and an adjustable lighting system that allowed the lights to be raised and lowered according to need.

Every aspect of his studio was a deliberate design decision, intended to create a particular journey for the different people who used the space. Frank Lloyd Wright’s work is most often noted for its distinctive architectural style; I suggest we also look to him for instruction and inspiration when considering how to design for experience.