20th Century "Starchitects" Lecture with Ruth Grim

Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 | 2:00 - 3:30pm

As a follow-up to the OMAM trip to the Frank Lloyd Wright campus at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, this lecture looks at the architects that came after Wright and continued his legacy of breaking the bound of what is possible in architecture.

In his later designs, Frank Lloyd Wright seemed to abandon all allegiance to the rectangle in his architecture. Quite literally “thinking outside the box,” he embraced circles, curves, obtuse angles, triangles – anything but the square. He also employed all manner of new materials in his buildings and seemed to relish the challenge in seeing how far he could test these new materials. His Guggenheim Museum in New York is a prime example of this as he was the first to force concrete to curve entirely around the structure. Artists such as Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, I.M. Pei, Zaha Hadid and others followed in his footsteps and took the discipline of architecture to places even Wright couldn’t have envisioned.

Join us as we go around the world to look at some of these amazing buildings by famous architects who have dramatically changed the look of our contemporary cityscapes and surrounding areas. Most of these artists were very prolific with their designs and stunning buildings are to be found in countries all over the world. Join us to see these contemporary masterpieces that reflect the energy, creativity and boundless sense of what’s possible for the built environment of our future. It will be quite a talk!

This 90-minute program is included with museum admission ($8 general; $5 seniors, college, and military with ID; $3 youth ages 6–17), but is completely FREE for current OMAM members and U.S. veterans. 

Registration is requested as seats are limited.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles was designed by Frank Gehry and opened on October 23, 2003 (photo: Carol M. Highsmith, U.S. Library of Congress) | OMAM Guest Curator Ruth Grim | The Louvre Pyramid in Paris was designed by the Chinese-American architect (Ieoh Ming) I. M. Pei and was completed in 1989 (photo: Musée du Louvre).

About the Speaker

Ruth Grim has a Master of Arts from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts with a specialization in 18th and 19th century European art. Her museum career spans 32 years of curatorial work throughout the state including 18 years at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, seven years at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, and more than six years as chief curator at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach.