A movie about Frank Lloyd Wright's Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, Iowa being shown at an environmental film fest? It might seem like an odd stretch, but an online article for the Washington Post describes the connections that the green movement and architectural preservationists have in common.
As described in the article:
"The Last Wright" isn't really about Wright or his ideas, but rather is about the powerful emotional and aesthetic draw of his architecture. And in that sense, it's perfectly clear why it's showing in an Environmental Film Festival. Since the 1970s at least, when environmental degradation and vicious "urban renewal" were remaking the natural and built worlds with equal brutality, the preservation and environmental movements have been in emotional and intellectual alliance.
A shared concept of sustainability, a mutual feeling for "place," has kept them marching, if not in lock step, at least in opposition to the same general enemies: greed, senseless development and indifference to the aesthetic power of the world around us.
It's important that we try and apply sustainable ideas to all aspects of our lives, including how to re-use and re-purpose our important historical buildings. Check out the entire article by following the link.
Image courtesy of Mason City Public library
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