Drafting Studio, Taliesin West, Taliesin Drive, Scottsdale, AZ
Built between 1937 and 1959, the Organic Modern-style Taliesin West was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed by his apprentices to serve as the winter home of Wright and his Taliesin Fellowship. The complex, which consists of many buildings, began as a set of temporary, tent-like structures in the late 1930s, before evolving into more permanent buildings over the course of the 1940s, reflecting the ever-experimenting nature of the Taliesin Fellowship and Frank Lloyd Wright, something also seen at the original Taliesin in Wisconsin. Wright developed an architecture at Taliesin West that reflected the surrounding desert environment, with long, low stone buildings featuring long and narrow expanses of glass, shed roofs, stone walls, and timber framing, with rooflines that reflected the surrounding mountains, small areas of non-desert plantings, and buildings that were, alternatively, reminiscent of tent pavilions and stone caves. The complex is clustered around the main building, with much of the site remaining an undisturbed natural desert landscape, an increasingly rare feature of the greater Phoenix Area, which was already beginning to disappear during Wright’s lifetime. The site is home to rocks with petroglyphs created by the indigenous Hohokam people, along with remnants of their habitation of the site prior to their migration out of the region during a period of climate change, which was accompanied by severe flooding that damaged their irrigation canal infrastructure, in the 14th and 15th Centuries. The buildings surround various courts, gardens, and natural areas, and many incorporate Chinese sculptures near their entrances, collected by Frank Lloyd Wright due to his lifelong fascination with East Asian art.
The buildings consist of a main building, with a stone vault at its northwest corner. Built in 1937 as the first structure at Taliesin West, the cave-like stone vault meant to protect drawings created by Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship in the event of a fire, influenced by the fires that had previously destroyed Taliesin in Wisconsin. From this initial structure extends, to the southeast, a drafting studio with a canvas roof, large roof beams, ribbon windows, stone walls, and a wooden pergola on its northern flank, which contained the main drafting studio of the Taliesin Fellowship, and has a large entrance terrace on its south facade, with steps leading down to the pool and the prow at the southwest corner of the complex. To the east of the drafting studio is the kitchen, which features an exterior bell tower that would signal members of the Taliesin Fellowship to come to the dining room for meals, and dining room, which served as a large communal space for the Taliesin Fellowship and Wright. These public and communal spaces sit west of a breezeway that connects the northern patio with the sunset terrace on the south side of the complex. On the southwest side of sunset terrace is the Garden Room, a large living room utilized by both the Taliesin Fellowship members, as well as Wright’s family, as a gathering space, which encloses a small walled garden and, along with the breezeway, marks the transition between the more communal, public spaces at the western end of the main building with the more private rooms to the east. The eastern portion of the main building contains bedrooms and bathrooms for the Wright family, and a weaving studio utilized by Olgivanna to create textiles, with a ventilation tower, the tallest section of the complex, being located on the north side of this wing.
To the east of the main building are various cottages and residences for the Taliesin Fellowship, as well as Sun Cottage, the former residence of Iovanna Wright, the daughter of Olgivanna and Frank Lloyd Wright, which are simpler versions of the main building, and remain private living quarters today, not open to visitors taking tours of the complex. At the southeast corner of these structures is the cave-like Kiva, originally constructed to serve as a theater for the Taliesin Fellowship, which features stone walls and a rooftop terrace, and is connected to the main building via a covered walkway. At the northern end of the original complex is Frank Lloyd Wright’s office, which is extremely similar to the drafting studio, but at a smaller scale, and features the same ribbon windows, canvas roof with large beams, and stone walls seen on the drafting studio. To the north of the office is the Cabaret Theatre, built in 1950, which replaced the Kiva as a performance space and meeting space for the Taliesin Fellowship, and consists of a long, low cave-like structure built of stone and concrete that is embedded into the surrounding landscape. On the east side of the theater is the music pavilion, originally built in 1957, which was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1963 according to the original plans, and rivals the main building in size. West of these structures is the Visitor’s Center and Maintenance Building, which was built in the early 2000s to allow for additional visitor capacity at Taliesin West. Following the design of the rest of the complex, the visitor center harmonizes with the rest of Taliesin West, feeling like a natural extension of the buildings constructed with oversight by Wright.
Taliesin West was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The structure is also part of The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2019. Taliesin West is the final resting place of the remains of Frank Lloyd Wright and Olgivanna Wright, which, controversially, led to the exhumation of Frank Lloyd Wright from Unity Chapel Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin following Olgivanna’s death in 1985. The complex remained in use by the Taliesin Fellowship until it became The School of Architecture in 1986, which remained in operation seasonally at both Taliesin and Taliesin West until moving its operations to another location in Scottsdale in 2020. Taliesin West today is owned and operated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which continues conservation work on the buildings, including reconstruction of various wings that were built quickly with low-quality materials, ensuring that the buildings continue to stand and remain open to visitors in perpetuity.
Drafting Studio, Taliesin West, Taliesin Drive, Scottsdale, AZ
Built between 1937 and 1959, the Organic Modern-style Taliesin West was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed by his apprentices to serve as the winter home of Wright and his Taliesin Fellowship. The complex, which consists of many buildings, began as a set of temporary, tent-like structures in the late 1930s, before evolving into more permanent buildings over the course of the 1940s, reflecting the ever-experimenting nature of the Taliesin Fellowship and Frank Lloyd Wright, something also seen at the original Taliesin in Wisconsin. Wright developed an architecture at Taliesin West that reflected the surrounding desert environment, with long, low stone buildings featuring long and narrow expanses of glass, shed roofs, stone walls, and timber framing, with rooflines that reflected the surrounding mountains, small areas of non-desert plantings, and buildings that were, alternatively, reminiscent of tent pavilions and stone caves. The complex is clustered around the main building, with much of the site remaining an undisturbed natural desert landscape, an increasingly rare feature of the greater Phoenix Area, which was already beginning to disappear during Wright’s lifetime. The site is home to rocks with petroglyphs created by the indigenous Hohokam people, along with remnants of their habitation of the site prior to their migration out of the region during a period of climate change, which was accompanied by severe flooding that damaged their irrigation canal infrastructure, in the 14th and 15th Centuries. The buildings surround various courts, gardens, and natural areas, and many incorporate Chinese sculptures near their entrances, collected by Frank Lloyd Wright due to his lifelong fascination with East Asian art.
The buildings consist of a main building, with a stone vault at its northwest corner. Built in 1937 as the first structure at Taliesin West, the cave-like stone vault meant to protect drawings created by Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship in the event of a fire, influenced by the fires that had previously destroyed Taliesin in Wisconsin. From this initial structure extends, to the southeast, a drafting studio with a canvas roof, large roof beams, ribbon windows, stone walls, and a wooden pergola on its northern flank, which contained the main drafting studio of the Taliesin Fellowship, and has a large entrance terrace on its south facade, with steps leading down to the pool and the prow at the southwest corner of the complex. To the east of the drafting studio is the kitchen, which features an exterior bell tower that would signal members of the Taliesin Fellowship to come to the dining room for meals, and dining room, which served as a large communal space for the Taliesin Fellowship and Wright. These public and communal spaces sit west of a breezeway that connects the northern patio with the sunset terrace on the south side of the complex. On the southwest side of sunset terrace is the Garden Room, a large living room utilized by both the Taliesin Fellowship members, as well as Wright’s family, as a gathering space, which encloses a small walled garden and, along with the breezeway, marks the transition between the more communal, public spaces at the western end of the main building with the more private rooms to the east. The eastern portion of the main building contains bedrooms and bathrooms for the Wright family, and a weaving studio utilized by Olgivanna to create textiles, with a ventilation tower, the tallest section of the complex, being located on the north side of this wing.
To the east of the main building are various cottages and residences for the Taliesin Fellowship, as well as Sun Cottage, the former residence of Iovanna Wright, the daughter of Olgivanna and Frank Lloyd Wright, which are simpler versions of the main building, and remain private living quarters today, not open to visitors taking tours of the complex. At the southeast corner of these structures is the cave-like Kiva, originally constructed to serve as a theater for the Taliesin Fellowship, which features stone walls and a rooftop terrace, and is connected to the main building via a covered walkway. At the northern end of the original complex is Frank Lloyd Wright’s office, which is extremely similar to the drafting studio, but at a smaller scale, and features the same ribbon windows, canvas roof with large beams, and stone walls seen on the drafting studio. To the north of the office is the Cabaret Theatre, built in 1950, which replaced the Kiva as a performance space and meeting space for the Taliesin Fellowship, and consists of a long, low cave-like structure built of stone and concrete that is embedded into the surrounding landscape. On the east side of the theater is the music pavilion, originally built in 1957, which was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1963 according to the original plans, and rivals the main building in size. West of these structures is the Visitor’s Center and Maintenance Building, which was built in the early 2000s to allow for additional visitor capacity at Taliesin West. Following the design of the rest of the complex, the visitor center harmonizes with the rest of Taliesin West, feeling like a natural extension of the buildings constructed with oversight by Wright.
Taliesin West was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The structure is also part of The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2019. Taliesin West is the final resting place of the remains of Frank Lloyd Wright and Olgivanna Wright, which, controversially, led to the exhumation of Frank Lloyd Wright from Unity Chapel Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin following Olgivanna’s death in 1985. The complex remained in use by the Taliesin Fellowship until it became The School of Architecture in 1986, which remained in operation seasonally at both Taliesin and Taliesin West until moving its operations to another location in Scottsdale in 2020. Taliesin West today is owned and operated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which continues conservation work on the buildings, including reconstruction of various wings that were built quickly with low-quality materials, ensuring that the buildings continue to stand and remain open to visitors in perpetuity.