Lisa D Schrenk

Interests

Research

Frank Lloyd Wright, International Expositions World's FairsChicago, Art Deco Architecture and Design,Global Architecture,Coaster Wagons.

Teaching

History of Built Environments,International ExpositionsWorld's Fairs, Modern Architecture, World Architecture, Modern Architecture,Frank Lloyd Wright.Chicago,Art and Architecture of India,Architecture of Asia,

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Schrenk, L. D. (2008). Building A Century of Progress: The Architecture of the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair. University of Minnesota Press.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2021). The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. University of Chicago Press.
  More info

  Frank Lloyd Wright’s residential studio located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park served as the nontraditional work setting between 1898 and 1909 for one of America’s most prominent architects as he developed into a leader in his field and formulized his design ideology, including the creation of the prairie house. Based on over thirty years of research, The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, the first major monograph on this important site in the history of American architecture, helps to break the myth of Wright as the lone genius. The publication offers new insights into his early career that illustrate how he developed his modern architectural ideas in the company of other talented designers and within a dynamic, work environment. The book looks at how Wright’s design process grew out of educational ideas he experienced as a child and young adult. It also addresses the impact the domestic suburban setting of the office had on the designs produced within. The book reveals that Wright’s time in Oak Park falls into three distinct phases identified by the makeup of his office staff, the building designs produced in the studio, the physical changes he made to his work place, and his feelings about the current conditions of his professional and personal lives. The book investigates each of these phases, as well as Wright’s departure from Oak Park, his other early home-studio designs, and the history of the studio building after the office closed.

Chapters

• Schrenk, L. D. (2019). “Exposition Art Deco”. In The Routledge Research Companion to Art Deco. Routledge.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2017). Design Evolution: Art Deco at the Century of Progress International Exposition. In Art Deco Chicago: The Making of American Culture.
  More info

  Leading essay on the role of Art Deco in the design of the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2017). “Visions of Progress and Peace: Foreign Architectural Representations at the Century of Progress and the Golden Gate International Expositions.”. In Sankalia and Horiuchi, Urban Reinventions: San Francisco's Treasure Island(pp 69-95). University of Hawaii Press.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016). Epilogue, “Images of War and Messages of Peace: The American Story”. In Architecture of Great Expositions 1937-1958: Reckoning with the Global War(pp 195-212). Ashgate Press.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014). Presenting Fordism to the World: Henry Ford, Albert Kahn and the American Expos of the 1930s. In Meet Me at the Fair: A World Fair Reader(pp 181-195). Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2010). “Industry Applies: Corporate Marketing at the Expositions of Tomorrow". In Designing Tomorrow: America's World’s Fairs in the 1930(pp 23-40). Yale University Press.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004). ""Concrete Shell Structures" (Entry). In Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004). "Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago" (Entry). In Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004). "National Farmers' Bank, Owatonna, Minnesota" (Entry). In Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture(pp 904-906). Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004). "Weissenhofsiedlung, Deutscher Werkbund" (Entry). In Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Architecture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2001). "American Architecture: An Overview" ( Entry). In Encyclopedia of American Studies(pp 135-146). Grolier Publishing Company for the American Studies Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1992). Introduction, "Your Future Home". In Reprint of the Architects' Small House Service Bureau 1923 plan book, "Your Future Home"(pp v-xxiv). American Institute of Aarchitects Press.

Journals/Publications

• Schrenk, L. D. (2017). “The Impact of the Transient Nature of World Fairs on the Palimpsests of Modern Fairgrounds,”. [Trans-]Journal, 27-41.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2013). “Using Images in the Asian Studies Classroom”. Asian Studies Development Program, 9(1), 6-7.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2010). “Visions of Progress: The Rise of the Modern International Exposition”. Modernism, 13(3), 50-59.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2000). Article, "George Keck and his House of Tomorrow". Positions in Architecture, Chicago Architectural Club Journal, 9, 62-65.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1999). Article, "From Historic Village to Modern Pavilion: The Evolution of "Foreign Architectural Representation at International Expositions in the 1930s" 1/3 (1999): .. National Identity, 1(3), 287-311.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1992). "The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright". Wright Angles, 18(3), 2-5.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1988). "The Small House Bureau". Architecture Minnesota, 14, 50-55.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1984). "The Birth of the Movies". Architecture Minnesota, 10, 46-47.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1984). "The Theatrical Hand of Jack Liebenberg". Architecture Minnesota, 10, 40-45.

Proceedings Publications

• Schrenk, L. D. (2019, November). An Architectural Laboratory: The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. In Richard Guy Wilson and Our Community of Scholars Symposium, Video Presentation.
• Schrenk, L. D., & Jensen, M. (2014, Feb). “Dystopia in the World of Utopia: Unsustainable Realities of Sustainably Themed Expositions”. In ARCC/EAAE 2014 International Conference, 554-563.
  More info

  Written with student, Melissa Jensen. Do to incompetence of editor, paper was omitted from hard copy of proceedings.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2000, Oct). “Thin Shell Concrete: Where Has It Gone?”. In ACSA Western Regional Conference, 97-104.

Presentations

• Schrenk, L. D. (2021, June 2021). The Impact of US Railroads in the Promotion and Success of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition. 2021 Popular Cultural Association Meeting. Scheduled to be in Seattle, but conference went onine due to COVID: Popular Cultural Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2021, June). Book Talk: Lisa Schrenk on The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Lecture. Zoom due to COVID: Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2021, May). The Evolution of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Glessner Lecture Series. Chicago (Zoom due to COVID): Glessner House.
  More info

  The Evolution of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio” Glessner House, Chicago, IL, (Zoom) 18 May 2021.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2021, September). Evolution of the Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright Plus. 19th-Century Women’s Club, Oak Park, Illinois: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2021, September). The Prairie School and the Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Public Lecture and Book Signing. University Club, Chicago, Illinois: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2020, December). The Use of Exploratory Fieldwork Techniques in the Development of Observational and Analytical Skills in Students of the Built Environment,. AMPS: Teaching-Learning-Research Design and Environments Virtual Conference. Manchester, England: Manchester School of Architecture.
  More info

  Exploratory fieldwork techniques borrowed from the field of geography can enrich architecture-related and interdisciplinary curricula by training students to observe, measure, and analyze built environments as a foundation for developing deeper understandings of the impact cultural, social, political, technological, and environmental conditions can have on loci. Carefully designed fieldwork builds valuable skills, including training students’ eyes to be more observant about built environments, and encourages the formation of meaningful question about other manmade sites encounter while in school and later during their careers. Various forms of documentation, including written reports, photography, audio recording, and diagramming, help students record, reflect upon, and synthesize site experiences. Fieldwork exercises can then serve as catalysts for students to incorporate their observations into larger research explorations, such as answering questions regarding how a site has evolved over time, how is a location perceived and used by various local and outside groups, and what political and other unseen influences have impacted the design of a place.This paper, which explores ways to develop engaging and impactful fieldwork assignments for students in architecture and related fields, is based on the adaption of educational practices used in geography and art history courses for a thematically-based interdisciplinary introductory course on the built environment for graduate students in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning at the University of Arizona, and on the author’s participation in the development of an exploratory curricular unit on issues of colonialism and contested spaces funded by and available through the Global Architectural History Teaching Collective.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2020, October). Dystopia in the World of Utopia: The Transient Nature of Modern International Expositions. Southeast Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeeting. Natchez, Mississippi (Virtual due to COVID-19): SESAH (Southeast Society of Architectural Historians).
  More info

  World Expositions typically form thin, but often impactful, layers of the palimpsests of the sites on which they are held. Most of the dozens of pavilions built for these events are designed to be transient with their grandeur remaining as only fleeting memories after closing day. However, like military battles and other historic events, expositions can have a significant influence on a place well into the future, including shaping the psychogeography, spirit, and use of the grounds in ways that range from the symbolic, with the event imprinted on the local collective memory, to the physical, with remains of both structures and landscape elements clearly visible for years. While some recent former fairgrounds have been well transformed into dynamic districts by their host cities, in other cases the large, once vibrant sites have turn into desolate, underutilized tracts of land, scattered with remnants of the spectacular events in various states of use and decay. The post-event conditions of late twentieth-century expositions, which prominently projected sustainability-related themes, serve as vivid illustrations of the disconnect between the focus of the fairs and the often dystopic realities of these transient events and legacies they leave behind. More recently, expositions that incorporated post-fair use in their initial designs either have failed in their initial attempt to shift uses, like Expo 2015 in Milan, or the design of the exposition has been detrimentally shaped by the site’s expected post-fair use, as at Expo 2017 in Astana. This paper explores the disconnect between the utopian ideas promoted at the “sustainable” expositions of the recent past and the dystopic realities of their fairgrounds after the close of the events.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2019, April). Exposition Gateways: Yesterday’s and Tomorrow’s. Popular Cultural Association/American Culture Association Annual National Conference. Washington, D.C.: Popular Cultural Association/American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2019, June). A Lake Palimpsest: Chicago’s Northerly Island. Society of Industrial Archaeology Annual Conference. Chicago, IL: Society of Industrial Archaeology.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2018, April). Temporal Junctures. Society of Architectural Historians 2018 Annual International Conference. St. Paul, MN: Society of Architectural Historians.
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  Session Chair
• Schrenk, L. D. (2017, February). "Architectural Gesamtkunstwerk". College Art Association Annual Meeting. New York, NY: College Art Association.
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  Session Chair
• Schrenk, L. D. (2017, Oct). "The Impact of Buffalo and the Martin Brothers on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio". Frank Lloyd Wright and the Buffalo School of Arts and Crafts: An International Conference. Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Arts and Crafts Society.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016, Feb). "The Residences of John Daily News and His Three Sons: Chicago’s Architects’ Small House Service Bureau Model Homes". Southwest Popular Cultural Association Conference. Albuquerque, NM: Popular Cultural Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016, February). "Psychogeography and the Built Environment". Southwest Popular/American Culture Association 37th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
  More info

  Session Chair
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016, March). Design Evolution: From Neoclassicism to Art Deco to Streamlining and Modern Architectural Forms at the 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition". Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc. National Conference. Seattle, WA: Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc..
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016, Oct). "Reflections of the Midwest in Frank Lloyd Wright's Evolving Design for his Oak Park Home and Studio". Midwest Popular Cultural Association Conference. Chicago, IL: Popular Cultural Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, April). Breaking the Box”: Touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Austin, TX: Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, April). Science Advancing Mankind: The Sculpture of Chicago’s Century of Progress International Exposition. Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc. Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL: Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc..
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, February). Dystopia in the World of Utopia: Unsustainable Realities of Sustainably Themed Expositions. ARCC/EAAE 2014 International Conference. Honolulu, HI: Architectural Research Centers Consortium/ European Association for Architectural Education.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, February). The Remains of a Fair: Post-Exposition Fairgrounds in the Twentieth-First Century. Southwest Popular/American Culture Association 35th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, Oct). "Homes of Today and Tomorrow: The Model Houses of Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition". Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Fayetteville, AR: Southeast Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, October). Homes of Today and Tomorrow: The Model Houses of Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition. Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Fayetteville, AR: Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2013, April). "Exhibiting Détente: Exposing Tension at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition". Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Buffalo, NY,: Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2013, Feb). "Promoting Motoring: Ford, GM, and the Corporate Automotive Displays at World’s Fairs in the 1930s". SW/TX Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc.. Albuquerque, NM: Popular Cultural Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2013, Feb). "The Definition of 'Modern Architecture' in the United States". 8th Savannah Symposium: Modernities Across Time and Space. Savannah, GA: Savannah College of Art and Design.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2012, February). "Modern Fare: Promoting Manufactured Foods at Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition". Southwest Popular/American Culture Association 35th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2014, April). Presenting Fordism to the World: Henry Ford, Albert Kahn and the American Expos of the 1930s". Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Detroit, MI: Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2010, April). "The Architects’ Small House Service Bureau of Minnesota". Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL: Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2010, Dec). "'“Synthetic Utopias': National Identities in a Time of Peace and War at the 1939-40 Golden Gate Exposition. Utopia of Tradition, 12th Conference of the International Assoc. for the Study of Traditional Environments. Beirut, Lebanon: International Assoc. for the Study of Traditional Environments.
• Schrenk, L. D., & Schrenk, L. P. (2009, February). "Trains for a Century of Progress: How Railroads Promoted the 1933-1934 World’s Fair". Southwest/Texas Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc.. Albuquerque, NM,: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2008, April). "The Atomic Exposition: Architectural Innovations at the 1958 Brussels Exposition". Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Cincinnati, OH,: Society of Architectural Historians.
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  Session Chair
• Schrenk, L. D. (2008, February). "Cold War Expositions: The World of Tomorrow in the Atomic Age". SW/TX Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc. Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM,: Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2006, Dec). "Sustainable Building Education Across Cultures. Building an Asia Pacific Community for Sustainable Development, East-West Center/EWCA International Conference. Hanoi, Vietnam: East-West Center.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2006, March). The RemaiSoutheast Asia in the Architectural Survey Course, Panel Session: “Engaging Southeast Asia: Pedagogy and Practicalities in General Education Undergraduate Courses,” , , 18 March 2006.. The Asian Studies Development Program Twelfth Annual National Conference. Nashville, TN: East-West Center.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2005, April). "The Fair of the Future: Utopic Visions at the 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition". Utopian Visions and World’s Fairs Symposium. Brandywine Valley, DE: Hagley Museum.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2005, Oct). "Catch a Star: The Presentation of Scientific Technology at Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition". World’s Fairs, Expositions, and Museum Contemporary Research Conference. Washington, D.C.: Association for Museum History and the Smithsonian Institution.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004, April). "Myth of the International Style: Reassessing the Definition of 'Modern Architecture' in the United States". Popular Cultural Assoc./American Culture Assoc. Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX: Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2004, March). "The Century of Progress International Exposition: An Outpost of Modern Architecture". 2004 ACSA Annual Conference, ARCHIPELAGOS: Outposts of the Americas. Miami, FL: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2002, Nov). "Little Red Wagons and the Streamlining Extravaganza of the 1930s". American Studies Association Annual Meeting. Houston, TX: American Studies Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2001, March). "Chicago's Other World's Fair: The Significance of the 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition in the Development of Chicago Architecture". College Art Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL: College Art Association.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1999, April). "The Promotion of 'National Identity' at Expositions in the 1930s". Society of Architectural Historians Annual Meeting. Houston, TX: Society of Architectural Historians.
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  Session Chair

Reviews

• Schrenk, L. D. (2018. Review of Jane King Hession and Tim Quigley, “John H. Howe, Architect: From Taliesin Apprentice to Master of Organic Design,". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2018. Review, Vincent L. Michael, “The Architecture of Barry Byrne: Taking the Prairie School to Europe,". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2016. Book Review, of David Van Zanten, ed. "Marion Mahony Remembered"(pp 106-108). Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1995. Book Review, Michael Conforti, ed. "Minnesota 1900: Art and Life on the Mississippi, 1890-1915"(pp 359-360). Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
• Schrenk, L. D. (1993. Lecture Review, "Wright on Wright"(pp n.p.). Platform.

Creative Productions

• Schrenk, L. D. (2020. Exhibition "Women in Architecture: The Legacy of the Bauhaus in the United States". AIA Arizona. Phoenix, AZ: AIA Arizona.
  More info

  Reworked the exhibition "Women in Architecture: The Legacy of the Bauhaus in the United States" for new exhibition location in Phoenix. The exhibition explores the impact of the Bauhaus on female architects in the United States in the 100 years since the founding of the German design school. The show was initially held at CAPLA in collaboration with the University of Arizona's Museum of Art and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. The exhibit traces the impact of the Bauhaus on later generations of female American architecture from immediately after its closure to today and from initial centers of influence (Boston and Chicago) to Tucson. I invited members of the UA Women in Architecture Society and other scholars to contribute to the exhibit and received two grants (CAPLA and a UA Student-Faculty Interaction) for the creation of the exhibition.
• Schrenk, L. D. (2019. Exhibit “Women in Architecture: The Legacy of the Bauhaus in the United States". Sundt Gallery. Tucson, AZ.
  More info

  The exhibition "Women in Architecture: The Legacy of the Bauhaus in the United States," explores the impact of the Bauhaus on female architects in the United States in the 100 years since the founding of the German design school. The show was held in collaboration with the University of Arizona's Museum of Art and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. The exhibit traces the impact of the Bauhaus on later generations of female American architecture from immediately after its closure to today and from initial centers of influence (Boston and Chicago) to Tucson. I invited members of the UA Women in Architecture Society and other scholars to contribute to the exhibit and received two grants (CAPLA and a UA Student-Faculty Interaction) for the creation of the exhibition.