Taliesin West Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American Democratic Architect who shaped modern architecture as we know it today. He possesses many prominent credentials, including infamous structures, vast writings, intricate theories, and scholarly teachings. Wright is most well-known for his original designs and the individuality that they displayed. He broke the mold of American Architecture during his time. Wright’s sole focus within his designs was harmony with humanity. He coined the term organic architecture with his principles of inclusion of nature. Taliesin West, in Scottsdale Arizona may have been the perfect illustration in the physical aspect to represent what Wright stood for and in incorporating his beliefs of what constitutes significant …show more content…
Taliesin West started out as Wright’s family winter home, but is now known as the Wright School of Architecture’s main headquarters. It was deservingly designated as a Historic National Landmark in 1982. Taliesin West was built in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1938. Taliesin West, in all of its primitive glory, is nothing short of magnificent. It has been preserved since Wright’s death in 1959, and for the most part, has remained unaltered. Wright occupied Taliesin West as a third home, business, and a school. Wright recounts his first sighting of where Taliesin West would later be built, stating “I learned of a site twenty-six miles from Phoenix, across the desert of the vast paradise valley. On up to a great mesa in the mountains. On the mesa just below McDowell Peak, we stopped, turned, and looked around. The top of the world!” (Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography n.d.). Wright found inspiration and fascination in the land belonging to the Arizona desert. He then set out to design a masterpiece. Since Wright was keen on material of structures being one with natural surrounding habitat, Taliesin West’s walls were made of desert rock and sand, stacked within wood form, and filled with concrete to provide durability to the structure. This gave Taliesin West the true unity with nature that Wright envisioned. Wright also valued conservation of materials. He thought wasteful tendencies were a shame. Every material used in the construction of Taliesin West was strategically thought out and executed. The roof was designed to hang past the walls, as well as walls not extending from floor to ceiling, in order to give way to natural horizontal light within the structure. The roof was initially designed using canvas in order to allow natural light in as well. Wright believed natural light assisted in a more superior work