Anthony Alofsin, an authority on legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, sought to bring the worlds of architecture and business together April 13, when he spoke at a Carthage Business and Professional Coalition luncheon.

"Architecture as branding has been around for a long time," said Mr. Alofsin, Roland Gommel Roessner Centennial Professor in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. In the past several decades, he added, many corporations came to recognize that "their image could be polished through the buildings they commissioned," citing SC Johnson, whose headquarters in Racine, Wis. was designed by Wright 75 years ago as "one of the great examples."

More recently, Mr. Alofsin cited BMW, saying the German automaker's new headquarters building "gave instant cachet to BMW as a progressive designer of automobiles." Mr. Alofsin said interest in Wright and his works has grown in the past 15-20 years. "The fame of Frank Lloyd Wright is a drawing card (for tourists). More and more people will be coming to Wisconsin to visit Wright's house, and his other buildings," he predicted.

Looking with a broader perspective, Mr. Alofsin said "architecture will be able to play a significant role" in the creation of "the factory of the future, which Americans are going to have to produce."

Manufacturing must be renewed in the United States, he declared, "architecture, with creative entrepreneurship, ought to be able to participate in this revivification." In conclusion, Mr. Alofsin urged business executives to "demand more from your architects. Good design, aesthetics are good for all of us."

— Bill Kurtz, Carthage College