The architect apprentices live here during the six months of winter, and spend the rest of the year at Taliesin in Wisconsin. The apprentices have to construct their own dwellings in the desert and they cook, work and live together during their apprenticeship.
From the 1930s until he died in the 60s, Wright and his wife lived at Taliesin West during the winter and hosted artists, movie stars, and filmmakers. He constructed three screening rooms and two theaters on the property. The buildings and the rooms are not kept in pristine condition - the buildings are kept open (somewhat) to the elements and the rooms had dust, cobwebs, etc. According to our tour guide, that is how Wright would have wanted it.
When Wright first built the facility the buildings had no glass and no roofs - the only coverage was canvas that they strung over the top of the building. When they were in Wisconsin during the summer, they would leave the buildings open and susceptible to the elements. I didn't know this, but apparently Wright was really into nature and natural settings and wanted the elements of the desert to be in the buildings - dust, bugs and all.
This laid-back approach carries over to today. On the tour, you walk through various parts of the buildings (including the bedrooms) and can sit on all of the furniture that he and his apprentices built when they lived there. It was very cool to sit in his "garden room," a large living room he used for entertaining guests:
This was Wright and his wife's bedroom - notice how they had separate beds:
To the left of the photo, there were sliding doors that opened up to a lovely garden. More photos here and here.
We hope to go back after the new year to catch an evening tour. Something tells me this place would be even more magical at night:
2 comments:
Um, aren't scorpions among the things that live in those elements to which the interior rooms are exposed on a regular basis? ((shudder))
I like the concept, but have trouble wrapping my head around it in the long run. Apparently outdoor living rooms ("salas"?) are super popular in Mexico (or at least in the rich gringo houses in San Miguel, for example), and again, it was hard for me to imagine the practicality due to the buggy-ness potential. Maybe I am just too old-fashionedly bug-phobic to be design progressive in this respect.
The rest of this looks awe-inspiring (weird use of separate but together beds, though, right? like they wanted to play footsie at night but no other cuddling was allowed? Hm).
Totally - the bugs... you ain't kiddin.
It's definitely not refined there - it's very simple and much of it, honestly, looks worn and the colors have faded (what are you going to do, given the 360 days of sunshine?) -- but despite that, I liked how "lived in" it felt - it definitely felt like a retreat, and it was really an inviting and strangely cozy place to be...
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