The lawn of the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Kirkwood was covered with students quietly sketching on the afternoon of October 13. Mandy Obermeier and Julie Rice took their family and consumer science classes on a field trip to the house to find inspiration for their own line of clothing.

“This is the first time we’ve gone on the field trip,” Obermeier said. “We’ve been using Mr. Wright’s buildings for inspiration and transition into the interior design unit, and I’m pretty excited.”

The first quarter of the family and consumer science course involves fashion design; the second quarter of the course involves interior design. This project is a culmination of the two in which students are challenged to take something like abstract architecture and transform it into an entire line of clothing.

The Frank Lloyd Wright house, completed in 1955, is built of brick and dark paneling. The inside smells musty, and for a reason. Much of the furniture inside was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright himself and has not been moved from its original position for nearly sixty years. Almost everything inside the house is a parallelogram: the large red floor tiles, the shower, even the bed.

“At first I wasn’t very used to the shapes, and I had to get used to it,” Shiann Miller, sophomore, said. “I wasn’t inspired at all, but I kind of like it now.”

After a few more days of designing, students will compile their final sketches into a portfolio.

“It will be interesting to see what they’ve designed,” Obermeier said. “I look forward to it.”