All photos above of Taliesin West Architectural School and Grounds
Today temp reached 105 degrees. But what I've always heard about the heat not being so bad in Arizona because of the low humidity is true. The humidity today was somewhere between 10 and 20%. I could actually breathe and being in the shade was quite tolerable.
We began the day by visiting with Rodney Gaylor, a Phoenix resident originally from our home town of Cayuga, Indiana, and brother of Bill's sister's husband. Rodney and Becky have a beautiful home. We met up with Becky at a very good southwestern restaurant. Dessert was a chocolate pie with no chocolate in the ingredients. It was made from chilies that taste like chocolate. Honestly, it was one of the best chocolate pies I've ever tasted. Had a great time visiting w/Rod and Becky.
In the late afternoon, we took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural school, Taliesin West, located in the Sonoran Desert. Construction of Taliesin began in 1938 and was finished in 1957. We are Wright fans. We were not disappointed! He married the structure to the landscape at Taliesin West just as well as he did at his masterpiece, Falling Water. The Sonoran Desert gets more water than any other desert and is lush in comparison. The school is surrounded by beautiful trees, all manner of cactus, flowers, and lots of birds. The front of the school has a beautiful triangle shaped pool and a small expanse of grass. The pool is there not only for architectural and decorative purposes, but as a cooling system for the very large drafting room located directly in front of the pool to the left front of the school. The pool was intentionally located to catch mountain breezes as they passed over the pool where they evaporated and cooled, then passed on through the open windows of the drafting room.
Undoubtedly a genius, Wright was the first to do so many things. Here are some of them:
-First architect to put pigment directly into concrete. Done for first time in Unity Temple, Chicago, Ill. Common today.
-Invented and installed the first air conditioner which he called air filtration.
-Built first cantilevered toilets so janitors could clean under them more easily.
-First architect to integrate lighting into architecture. He did this in so many different ways. He hated exposed light bulbs so he recessed them into beams and ceilings, covered them with carved wood, and installed unexposed up lighting, lights in floors, and in the sides of walkways. And these are just some examples of his unprecedented use of lighting. There are many, many more.
-First to make mitered glass walls.
Taliesin graduates bachelor and master degree architecture students. They have thirty students at a time. First year students sleep in tents. A migratory school, students spend October thru April in Taliesin West and the rest of the year in Taliesin Wisconsin. Wright saw Taliesin West as a place to do work in winter and Wisconsin as the "real" school. Wright lived to be 92 and worked up to his death. He did 1/3 of his life's work in the last 10 years of his life. His legacy is not bad for a man who did not graduate from high school and attended less than a year of college.
Went out to dinner with Marilyn tonight to a Lebanese restaurant and had gelato for dessert. Yum!
Tomorrow we are heading for Tucson.
Signing off till tomorrow, Bill and Marsha, weary, bleary, but cheery Western travelers
We began the day by visiting with Rodney Gaylor, a Phoenix resident originally from our home town of Cayuga, Indiana, and brother of Bill's sister's husband. Rodney and Becky have a beautiful home. We met up with Becky at a very good southwestern restaurant. Dessert was a chocolate pie with no chocolate in the ingredients. It was made from chilies that taste like chocolate. Honestly, it was one of the best chocolate pies I've ever tasted. Had a great time visiting w/Rod and Becky.
In the late afternoon, we took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural school, Taliesin West, located in the Sonoran Desert. Construction of Taliesin began in 1938 and was finished in 1957. We are Wright fans. We were not disappointed! He married the structure to the landscape at Taliesin West just as well as he did at his masterpiece, Falling Water. The Sonoran Desert gets more water than any other desert and is lush in comparison. The school is surrounded by beautiful trees, all manner of cactus, flowers, and lots of birds. The front of the school has a beautiful triangle shaped pool and a small expanse of grass. The pool is there not only for architectural and decorative purposes, but as a cooling system for the very large drafting room located directly in front of the pool to the left front of the school. The pool was intentionally located to catch mountain breezes as they passed over the pool where they evaporated and cooled, then passed on through the open windows of the drafting room.
Undoubtedly a genius, Wright was the first to do so many things. Here are some of them:
-First architect to put pigment directly into concrete. Done for first time in Unity Temple, Chicago, Ill. Common today.
-Invented and installed the first air conditioner which he called air filtration.
-Built first cantilevered toilets so janitors could clean under them more easily.
-First architect to integrate lighting into architecture. He did this in so many different ways. He hated exposed light bulbs so he recessed them into beams and ceilings, covered them with carved wood, and installed unexposed up lighting, lights in floors, and in the sides of walkways. And these are just some examples of his unprecedented use of lighting. There are many, many more.
-First to make mitered glass walls.
Taliesin graduates bachelor and master degree architecture students. They have thirty students at a time. First year students sleep in tents. A migratory school, students spend October thru April in Taliesin West and the rest of the year in Taliesin Wisconsin. Wright saw Taliesin West as a place to do work in winter and Wisconsin as the "real" school. Wright lived to be 92 and worked up to his death. He did 1/3 of his life's work in the last 10 years of his life. His legacy is not bad for a man who did not graduate from high school and attended less than a year of college.
Went out to dinner with Marilyn tonight to a Lebanese restaurant and had gelato for dessert. Yum!
Tomorrow we are heading for Tucson.
Signing off till tomorrow, Bill and Marsha, weary, bleary, but cheery Western travelers
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