Beauty, Wright believed, stands paramount among all aspects of life. He sought it in everything from music, poetry, and sculpture, to his own environments. He conceived organic architecture an innovative philosophy of building appropriate to time, appropriate to place, and appropriate to man as a basis for creating beauty in his life and the lives of his clients. Wright embarked on this approach with the first residence and workplace he designed for himself: the Home and Studio in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. For two decades, it served not only as his own family residence but an experimental laboratory where he envisioned and tested many of the basic principles that he would develop throughout his career, principles now synonymous with organic architecture. The Home and Studio represents a critical link in fully appreciating Wright s body of work.