Both an architect and advocate, she worked to preserve the landscape that served as her key inspiration Elizabeth Wright Ingraham is far from the only modern architect who has tried to escape the shadow of Frank Lloyd Wright?s work. But few of her contemporaries have dealt with such high expectations?she was the architect?s granddaughter?while also managing to carve out their own individual, expressive take on organic design.
?Architecture is the language of intervention,? she once said during an interview with NPR. ?And as such, architects become builders of ideas.?

The mountainous landscape of Colorado Springs served as the raw material and rugged terrain where Wright Ingraham?s creative life flourished. She said that she was surrounded by incredible architecture all her life, and was born into a legacy of wonderfully designed buildings. But ever since deciding at age 14 that she was going to be an architect, Wright Ingraham worked to establish her own independent style. She would not only shape the landscape, but work to preserve and protect the environment through establishing educational and philanthropic organizations. ?She had huge admiration for her grandfather, and family connections with Taliesin persisted throughout her career and life,? says her daughter, Catherine Ingraham, an architecture professor at the Pratt Institute. ?But she also had a desire to be, herself, original and independent as a designer and a person.?

Ron Pollard
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