Airstream Honors Frank Lloyd Wright With Usonian Edition
Blending timeless architecture with modern adventure, the limited edition travel trailer's design reflects a mutual love for nature and intentional design.
In 1893, Frank Lloyd Wright completed his first independent commission — the William Winslow House in River Forest, Illinois. Thirty-eight years later and over 2,000 miles away, Airstream founder Wally Byam opened the first Airstream factory in Culver City, California, in 1931. Despite the years and miles separating them, each made history in his own way, inspiring generations to come. This year, Airstream worked with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to create its 28-foot Usonian Limited Edition travel trailer, which THOR Industries representatives said had sold all 200 units by the time September’s Open House rolled around.
An Airstream and Frank Lloyd Wright design collaboration was highly sought after for many years, says Jay Cullis, Airstream’s content manager and in-house historian. “It’s consistently been one of the most requested collab partners when we survey our owner community.”
Creating the limited edition Airstream allowed the company’s designers to bring in new ideas and features. “Partners bring fresh eyes to the Airstream design process and challenge us to think in new ways about design that result from almost 95 years of expertise,” he says.
In Harmony With Nature
Cullis explains that Airstream took inspiration from Wright’s “functional-space Usonian designs” to maximize space with “efficient multiuse design features.” According to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Wright used the term “Usonian” to describe “new affordable architecture that freed itself from European conventions and responded to the American landscape.” He went on to build over 140 Usonian homes in his later career. The concepts of streamlined simplicity and connecting to the environment translate well in an RV. Airstream designers and engineers blended that with Byam’s “promise to put nature at your doorstep,” Cullis says.
“Both Airstream Founder Wally Byam and Frank Lloyd Wright stood on three shared pillars: design, nature and community,” he says. “Wally promised that his Airstreams would take you out into nature with all the comforts of home, while Wright sought to situate his buildings in harmony with the nature around it.”
These pillars are at the forefront of the Usonian Edition travel trailer design. The exterior is classic Airstream riveted aluminum. Inside, the great outdoors is visible through numerous windows throughout, including two large windows over the living room dinette, which also converts to a desk or folds into a wall cabinet. With the dinette stored away, RVers can pull out the sofa to create a secondary sleeping area. The primary sleeping area is in the rear, which Cullis says offers “a rarity in Airstream’s history” — by simply pressing a button, the two twin beds can be converted into a king-size bed. The main sleeping area also features Airstream’s signature rear hatch with access to the outside, furthering the marriage of Wright’s and Byam’s philosophies.
Exceptional Design
Both men sought to bring beauty into everyday life — Byam via Airstreamers exploring the world in their RVs, coming together and “[setting] aside differences when sharing time around the campfire,” Cullis says. For Wright, he adds, “his mission was to bring meaning and beauty into how people interact with their environment and each other.”
In addition to numbered, Limited Edition badging, one thing that makes the interior of this limited edition travel trailer special is the use of what the team dubbed “the Gordon Leaf Pattern,” Cullis says. He explains that the pattern was first used in 1956 for Elizabeth Gordon, publisher of “House Beautiful,” and was created not by Wright himself, but rather by Eugene Masselink, one of Wright’s trusted apprentices and personal secretary for many years. Expanding on his work, the design team used the geometric nature pattern throughout the RV, such as on the inside of the entry door, in the sconces and the interior wall laminate. Its organic forms are another nod to bringing the outdoors inside.
Enduring Inspiration
One of Airstream’s goals with the Usonian Edition is demonstrating “that an Airstream is much more than just a product you purchase,” Cullis explains. “It’s the conduit to a lifestyle that maximizes your life and lets you explore the richness of any experience, interest or hobby one may have.”
With that in mind, Airstream worked with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to create a road trip guide, which includes Airstreamer-approved itineraries for fellow RVers to visit some of Wright’s best-known works. It’s a beautiful way to bring the partnership full circle.
“Collaborations like the Frank Lloyd Wright Limited Edition bring new audiences to the brand,” Cullis says, “and our hope is that it will inspire design enthusiasts, Frank Lloyd Wright aficionados, artists and travelers of all kinds to hit the road to unparalleled travel experiences and be inspired by each new world they encounter.”
Several members of the Airstream team shared their favorite elements of the travel trailer:
Molly Nauman, interior designer: The rear sleeping space, where the powered twin beds convert to a king bed. This created a dual-purpose space where you can lounge, read or relax by day and sleep in the largest bed configuration in Airstream’s current fleet at night. It was a huge win in terms of out-of-the-box thinking and quite a task for our engineering team, but they created something special that’s unlike any current Airstream in the fleet. Positioning that area in front of the rear hatch was the cherry on top and created a connection to the way Wright blurred the lines between the inside and outside worlds.
Karla Paul, engineering director: What I love most about this Limited Edition is the surprise and delight you find when you step inside the bathroom. The geometric patterns and shapes echo Wright’s signature use of repetition, and then there’s this great moment when the sliding cabinet door opens to reveal the round portal window. It’s a playful detail that feels very much in line with his belief in thoughtful, unexpected design.
James Devine, lead engineering manager: For me, it’s the lighting and the slatted wood ceiling feature. The way it reflects and diffuses the light throughout the interior creates this warm, natural feel.
Jessica Fisher, interior designer: I love how the Gordon Leaf Pattern appears subtly throughout the trailer — from the dining table and the nightstand charging spots to the lighting sconces and the overlay on the main entry door. It’s little Easter eggs like this that not only add visual cohesion but will appeal to Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts and deepen the connection between these two icons of design.
